Sound Beat

Most Atomic-era records seem to achieve, or at least attempt, a bit of humanistic fraternity…a “we’re all in this together” sort-of-vibe. Not so with this decidedly un-P.C. tune. It recounts the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with mention of the “cruel old Japs” and naming the bomb “the answer to our fighting boy’s prayers.” It was one of the earliest atomic-era records, recorded by Karl and H...

Fred Astaire was one of the greatest film stars and dancers of all time, but there was only one partner who really filled his dance card. The 1936 film “Swing Time” featured Ginger Rogers and Astaire.  Hardly remarkable in itself, as it was one of their ten films for RCA. This tune though, written by Jerome Kerns and Dorothy Fields, won an Oscar for Best Original song. Here’s Fred Astaire, with “T...

  Alright, excuse us for a bit of poetic license. The swimsuit had more to do with atomic bombs than rockets. The Bikini Atoll is a small island chain in the South Pacific. In July of 1946 it served as an atomic test site, and the symbol of a dawning age.  The awesome and terrifying display of power had been implanted in the social consciousness…extending even to the fashion world. That summe...

Buschmann gets credit for inventing the harmonica and, according to some experts, the accordion.  (Imagine your neighbor learning the instruments, now imagine them inventing both). The accordion is actually a member of the harmonica family, and is popular with street performers, polka bands, and of course, Weird Al Yankovic. You’re listening to 1915’s NY Blues by one of the first stars of the...

With high energy shows, slightly tawdry lyrics and a style that blended Dixieland, blues and jazz, the Harlem Hamfats were just… born at the wrong time. You’re listening to the ironically named Harlem Hamfats in 1936. First of all, no one in the band was from anywhere even close to New York. And hamfat is a low-cost filler used in cooking recipes…a cheap substitute. These hamfats were Grade A, tho...

This song is a bridge of sorts between two others. It started with Helen Hume’s Be-Baba-Leba, recorded in 1945. From there, the lyrics changed into the “Hey! Baba-Re-Bop” that you hear …right here : Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps put their twist on the lyrics with “Be-Bop-a-Lula” in 1956. The biggest hit of the three: you guessed it..this one, which stayed atop the R and B charts for 16 weeks. You...

When British army bandmaster Lieutenant FJ Ricketts was stationed at Fort George in Scotland, he…did as the Scots do, and played a fair amount of golf. The story goes that he came across a certain nicknamed colonel who, rather than yell “Fore” to warn others of his wayward shots, would whistle…a descending minor third. It stuck in Rickett’s mind like a high-lob to a soft green , and the “Colonel B...

So impressed was Beethoven that when he composed his Symphony Number 3 in E Flat Major , he dubbed it “Bonaparte”. But as the story goes, he became enraged when Napoleon named himself Emperor of the French. Scratching out the title, he renamed it “ Eroica ”, Italian for “heroic”. You’re listening to Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a Victor recording from 1950. Time seems...

Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year where even the most restrained of suitors demonstrate their affection, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, if you will. Hey, where does that saying come from, I wonder? (Excellent segue.) Some say it comes from medieval Valentine’s Day celebrations. A town’s young and available singles (sorry, maidens and bachelors) would draw names to select their Val...

Johnny Mercer first made his way to New York with dreams of becoming an actor. But he’d catch on as a singer and songwriter, his first break coming during a “Youth of America” audition. Conductor Paul Whiteman picked Mercer to perform with his Orchestra on NBC radio. Years later, Mercer, Glen Wallichs and Buddy DeSylva started up a little outfit called Liberty Records. In 1942, it would become Cap...

Arthur Sullivan was one of Britain’s most important composers, one half of a little theatrical team known as Gilbert and Sullivan. But in his own words: “I have composed much music since then, but have never written a second Lost Chord .” Arthur Sullivan composed The Lost Chord in 1877, at the bedside of his dying brother. Sullivan was known for his partnership with W.S. Gilbert, of co...

