Broadway Rhythm

By Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
1935

Often mistakenly referred to as "Gotta Dance", thanks to the well-known refrain within the lyrics, this song is known to many thanks to its performance by Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain, perhaps the greatest film musical of all time. However, the song originates in the much earlier musical, Broadway Melody of 1936. It was introduced on record that same year by Frances Langford.

Lyrics:

Oh, that Broadway rhythm
Oh, that broadway rhythm
When I hear that happy beat,
Feel like dancing down the street.
To that Broadway rhythm,
Writhing, beating rhythm.
Gotta dance! Gotta dance!
Gotta dance! Gotta dance!

Broadway rhythm it’s got me
Everybody dance
Broadway rhythm it’s got me
Everybody dance!
Out on the gay white way
In each merry cafe,
Orchestras play,
Taking your breath away.
(With a) Broadway rhythm, it’s got me
Everybody sing and dance!

Recorded By:

Guy Lombardo
Gene Kelly
Frances Langford
Caroll Gibbons
Judy Garland

All I Do Is Dream of You

By Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
1934

Originally written for the motion picture Sadie McKee, this wistful song of unconditional love was a huge hit of the 1930s. The first recording was done by the Hotel Great Northern Orchestra, after which it immediately became a popular standard. Chico Marx famously performed it on the piano in A Night at the Opera.

Lyrics:

All I do the whole night through
Is dream of you.
And with the dawn, I still go on,
Dreamin' of you.

You're every thought,
You're everything,
You're every song I ever sing.
Summer, winter, autumn and spring.

And were there more
Than twenty-four hours a day,
They'd be spent in sweet content,
Dreamin' away.

When skies are gray,
Skies are blue,
Morning, noon and nighttime too.
All I do the whole day through,
Is dream of you...

Recorded By:

Patti Page
Johnny Ray
Perry Como
Ella Fitzgerald
Dean Martin

Alone

By Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
1935

The only hit song to ever emerge from a Marx Brothers movie, this Brown/Freed composition was introduced in the film A Night at the Opera by Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones (father of crooner Jack Jones). That same movie would also include a piano rendition by Chico Marx of another recent Brown song, "All I Do Is Think of You". "Alone" would be performed by Judy Garland five years later in the movie "Andy Hardy Meets Debutante".

Lyrics:

Alone,
Alone with a sky of romance above.
Alone,
Alone on a night that was meant for love.

There must be someone waiting
who feels the way I do.
Whoever you are, are you, are you

Alone,
Alone on this night that we two could share.
Alone,
Alone with a kiss that could make me care.

And when you come I promise
to be your very own!
Alone,
Alone with a heart meant for you.

And when you come I promise
to be your very own!
Alone,
Alone with a heart meant for you.

Alone.

Recorded By:

Johnny Hartman
Judy Garland
Tommy Dorsey
Nat King Cole
Allan Jones

Temptation

By Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
1933

Written for Bing Crosby to sing in his motion picture Going Hollywood, this song would actually get its most famous recording courtesy of Perry Como 12 years later. Como recorded it four different times over the course of his career. The exotic-sounding tune also made an appearance in Singin' in the Rain, almost 20 years after it was published.

Lyrics:

You came,
I was alone,
I should have known,
You were temptation!

You smiled,
Luring me on,
My heart was gone,
And you were temptation!

It would be thrilling if you were willing,
And if it can never be, pity me,
For you were born to be kissed.
I cant resist, you are temptation,
And I am yours!

Here is my heart!
Take it and say that we'll never part!
I'm just a slave, only a slave,
To you!

Temptation,
I'm your slave!

Recorded By:

Artie Shaw
The Everly Brothers
Charlie Parker
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
Screamin' Jay Hawkins

You Were Meant for Me

By Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed

1929

In honor of the passing yesterday of early Hollywood starlet Anita Page, I give you this very pretty song, from her movie The Broadway Melody. Brown wrote the song for Page, to whom he was attached at the time. They would marry, but Page later annulled the marriage after discovering that Brown was still married to his first wife (so much for being meant for each other!). The song was a big hit, coming out of MGM's very first musical. It would be brought back 23 years later in Singin' in the Rain.

Lyrics:

Life was a song,

You came along,

I've laid awake the whole night through.

If I ever dared to think you'd care,

This is what I'd say to you:

You were meant for me,

And I was meant for you.

Nature patterned you,

And when she was done,

You were all the sweet things

Rolled up in one.

You're like a plaintive melody

That never lets me free.

But I'm content

The angels must have sent you,

And they meant you just for me.

Recorded By:

Harold "Scrappy" Lambert

Perry Como

Helen Forrest

Coleman Hawkins

Paul Weston

* For more on Anita Page, check out my other blog, The Vault of Horror.