dailysparkle.co.uk · Web view‘Give Me Your Word’ was Ford's first hit in the United Kingdom. Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally

A Review of Famous Songs of the Past

‘Fascinating Facts’ May 2019

Track 1 The Biggest Aspidistra In The World Her most famous song, which became her theme, Sally, was worked into the title of her first film, Sally in Our Alley (1931), which was a major box office hit. Ironically, the final few lines of the song Sally were written by her husband's mistress, Annie Lipman, and Fields sang this song at nearly every performance she made from 1931 onwards – claiming in later life that she wanted to "Drown blasted Sally with Walter with the aspidistra on top!"

Dame Gracie Fields, DBE (born Grace Stansfield, 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979), was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall. One of her most successful productions was at the Alhambra Theatre, London, in 1925. She made the first of ten appearances in Royal Variety Performances in 1928, following a premiere stint at the London Palladium, gaining a devoted following with a mixture of self-deprecating jokes, comic songs and monologues, as well as cheerful "depression-era" songs all presented in a "no-airs-and-graces" Northern, working class style. At one point, Fields was playing three shows a night in London's West End. Fields had a great rapport with her audience, which helped her become one of Britain's highest paid performers, playing too sold out theatres across the country.

Track 2 What’ll I DoWhat'll I Do is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1923. In the lyrics, the singerquestions how he or she will get by now that a recent romance has ended.

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Frances Alda (31 May 1879 - 18 September 1952) born Fanny Jane Davis was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality, as well as her frequent onstage partnerships at the New York Metropolitan Opera with Enrico Caruso.

Track 3 You’re Driving Me CrazyYou’re Driving Me Crazy is an American popular song composed (music andlyrics) by Walter Donaldson in 1930 and recorded the same year by Lee Morseand Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees.

The Temperance Seven is a British band specialising in 1920s-style jazzmusic. The Temperance Seven were founded at Christmas 1955. In 1961 theyachieved national fame with the #1 hit "You're Driving Me Crazy", arranged byFrank Skinner and produced by George Martin. It was quickly followed by"Pasadena". They toured the UK widely that year, and their performancesacquired a set routine beginning with the last few bars of "Pasadena", (whichbecame their signature tune). By the summer of 1961 their fame was such thatthey appeared at the London Palladium.

Track 4 Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying MachinesThis is the original theme tune from the film of the same name.

Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines Film, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles and James Fox. Based on a screenplay titled Flying Crazy, the fictional account is set in 1910, when Lord Rawnsley, an English press magnate, offers £10,000 to the winner of the Daily Post air race from London to Paris, to prove that Britain is "number one in the air".

Track 5 It Doesn’t Matter Anymore


It Doesn't Matter Anymore is a pop ballad written by Paul Anka and recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958. The song reached number 13 as a posthumous hit in early 1959, shortly after Holly died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll. His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.

Track 6 Fire Down BelowFire Down Below is the title song to a 1957 movie of the same name. It wasperformed by Jeri Southern, who had a top-30 hit with it. Shirley Basseyrecorded the song shortly thereafter, and had a minor hit with it in the UK. Itappears on her album "The Bewitching Miss Bassey."

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE (born 8 January 1937) is a Welshsinger. She was born above a brothel in a docklands slum in Tiger Bay Cardiff.She was of paternal Nigerian and maternal English descent. She found fame inthe mid-1950s and has been called "one of the most popular female vocalistsin Britain during the last half of the 20th century". In the US, in particular, sheis best known for recording the theme songs to the James Bond filmsGoldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979).

Track 7 Up The Wooden Hill To BedfordshireThis song was Vera Lynn’s first solo record in 1936.


Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (born Vera Margaret Welch on 20 March 1917) is anEnglish singer, songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. She became known as "The Forces' Sweetheart"; the songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England". She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording such hits as "Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart" and "My Son, My Son". In 2009 she became the oldest living artist to make it to No. 1 in the British chart, at the age of 92 with her album We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn. She has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer.

Track 8 Simple GiftsSimple Gifts is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848 by Elder JosephBrackett. The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944.

Voices of Liberty is a world famous, eight-part a cappella group that singsAmericana, Folk and Patriotic Songs.

