Yes, my grandchild, come sit on my knee and I’ll tell you of a land far away and a time long, long ago…
Believe it or not, the best and most artistic music of the land was also what was most popular in terms of record sales (I’ll tell you what they are another time) and radio play. Instead of electronics and machines, you had something called “musicians” who actually played instruments and sang. We’ll discuss what that means during some other session together.
What these singers did with actual musicians is that they SANG MELODIES. If you want to know what a melody is, please listen to the voices of Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen with Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra on “Star Eyes” and “Besame Much” or Jo Stafford on ”Long Ago and Far Away.” A chap by the name of Bing Crosby essentially invented modern singing (although you probably couldn’t follow the trail directly to rap) with his rich baritone on “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “Poinciana” and a little ditty called “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” which was featured in something called a movie. There were also actual vocal groups like The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots and Andrew Sisters and they did something you’ve probably never heard of, called “HARMONY” on songs like “Shoo-Shoo Baby,” “Don’t Fence Me In” and “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall.”
Also, if you can believe it, people were patriotic and religious, so there were songs about holidays as on “White Christmas” which was the biggest selling record of the year, as well as tunes about life in the army on Louis Jordan’s fun filled “G.I. Jive.” Of course, if you’re interested in musical artistry, you’ll hear a beautiful clarinet by Artie Shaw on “It Had to Be You” or Cootie Williams with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra on “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me” and there was a thing called “Boogie Woogie” by Tommy Dorsey that actually had guys and girls dance together. You have to trust me on this.
Not to mention that singers like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland all started their careers during this time before they made movies and TV commercials. No, this 4 cd set of 95 songs is not from another planet, but it is from another world. Somewhere between then and now, the dark star took over, but maybe we can get back to Xanadu before we make another wrong turn. Until then, use this music as a reference point in which to set your compass.