Hooray for Hollywood

By Richard A. Whiting and Johnny Mercer
1937

The unofficial theme song of the entire film industry, much of the song's enduring popularity can be attributed to Mercer's clever lyric lampooning the notion of celebrity. Since being introduced by Johnnie Davis and Frances Langford (with the Benny Goodman Orchestra) in the musical comedy Hollywood Hotel, it has gone on to become the regular soundtrack for the Academy Awards and other movie award shows. It was also notably the closing theme of Jack Benny's enormously popular radio show.

Lyrics:

Hooray for Hollywood
That screwy ballyhooey Hollywood
Where any office boy or young mechanic can be a panic
With just a good looking pan
And any barmaid can be a star maid
If she dances with or without a fan

Hooray for Hollywood,
Where you're terrific if you're even good
Where anyone at all from Shirley Temple to Aimee Semple
Is equally understood
Go out and try your luck, you might be Donald Duck
Hooray for Hollywood

Hooray for Hollywood
That phoney super-Coney Hollywood
They come from Chillicothes and Paducas with their bazookas
To get their names up in lights
All armed with photos from local rotos
With their hair in ribbon and legs in tights

Hooray for Hollywood
You may be homely in your neighbourhood
But if you think that you can be an actor, see Mr. Factor
He'll make a monkey look good
Within a half an hour you'll look like Tyrone Power
Hooray for Hollywood!

Recorded By:

Doris Day
Anita O'Day
Rosemary Clooney
Nancy Sinatra
Don Swan

You Turned the Tables on Me

By Louis Alter & Sidney D. Mitchell
1936

Benny Goodman enjoyed a major hit with this particular song, using gthe beautiful Helen Ward as his singer at the time. Shortly before, the tune had been introduced in the motion picture Sing, Baby, Sing, in which it was performed by Alice Faye. This was the same movie that introduced the gorgeous Richard Whiting/Walter Bullock song, "When Did You Leave Heaven?", sung by Tony Martin. Say, I think I'll do that one next...

Lyrics:

I used to be the apple of your eye,
I had you with me every day,
But now whenever you are passing by
You're always looking the other way.
It's little things like this
That prompt me to say:

You turned the tables on me
And now I'm falling for you;
You turned the tables on me
I can't believe that it's true.

I always thought when you brought
The lovely present you bought
Why hadn't you brought me more,
But now if you'd come
I'd welcome anything
From the five and ten cent store.

You used to call me the top,
You put me up on a throne.
You let me fall with a drop,
And now I'm out on my own.

But after thinking it over and over,
I got what was coming to me.
Just like the sting of a bee,
You turned the tables on me.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
Louis Armstrong
Count Basie
Tex Beneke
Ann Hampton Callaway

And the Angels Sing

By Ziggy Elman & Johnny Mercer
1939

Benny Goodman's trumpeter Elman came up with this melody in 1938 as an instrumental for his own band, called "Frailach in Swing". But once Mercer added lyrics to it, it became a massive hot for Goodman's orchestra. Six years later, it became the title song of a movie musical starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour.

Lyrics:

We meet, and the angels sing
The angels sing the sweetest song I ever heard
You speak, and the angels sing
Or am I breathing music into every word

Suddenly, the setting is strange
I can see water and moonlight beaming
Silver waves that break on some undiscovered shore - Then
Suddenly, I see it all change
Long winter nights with the candles gleaming
Through it all your face that I adore.

You smile, and the angels sing
And though it's just a gentle murmur at the start
We kiss, and the angels sing
And leave their music ringing in my heart.

Recorded By:

Glenn Miller
Count Basie
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass
Louis Armstrong
Ella Fitzgerald

Goody Goody

By Matt Malneck & Johnny Mercer
1936

This clever melody, with even cleverer lyrics from the irrepressible Mercer, was introduced by the Benny Goodman orchestra, with Helen Ward on vocals. Some 20 years later, doo-wop crooner Frankie Lyman had a minor hit with it that returned it to the spotlight for a bit. A very catchy number, it remains highly recognizable.