Track 9 You Made Me Love YouYou Made Me Love You was written by James V. Monaco, the lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and was published in 1913. It was introduced in the Broadway revue The Honeymoon Express.

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, April 3, 1924) is an American actress, singer, and animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording, Sentimental Journey, in 1945. After leaving the Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which would remain her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, and included more than 650


recordings, making Day one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. Despite her professional triumphs, Garland struggled immensely in her personal life, starting from when she was a child. Her self-image was strongly influenced by film executives, who said she was unattractive and constantly manipulated her onscreen physical appearance. She was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. She also had a long battle with drugs and alcohol, which ultimately led to her death at the age of 47.

Track 10 The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company BThe song was written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince, and was recorded at Decca's Hollywood studios in 1941, nearly a year before the United States entered World War II but after the start of a peacetime draft to expand the armed forces in anticipation of American involvement. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was a major hit song for The Andrews Sisters and an iconic World War II tune.

The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911 - 1967), soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews (1916 - 1995), and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews (1918). Throughout their long career, the sisters sold well over 75 million records. Their 1941 hit Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy can be considered an early example of rhythm and blues or jump blues. The Andrews Sisters' harmonies and songs are still influential today

Track 11 For Me & My Gal For Me And My Gal is a 1917 popular song. It was used in the 1942 film of the same name, where it is the first song that Jo Hayden (Judy Garland) and Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly) perform together.

Al Jolson (May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was an American singer, comedian, and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer" His performing style was brash and extroverted, and he popularised a large number of songs. In the 1930s, he was America's most famous and highest paid entertainer. Although he's best remembered today as the star in the first (full length) talking movie, The Jazz Singer in 1927, he later starred in a series of successful musical films throughout the 1930s. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with the 1946 Oscar-winning biographical film, The Jolson Story. After the attack on


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

Pearl Harbour, Jolson became the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. He died just weeks after returning to the U.S., partly due to the physical exertion of performing.

Track 12 Get Me To The Church On TimeGet Me to the Church on Time is a song composed by Frederick Loewe, with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, where it was introduced by Stanley Holloway. My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well-born lady.

Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer and poet. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs. Born in London, Holloway made early stage appearances before the First World War. After the war, he had his first major theatre success in Kissing Time. Characters from his monologues such as Sam Small, invented by Holloway, and Albert Ramsbottom, were absorbed into popular British culture. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety, pantomime and musical comedy, including several revues.During World War II, Holloway made short propaganda films and took parts in war films including Major Barbara, and The Way to the Stars. After the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter. In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Holloway continued to make films into his eighties.

Track 13 A Scottish SoldierA Scottish soldier is a Scottish folk song. The lyrics were written by Andy Stewart. The song is about a dying Scottish soldier, wishing to return to the hills of his homeland rather than die in Tyrol. The tune, "The Green Hills of Tyrol", is a well-known melody in the Scottish bagpipe tradition.

Andy Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1933, the son of a teacher. He moved to Arbroath as a child, and then trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. He had several international hit singles: "Donald Where's Your Troosers?", "A Scottish Soldier", "Campbeltown Loch", "The Muckin' O' Geordie's Byre", "The Road to Dundee" and "Take Me Back". A prolific lyricist, he penned words to many traditional


Scottish tunes, e.g. "Green Hills of Tyrol" (which he called "A Scottish Soldier"), and "The Battle is Over"("The Battle's O'er") etc. He wrote his first lyric at the age of 14 (to a tune composed by his father) and called the song "My Hameland", He is also remembered for being the compere of The White Heather Club. This was a BBC Scotland television programme that existed as an annual New Year's Eve party and also as a weekly early evening series (1960–1968).

Track 14 The Ugly DucklingA musical version of the story composed by Frank Loesser and sung by Danny Kaye for the musical film ‘Hans Christian Andersen’. The story tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a beautiful swan. The story is beloved around the world as a tale about personal transformation. The Ugly Duckling was first published in 1843 by Andersen in Copenhagen, Denmark to great critical acclaim.

Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987)[2] was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian. His best known performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire nonsense songs. His films were extremely popular, especially his bravura performances of patter songs and children's favourites such as "Inchworm" and "The Ugly Duckling". He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF in 1954 and received the French Legion of Honour in 1986 for his many years of work with the organisation.

