Night and Day (1932)

This great Cole Porter song was responsible for keeping alive the show The Gay Divorce (opened November 29th, 1932). It was introduced by Fred Astaire and Claire Luce, later it was featured in the 1934 film The Gay Divorcee (1934) starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Porter is said to have gotten inspiration for the tune from Morocco. Night and Day was one of many songs Frank Sinatra later made his own.

The Man I Love (1924)

George and Ira Gershwin's great ballad was originally written for the 1924 show Lady Be Good. It was dropped when Adele Astaire's (sister of Fred) performance failed to excite audiences during the Philadelphia tryouts. The brothers attempted to fit it into a few subsequent shows but it failed to set alight the stage, meanwhile vaudeville and nightclub performances were turning it into a standard. Great performances include those by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (1918)

Harry Carroll's third hit of the 1910s, he took the chorus from Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu in C Minor and the lyrics were by Joseph McCarthy. Harry Fox introduced the song in the show Oh Look! The Dolly Sisters really made it a hit and it was revived in a loose 1945 biopic which starred Betty Grable and June Haver.

That's Entertainment (1953)

Written by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz for the 1953 MGM film musical The Band Wagon, That's Entertainment became a unofficial anthem for the golden era of the film musical. 20 years later it became the title of a compilation of highlights of the MGM musical.

The original Broadway show of The Band Wagon (opened June 3rd, 1931) had no real resemblance to the 1953 film though both starred Fred Astaire.

Blues In the Night (1941)

With music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer this song showed both influenced by jazz were willing to experiment with the standard structure of the popular song.

The song has no conventional verse-chorus organisation but is made of three themes : an A section of twelve measures, a B section of twelve measures, a C section of sixteen measures and a return to an extended A section of sixteen measures.


Blues In the Night featured in a forgotten 1941 film became a hit as soon as the movie was released. Dinah Shore had the first million selling record with it.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (1933)

Roberta (opened November 18th 1933) with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Otto Harbach was a hit filled Broadway show including such evergreens as Yesterdays and The Touch of Your Hand.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes was written originally by Kern with a quick march tempo and only became a hit when changed into a ballad. My fave recording of it is by Dinah Washington.

The film of Roberta in 1935 retained most of the songs of the Broadway original adding I Won't Dance (a memorable performance by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) and Lovely To Look At.

Always (1925)

When legendary songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989), who had more Alley hits than anyone and was Jewish fell for the daughter of a millionaire, Ellin MacKay it scandalised 1920s society.

Berlin poured his longing for Ellin into a series of romantic ballads. Always represents the culmination of their courtship and was Irving's wedding present to Ellin. Written a few years earlier the lyric was originally "I'll Be Loving You, Mona" Berlin simply changed it from Mona to Always.

It had also been set in be included in the score of the Marx Brothers' Broadway show The Cocoanuts (later their first film) though writer George S. Kaufman was indifferent to music. He questioned Irving's first line : "I'll be loving you, Always. Always was a long time for romance, what about I'll be loving you Thursday."

Despite Kaufman's opinion the song became a standard. My favourite recording is a duet with Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan.

Give My Regards of Broadway (1904)

George M Cohan (1882-1942) was the first complete man of the American musical theatre being a playwright, song and dance man, dramatic actor as well as prolific lyricist and composer. Cohan was the first to write about American characters instead of the prevailing fashion for exotic shows and Viennese operettas.

Cohan's first big show was Little Johnny Jones (opened November 7th, 1904) which featured two big hits : Yankee Doodle Boy (I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy) and Give My Regards of Broadway. The second song is arguably the more lasting standard being memorably performed by Al Jolson, Judy Garland and many others.

James Cagney performed an incredible prancing dance to it in his Academy Award winning performance as Cohan in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

Introduction

Here I will reveal the origins of the great standards we have enjoyed for years. Stay tuned for some interesting stories involving some of the greatest performers and songwriters of all time.