Lyrics:

Do you remember me sitting all alone, waiting for the tinkle of the telephone?
Now the action, Jackson's turned right around, goody goody!
Yes you remember me, I was all for you, sitting, waiting, hoping like you told me to.
Now the action, Jackson's turned right around.

So you met someone who set you back on your heels,
Goody Goody!
So you met someone and now you know how it feels,
Goody Goody!

Well you gave her your heart too, just as I gave mine to you.
And she broke it in little pieces, now how do you do?

So you lie awake just singing the blues all night,
Goody Goody!
And you found that loves a barrel of dynamite!
Hurray and hallelujah, you had it coming to ya.
Goody goody for you! Goody goody for me!
And I hope you're satisfied, you rascal you!

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Chicago
Della Reese
Julie London

Darn That Dream

By Jimmy Van Heusen & Eddie DeLange
1939

One of the most disastrous Broadway flops of the era was Swingin' the Dream, a jazzy send-up of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream that ran for a total of 13 performances--despite featuring the likes of Louis Armstrong (pictured), Maxine Sullivan, Bill Bailey, Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge and Etta Jones. All of these performers took turns with this song--the show's sole hit--during the initial production. It didn't become a hit until Benny Goodman recorded it in 1940 with singer Mildred Bailey.

Lyrics:

Darn that dream I dream each night.
You say you love me and hold me tight,
But when I awake and you're out of sight,
Oh, darn that dream.

Darn your lips and darn your eyes,
They lift me high above the moonlit sky,
Then I tumble out of paradise--
Oh, darn that dream.

Darn that one-track mind of mine,
It can't understand that you don't care.
Just to change the mood I'm in,
I'd welcome a nice old nightmare.

Darn that dream, and bless it, too.
Without that dream I'd never have you.
But it haunts me, and it won't come true,
Oh, darn that dream.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
Tommy Dorsey
Doris Day
Miles Davis
Thelonious Monk

Memories of You

By Eubie Blake & Andy Razaf
1930

Blake, of course, was a ragtime and early jazz pioneer, while Razaf is also known for such lyrics as "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose". Significantly for the era, both composers were African American. Minto Cato introduced the tune on Broadway in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930, but it was Benny Goodman who made a huge hit of it shortly thereafter, and adopted it as his theme song.

Lyrics:

Waking skies
At sunrise,
Every sunset, too.
Seems to be
Bringing me
Memories of you.

Here and there,
Everywhere,
Scenes that we once knew.
And they all
Just recall
Memories of you.

How I wish I could forget those
Happy yesteryears.
That have left a rosary of tears.

Your face beams
In my dreams,
In spite of all I do.
Everything
Seems to bring
Memories of you.

Recorded By:

Duke Ellington
Ethel Waters
Louis Armstrong
Anita O'Day
Billy Eckstine

I Thought About You

By Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Mercer
1939

Among the first collaborations by Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Mercer, the song came about when Van Heusen played Mercer the music, right before Mercer caught his train to Chicago, where he was appearing on a radio show with Benny Goodman. Inspired by the ride, Mercer wrote the exceptional words to the tune. It would be none other than Goodman, with Mildred Bailey on vocals, who introduced the song in 1939 with a record that went to #17.

Lyrics:

Seems that I read, or somebody said,
That out of sight is out of mind.
Maybe that's so, but I tried to go
And leave you behind, what did I find...

I took a trip on the train,
And I thought about you.
I passed a shadowy lane,
And I thought about you.

Two or three cars
Parked under the stars,
A winding stream.
Moon shining down
On some little town,
And with each beam,
The same old dream.

At every stop that we made,
I thought about you.
But when I pulled down the shade,
Then I really felt blue.

I peeked through the crack,
And looked at the track--
The one going back to you.
And what did I do?
I thought about you.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Nancy Wilson
Diana Krall
Billie Holiday
Johnny Hartman