Track 15 Hello, Young Lovers A show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. It is sung by Anna, played by Gertrude Lawrence in the original Broadway production, by Valerie Hobson in the original London West End production, and by Deborah Kerr in the film version. The heroine Anna sings this song when she tells the wives of the King of Siam about her late husband, and sympathises with the plight of Tuptim, the Burmese slave girl.

Deborah Kerr CBE (born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer; 30 September 1921 – 16 October 2007) was a Scottish-born film, theatre and television actress. During her career, she won a Golden Globe for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the motion picture The King and I and the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance as "Laura Reynolds" in the play Tea and Sympathy (in


Chicago, after her original performances on Broadway). She was also a three-time winner of the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

Track 16 Doin’ What Comes NaturallyA song sung by Annie in the musical and film Annie Get Your Gun which is a 1950 American musical comedy film loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Metro Goldwyn Mayer release, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon based on the 1946 stage musical of the same name, was directed by George Sidney. Despite some production and casting problems (Judy Garland had to withdraw from the film because of ill health), the film won the Academy Award for best score and received three other nominations. It starred Betty Hutton and Howard Keel.

Annie Get Your Gun is a 1950 American musical Technicolor comedy film loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon based on the 1946 stage musical of the same name, was directed by George Sidney. Despite several production and casting problems (Judy Garland was fired from the lead role after a month of filming in which she clashed with the director and repeatedly showed up late or not at all), the film won the Academy Award for best score and received three other nominations. Star Betty Hutton was recognized with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

Track 17 Ernie The MilkmanErnie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) is an innuendo laden comedy or novelty song, written and performed by the English comedian Benny Hill. The song was first performed on television in 1970, and released as a successful recording, topping the UK Singles Chart in 1971, reaching the Christmas number one spot. The lyric's story line is inspired by Hill's early experience as a milkman for Hann's Dairies in Eastleigh, Hampshire. The song tells the fictional exploits of Ernie Price, a milkman who drives a horse–drawn milk cart. It relates his war with the bread delivery man (two-ton Ted from Teddington) and their efforts to win the heart of Sue, a widow who lives on her own at No. 22.


Alfred Hawthorne Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992), known by his stage name Benny Hill, was an English comedian and actor, best remembered for his long-running internationally popular television programme The Benny Hill Show, an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double entendres in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with him at the focus of almost every segment. It proved to be one of the great success stories of television comedy, keeping Hill a star for nearly four decades, generating impressive revenues for Thames TV, and remaining a cult series in much of the world long after Hill's death.

Track 18 Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-RalToo-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral is a classic Irish-American song originally written in 1913 for the Tin Pan Alley musical Shameen Dhu. The song was brought back to prominence by Bing Crosby's performance in 1944's Going My Way.

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation. A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings and motion picture hits. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Crosby boosted American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.

Track 19 This Ole HouseThis Ole House is a popular song written by Stuart Hamblen, andpublished in 1954. Hamblen was supposedly on a hunting expeditionwhen he and his fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across atumbledown hut in the mountains, many miles from civilisation. Theywent into the hut and there, lying amongst rubble of a crumblingbuilding, was the body of a dead man. The man's dog was still aliveand, although starving, guarding his dead master's home. Thisinspired Hamblen to write "This Ole House," which Rosemary Clooneyand later Shakin' Stevens, treated as a bouncy rock n roll number,


rather than the epitaph for a mountain man that it was meant to be.

Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an Americansinger and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s withthe novelty hit "Come On-a My House" In 1954, she starred, alongwith Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Vera-Ellen, in the movie WhiteChristmas. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due toproblems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in1977, when her Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a showmarking his 50th anniversary in show business. Clooney suffered formuch of her life from bipolar disorder. She continued recording untilher death in 2002.

Track 20 I Believe I Believe is the name of a popular song written in 1953. It was commissioned and introduced by Jane Froman on her television show. Froman, troubled by the uprising of the Korean War in 1952 so soon after World War II, wanted a song that would offer hope and faith to the populace.

Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio (March 30, 1913 - February 6, 2007), was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of ‘That's My Desire’ in 2005. Often billed as America's Number One Song Stylist, his other nicknames include Mr. Rhythm, Old Leather Lungs, and Mr. Steel Tonsils. His hits included ‘That's My Desire’, ‘That Lucky Old Sun’, ‘Jezebel’, ‘High Noon’, ‘I Believe’ and ‘Rawhide’. He sang well-known theme songs for many movie Western soundtracks, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Blazing Saddles. Laine sang an eclectic variety of song styles and genres, stretching from big band crooning to pop, western-themed songs, gospel, rock, folk, jazz, and blues. He did not sing the soundtrack song for High Noon, which was sung by Tex Ritter, nor did he sing the theme to another show he is commonly associated with —Champion the Wonder Horse (sung by Mike Stewart)—but released his own, subsequently more popular version.

Track 23 Gypsy RoverThe Gypsy Rover is a well-known ballad composed and copyrighted


by Dublin songwriter Leo Maguire during 1950. There are a number ofsimilar traditional songs about a well-off woman's encounter withGypsies dating back at least as far as the early 19th century, Thestory-line usually revolves around a woman leaving her home and her"wedded lord" to run off with one or more Gypsies, to be pursued byher husband. The song was first recorded by Joe Lynch in Dublin in1952.

The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music singinggroup. Most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their woollyAran jumpers and are widely credited with popularising Irishtraditional music in the United States. The brothers were Patrick"Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, Bobby Clancy and Liam Clancy. Paddy,Tom, Bob, and Liam are best known for their work with TommyMakem, recording dozens of albums together as The Clancy Brothersand Tommy Makem. They were a primary influence on a young BobDylan and on many other emerging artists.

Track 22 Dem Bones, Dem BonesDem Bones is a well-known spiritual song. The melody was composed by African-American author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938). The lyrics are inspired by Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the Prophet visits the "Valley of Dry Bones" and prophesies that they will one day be resurrected at God's command, picturing the national resurrection of Israel.

The Delta Rhythm Boys were an American vocal group active for over 50 years from 1934 to 1987. The group was first formed at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, in 1934. The group appeared often in the 1940s on radio programs such as The Joan Davis Show, and performed on Broadway in the shows, Sing Out the News and Hot Mikado. They also appeared in film, including in You'll Never Get Rich with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. Aside from their own recordings, they served as background vocalists for Charlie Barnet, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ruth Brown. Also memorable is their 1950s version of the spiritual song "Dem Bones", a hit record for them, and which they performed on television extensively, and is currently revived with at least two postings on YouTube.


Track 23 Goodness Gracious Me Goodness Gracious Me is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love. In the 1990s, the song provided the inspiration for the title and theme tune of the BBC radio and TV comedy programme of the same name.

Sophia Loren, born Sofia Villani Scicolone on 20 September 1934, is an Italian actress. Her films include: Houseboat (1958), El Cid (1961), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963). Loren is known for her sharp wit and insight. One of her most frequently quoted sayings is a quip about her famously voluptuous figure: "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti". During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world. Loren has also recorded well over two dozen songs including a best-selling album of comedic songs with Peter Sellers; reportedly, she had to fend off his romantic advances! Loren first met Carlo Ponti in 1950 when she was 15 and he was 37. They married in 1957. However, Ponti was still officially married to his first wife Giuliana because Italy did not recognize divorce at that time. The couple had their marriage annulled in 1962 to escape bigamy charges. In 1965, Ponti obtained a divorce from Giuliana in France, allowing him to marry Loren again on 9 April 1966. They remained married until he died in 2007.

Peter Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), was a British film actor, comedian and singer. Born in Portsmouth, Sellers made his stage debut at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, when he was two weeks old. He began accompanying his parents in a variety act that toured the provincial theatres. After the war, Sellers became a regular performer on various BBC radio shows. During the early 1950s, Sellers, along with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, took part in The Goon Show, which ended in 1960. Among his notable films was his role of Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series. Versatility enabled him to portray a wide range of comic characters using different accents and guises, and he would often assume multiple roles within the same film. Satire and black humour were major features of many of his films. In his personal life, Sellers struggled with depression and insecurities. His behaviour was often erratic and compulsive, and he frequently clashed with his directors and co-stars. Sellers was married four times, and had three children. He died as a result of a heart attack in 1980, aged 54.