You’re listening to Ralph Young and the Ray Charles Singers with The Legend of Wyatt Earp , a 1955 Decca 78. The mark of authenticity Earp brought to a film set in the 20’s must have been invaluable. Especially to the young actor who befriended him, fetching cups of coffee in exchange for firsthand tales of the West from one of its central figures. Marion Morrison credited his acting persona, down...

You’re listening to Johannes Brahms and the Banda de Estado Mayor de Mexico . That’s right, a Hungarian danza by a Mexican banda. You’re on the Sound Beat. Brahms composed 21 danzas, basing them on Hungarian folk themes. Mostly…in fact, he thought this one, number 5, was based on a folk song, but that song turned out it to be an original composition by Béla Kéler. You may have heard it in th...

One of the most revered and renowned recordings in music history. You’re listening to Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson. Music historians cite the song as a retelling of Christ’s crucifixion. Hard to be completely sure, though, with Johnson’s characteristic humming, and moaning in place of lyrics. There’s a parallel to be drawn between the song and Johnson’s life. He...

You’re listening to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University sing Peter on the Sea, from 1927, and you’re on the Sound Beat. Fisk University struggled financially from its very founding just six months after the end of the Civil War. On the verge of closure, the Jubilee Singers began a series of fund-raising tours in 1871. By appearing in many venues in the U.S. and embarking on a visit to Eur...

What kind of music comes mind when you think of college-aged musicians hanging around a coffeehouse? Probably some acoustic folk, maybe some bongo-based “world” music? How about…classical cantatas? You’re on the Sound Beat. That’s Bach you’re listening to, the piece composed when he was the head of the Collegium Musicum of Leipzig, Germany. They were groups of amateur and professional musicians wh...

Youre listening to Sitting On Top OfThe World, recorded by The Sheiks in 1930. The song graced the Grateful Dead’s eponymously-titled first album, released in 1967. The Dead were sitting on top of the Haight-Ashbury scene at the time, where they established a dedicated following. Their followers would eventually come to be called deadheads, following the band around the country, leaving their pare...

You’re listening to La Mer, a Columbia 78 from 1948 and you’re on the Sound Beat. A man as prolific as Charles Trenet (850 songs published over a 60 year career) probably doesn’t rest much, even on the train. It was on one such trip that he wrote this song La Mer, in 1943, basing the music on the contemporary hit and piano student standby “Heart and Soul”. Legend has it that he penned it on toilet...

You’re listening to Nat Wills with “If a Table at Rector’s Could Talk” from the 1913 Ziegfield Follies. In 1850, there were 19 millionaires in the US. But by the Gay Nineties, there were over 4,000. The champagne flowed and extravagant shows of wealth were par for the course. Charles Rector opened his restaurant in Manhattan in 1899. It became popular with the Broadway crowd, but its most we...

You’re listening to the Palestrina Choir on a Victor 78 from 1927 A nd, you’re on the Sound Beat! The choir is singing the Hymn to Apollo, one of the Homeric hymns: a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. It’s thought to have been written in 522 BC. Apollo is the son of Zeus, God of the Sun and light. His name was selected for NASA’s third...

  Mr. Theodore G. Bilbo was a US senator, and not a good one. A member of the Ku Klux Klan, he once proposed a bill that would deport 12 million African-Americans to Liberia… in an effort to save on unemployment costs. He accepted illegal contributions, among them excavation of a lake for… creating…his…own…island? And, just when you think he couldn’t get any worse, he was well-known for his f...

The iconic pianist and bandleader hopped around the early jazz hotspots…Harlem, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis. He put together the Count Basie Orchestra in Kansas City and, with the help of radio broadcasts at KC’s Reno Club, they became one of the premier big bands of the era. They recorded “Aint It The Truth”, a Columbia 78, in 1942. While their club performances put improv at the forefront, t...

The opera is based on the play El Trobador , or The Troubador, by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez.  Verdi became so engrossed with the character Azucena, that he nearly named his version “La Vendetta”, (The Revenge) and “La Zingara”, The Gypsy. Either would have been suitable; The plot revolves around the gypsy Azucena, and the revenge she seeks for her mother. You’re listening to Mai Reggendo All Aspro...