the best songs ever

[gabrielle]

This song was written in 1940 by Rodgers and Hart

[gabrielle]

Although this was the first version of this song I ever heard:

[gabrielle]

This song is so evocative of a certain era due to the Platters' version that many don't realize this song was actually written in the mid forties.

[Eric the Green]

Certainly a classic song
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vie_en_rose

good posts to fill out the forties, Gabe.

[pbrower2a]

I am backtracking (or forward-tracking) to 1945.... but how about one of the greatest works ever composed in America, not by an American but by a political refugee from a vile and despicable regime in his own country. In a way, what could be more American than a monumental achievement by a sojourner?


Béla Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra

[gabrielle]

(09-23-2016, 10:35 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

I am backtracking (or forward-tracking) to 1945.... but how about one of the greatest works ever composed in America, not by an American but by a political refugee from a vile and despicable regime in his own country. In a way, what could be more American than a monumental achievement by a sojourner?


Béla Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra

I'm not really sure what's going wrong when you post your videos, but for some reason I can retrieve them from the reply screen.

[pbrower2a]

I can't figure it out either.

[pbrower2a]

ichard Strauss, then 82, from 1946... Vier letzte Lieder (Four last Songs)

[pbrower2a]

The perfect expression of 4T concerns and their solutions. Back to normal, only somewhat better. It may be simplistic... but 4Ts force a social focus on simple expressions of philosophical reality as other times do not.   Just think of a Britain that had just undergone the Blitz, when the flying objects over the white cliffs of Dover were Stuka bombers (and later often the "V" rockets) and not bluebirds:






...and don't forget the great disruption of personal lives in all countries undergoing Crisis eras:





Nothing about revenge or glory-seeking -- it's about survival of what matters most. Get the nasty business of war over, and people can get their full humanity back.

Does this begin to sound familiar? If not yet, it could well be very soon. Nothing can guarantee victory, but one needs to keep the basic human values intact if victory is to be satisfying.

[Eric the Green]

(09-26-2016, 09:07 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: The perfect expression of 4T concerns and their solutions. Back to normal, only somewhat better. It may be simplistic... but 4Ts force a social focus on simple expressions of philosophical reality as other times do not.   Just think of a Britain that had just undergone the Blitz, when the flying objects over the white cliffs of Dover were Stuka bombers (and later often the "V" rockets) and not bluebirds:






...and don't forget the great disruption of personal lives in all countries undergoing Crisis eras:





Nothing about revenge or glory-seeking -- it's about survival of what matters most. Get the nasty business of war over, and people can get their full humanity back.

Does this begin to sound familiar? If not yet, it could well be very soon. Nothing can guarantee victory, but one needs to keep the basic human values intact if victory is to be satisfying.

Mr. Brower, for some reason an extra "http://" is added after the you tube url for the video in your posts. Delete that, and just copy the url for the video.

[Eric the Green]

(09-23-2016, 03:04 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Richard Strauss, then 82, from 1946... Vier letzte Lieder (Four last Songs)

[Eric the Green]

(09-26-2016, 09:07 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: The perfect expression of 4T concerns and their solutions. Back to normal, only somewhat better. It may be simplistic... but 4Ts force a social focus on simple expressions of philosophical reality as other times do not.   Just think of a Britain that had just undergone the Blitz, when the flying objects over the white cliffs of Dover were Stuka bombers (and later often the "V" rockets) and not bluebirds:






...and don't forget the great disruption of personal lives in all countries undergoing Crisis eras:





Nothing about revenge or glory-seeking -- it's about survival of what matters most. Get the nasty business of war over, and people can get their full humanity back.

Does this begin to sound familiar? If not yet, it could well be very soon. Nothing can guarantee victory, but one needs to keep the basic human values intact if victory is to be satisfying.

Mr. Brower, for some reason an extra "http://" is added to the url for the you tube video in your posts. Delete that from the url.

The Vera Lynn song was used in Dr. Strangelove (1964) for the moments at the end when the doomsday device was going off.
https://youtu.be/vdytOGnUFoI

[Eric the Green]

1939 was a famous landmark year in film, and in music too. Critics agree with me that this song is the greatest film song of all time, and it's my favorite traditional pop song. Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg wrote it especially for Judy Garland.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_Rainbow

In 1939 the people went to the New York World's Fair or the one in San Francisco's Treasure Island to gape at the streamlined and peaceful world of 1960. But we had to go through a storm first, and slay the wicked witches of the East and the West. Now we face the 4T storms of terrorist wars in the Middle East and potential xenophobic and economic storms at home; plus the literal storms caused by our fossil fuel use. We got through it, and we'll get through it again.

And we today have a song too; it's the one in my signature line, so similar in theme, and sung by someone about the same age as Judy was. It's the best song between The Who's Quadrophenia and today, but despite Justin Bieber's popularity, it doesn't yet have the nearly the same recognition as Judy's song, which won an Oscar; a situation which can only be described as a failure of contemporary taste. But some people recognize it, and more may eventually do so.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow, there's a better day, and I can see it. Can you?

[Eric the Green]

Bela Bartok (1881-1945) was one of the best composers of the 20th century. His output, dating from the age of 9, is huge and it would be a long task to pick out his best, but I always liked his piano works. Here is a very good concerto for two pianos, percussion and orchestra from 1940, which reflects the doom of the approaching storm, his imminent emigration that year from fascist Hungary, and his own incipient illness.

According to wikipedia: "Bartók's style in his art music compositions was a synthesis of folk music, classicism, and modernism. His melodic and harmonic sense was profoundly influenced by the folk music of Hungary, Romania, and other nations. He was especially fond of the asymmetrical dance rhythms and pungent harmonies found in Bulgarian music. Most of his early compositions offer a blend of nationalist and late Romanticism elements."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Bart%C3%B3k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co...art%C3%B3k





Brower's remark "what could be more American than a monumental achievement by a sojourner" reminds me that under Trump, the refugee Bartok would not have been allowed in.

[Eric the Green]

The most iconic songs of the last 4T were the greatest and first hits by Glenn Miller. They probably need no introduction. They set the "mood" for the "greatest generation" on the eve of the war in 1939.





comments on the video include these:
Timothy Wells 2 weeks ago
Glen Millers best song. It sounds as good today as it did in the 40's and is one of the best dance song of all time. Impossible to sit still when it plays
Eduardo Barriga 4 months ago
In the Mood, One of the best songs EVER together with Begin the Beguine. Long live North American music!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mood





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Serenade

It's hard to imagine two songs so associated with and evocative of any other generation and its times than these two--- even "Imagine" itself.

[Eric the Green]

"At Last" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film Orchestra Wives, starring George Montgomery and Ann Rutherford. It was performed in the film and on record by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. (wikipedia)





also the signature song of R&B singer Etta James (1960)
https://youtu.be/bwzDxp2TC7I

Also covered by Beyonce (who portrayed James in the film Cadillac Records), Celine Dion, Cyndi Lauper and many others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Last

[gabrielle]

Quote:Southern trees bear a strange fruit, 
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, 
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, 
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south, 
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, 
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, 
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, 
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, 
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, 
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

[Eric the Green]

Thanks for the Memory (1938)

(how lovely it was)





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanks_for_the_Memory

[Eric the Green]

I should go back a few years forward for this one as an honorable mention: Sabre Dance from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Gayane (1942). "Sabre Dance" "has entered the realm of popular music as one of the 20th century's signature pieces." Tom Huizenga of NPR describes it as "one of the catchiest, most familiar—perhaps most maddening—tunes to come out of the 20th century." Billboard magazine calls it "a piece that's known to every pops orchestra in existence." In 1948 the "Sabre Dance" became a jukebox hit in the United States. Due to its popularity, Newsweek suggested that 1948 could be called "Khachaturian Year in the United States." In 1948, three versions of the "Sabre Dance" reached number one in the Billboard Best-Selling Records by Classical Artists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_Dance

[Eric the Green]

Benny Goodman got America swinging in 1938 with this performance of "Sing Sing Sing." Originally written in 1936 by Louis Prima, with lyrics, and recorded by Benny Goodman as an instrumental in 1937. So ubiquitous that it has been bumper music on Wheel of Fortune recently.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing,_Sing...h_a_Swing)

1937 recording:
https://youtu.be/fhyhP_5VfKM

comment on this video:
Xavier Schwartz1 week ago
I just have one question I've been wanting to ask to ask....
Why is the name of this all instrumental song, "Sing Sing Sing" ?
Is it a metaphor that the instruments are playing like singers?

Alex Wallace
Alex Wallace5 days ago (edited)
This is actually a cover of a Louis Prima song that had lyrics. Goodman took Prima's song, cobbled it with another called "Christopher Columbus," and created the piece in this video.

vocal version:
https://youtu.be/iy245lN6Q1g
Louis Prima:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Prima
hearing and seeing the lyrics, it strikes me that the comment above is correct too; except maybe vice versa. The singers sound like instruments, or are giving them instructions.
Sing, Sing, Sing
Louis Prima
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you're singing with a swing
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you're singing with a swing
And when the music goes around
Everybody goes to town
But here's something you should know
Ho ho baby ho ho ho
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you're singing with a swing
And when the music goes around
Everybody goes to town
But here's something you should know
Ho ho baby ho ho ho
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you're singing with a swing
Songwriters: Louis Prima
Sing, Sing, Sing lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (1945/1956)
1959 performance with Keely Smith:
https://youtu.be/O-a8kLtJSJ4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Gigolo_(song)

Lots more Goodman (with ads too)
https://youtu.be/gm8Lf16V0Xg

Swingtime in the Rockies (1936)
https://youtu.be/gm8Lf16V0Xg?t=1h1m25s