Track 24 Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay Sitting On The Dock of the Bay is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was first recorded by Otis Redding in 1967, just days before his death in a plane crash.

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul music and rhythm and blues, and one of the greatest singers in popular music. His open-throated singing was an influence on other soul singers of the 1960s. After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he wrote and recorded (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. Although Redding's initial popularity was with African Americans, he later became equally popular among the broader American public. Internationally, Redding later performed in Paris and London among other venues. He died tragically in a plane crash along with other members of his band.

Track 25 Night & DayNight and Day is a popular song by Cole Porter. It was written for the 1932 musical play Gay Divorce. Fred Astaire introduced Night and Day on stage. Porter was known to claim that the Islamic call to worship he heard on a trip to Morocco inspired the song. The song was so associated with Porter, that when Hollywood first filmed his life story in 1946, the movie was entitled Night and Day.

The Temptations are an American vocal group known for their success in the 60s and 70s at Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, during its five- decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music. Known for their recognisable choreography, distinct harmonies, and flashy onstage suits, the Temptations have been said to be as influential to soul as The Beatles are to pop and rock. Formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1960 as The Elgins the Temptations have always featured at least five male vocalists/dancers. Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are one of the most successful groups in music history.

Track 26 The Folks Who Live On The HillThe Folks Who Live on the Hill is a 1937 popular song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was introduced by Irene Dunne in the 1937 film High, Wide, and Handsome and was recorded that year by Bing Crosby. It has become particularly associated with Peggy Lee, who sang it on her


1957 album The Man I Love. Lee's performance was conducted by Frank Sinatra.

Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer and actress, in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and performer. She wrote music for films, acted, and created conceptual record albums—encompassing poetry, jazz, chamber pop, and art song.

Track 27 Shake, Rattle & RollShake, Rattle and Roll is a twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed song writing name Charles E. Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets.

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. During the period late 1954-late 1956, the group placed nine singles into the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.Track 28 Give Me Your WordGive Me Your Word is a popular recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford and was released on 31 May 1954 in the United States. and reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1955. ‘Give Me Your Word’ was Ford's first hit in the United Kingdom.

Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Today, he is best remembered for his hit recording of ‘Sixteen Tons’.

Track 29 Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour A novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is humorous in content, the verses each describing a dramatic or urgent scenario leading up to the asking of the titular question. The title and lyrics of the Donegan version were changed in the UK from the original Spearmint because "Spearmint" is a registered trademark


here, and the BBC does not play songs which mention trademarks.

Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002[1]) was known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on British musicians who became famous in the 1960s. With a washboard, a tea-chest bass and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan entertained audiences with folk and blues songs by artists such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. He travelled to the United States, where he appeared on television on both the Perry Como Show and the Paul Winchell Show. Returning to the UK, Donegan recorded his debut album, Lonnie Donegan Showcase, in the summer of 1956, which featured songs by Lead Belly and Leroy Carr, plus "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Wabash Cannonball". The popular skiffle style encouraged amateurs to get started, and one of the many skiffle groups that followed was The Quarrymen formed in March 1957 by John Lennon.

Track 30 School DaysSchool Days is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry,released in March 1957, It is one of his best known songs and is oftenconsidered a rock and roll anthem. The last verse of the song contains thelyrics "Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old." Hail! Hail!Rock and Roll became the title of a 1987 documentary and concert film aboutBerry.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926 – March 18th, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism. Born into a middle- class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery from 1944 to 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and work. His musical break came when he travelled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film


appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had alsoestablished his own St. Louis-based nightclub.

Track 31 Anniversary WaltzThe Anniversary Waltz is a popular song written by Dave Franklin, the lyrics by Al Dubin. The song was published in 1941. It has been covered by Vera Lynn, Connie Francis, and Bing Crosby.

Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (born Vera Margaret Welch on 20 March 1917) is anEnglish singer, songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. She became known as "The Forces' Sweetheart"; the songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England". She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording such hits as "Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart" and "My Son, My Son". In 2009 she became the oldest living artist to make it to No. 1 in the British chart, at the age of 92 with her album We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn. She has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer.


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dailysparkle.co.uk · Web view‘Give Me Your Word’ was Ford's first hit in the United Kingdom. Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally