Button Up Your Overcoat

By Ray Hernderon, B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown
1928

Although Ruth Etting was the first to record this song, it was the version recorded a few months later by Helen Kane, the cutesy-voiced singer who inspired Betty Boop, that made the song a major hit. It would also be featured in the 1929 Broadway musical Follow Thru, as well as the film of the following year. Although it would always be identified as a song very much of the 1920s, it would be regularly brought back as a nostalgia piece by artists of later decades.

Lyrics: 

Listen, big boy
Now that you got me made
Goodness, but I'm afraid
Somethin's gonna happen to you

Listen, big boy
You gotta be hooked, and how
I would die if I should lose you now

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Eat an apple every day
Get to bed by three
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Be careful crossing streets, ooh, ooh
Cut out sweets, ooh, ooh
Lay off meat, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Wear your flannel underwear
When you climb a tree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me
Boop-boop-a-doop

When you sass a traffic cop
Use diplomacy
Just take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Beware of frozen funds, ooh, ooh
Stocks and bonds, ooh, ooh
Dockside thugs, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your bankroll

Keep the spoon out of your cup
When you're drinking tea
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Don't sit on hornet's tails, ooh, ooh
Or on nails, ooh, ooh
Or third rails, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Keep away from bootleg hooch
When you're on a spree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Recorded By:

Sarah Vaughan
Paul Whiteman
Connie Francis
Johnny Mercer
Bing Crosby

I'm Sitting on Top of the World

By Ray Henderson, Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young
1925

An anthem of the Roaring '20s, this infectious number was also one of the signature tunes of that musical giant of the Jazz Age, Al Jolson. It has since come to represent the heights of the pre-Depression 1920s, and was ironically used to that effect in the opening of Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong, set after the stock market crash. It can also be heard over the closing credits of the 1995 Richard III starring Ian McKellen.

Lyrics:

I'm sitting on top of the world,
Just rolling along
Just rolling along.

I'm quitting the blues of the world
Just singing a song
Just singing a song.

Glory hallelujah, I just phoned the parson
Hey, pa, get ready to call
Just like humpty dumpty,
I'm going to fall.

I'm sitting on top of the world
Just rolling along
Just rolling along.

Some people have diamonds
And beautiful pearls
While others have children
Just kiddies with curls.

Keep all of your fortunes
Keep all of your fame
I just found a sweetie
Who's changing her name.

I'm sitting on top of the world
just rolling along
just rolling along.

Don't want any millions
I'm getting my share
I've only got one suit (one suit)
That's all I can wear
A bundle of money won't make you feel gay
A sweet little honey is making me say.

I'm sitting on top of the world
just rolling along
just rolling along.

Recorded By:

Art Gillham
Les Paul & Mary Ford
Dean Martin
Dizzy Gillespie
Doris Day

Sonny Boy

By Ray Henderson, Bud De Sylva & Lew Brown
1928

A sentimental tear-jerker if ever there was one, this is however a fine example of the powerful work of Al Jolson, a titanic entertainer of the early 20th century. Call it sappy, but I find that a measure of the level of maturity one has attained in life can be taken by whether or not one is moved by this song. Jolson himself introduced it in his second talkie, The Singing Fool, and took it to #1 for 12 weeks, selling over a million copies. The cartoon character Bosko also sings it in Warner Bros.' first animated short, The Talk-Ink Kid.

Lyrics:

Climb up on my knee, Sonny Boy,
Though you're only three, Sonny Boy.
You've no way of knowing,
There's no way of showing
What you mean to me, Sonny Boy.

When there are gray skies,
I don't mind the gray skies,
You make them blue,
Sonny Boy.

Friends may forsake me,
Let 'em all forsake me,
I still have you,
Sonny Boy.

You come from Heaven,
And I know your worth.
You've made a Heaven
For me, here on Earth.

When I'm old and gray, dear,
Promise you won't stray, dear,
For I love you so,
Sonny Boy.

[*sniff sniff*]

Recorded By:

Jimmy Roselli
Paul Robeson
Sonny Rollins
The Andrews Sisters
Mel Torme

Bye, Bye Blackbird

By Ray Henderson & Mort Dixon
1926

A true anthem of the Roaring '20s, this tune was introduced by Gene Austin, but perhaps the most famous rendition was Josephine Baker's. Ironically, given the Nazi party's disdain for jazz, it was even adopted as part of Joseph Goebbel's propaganda campaign, given new words intended to demoralize Allied troops. It failed.

Lyrics:

Pack up all my cares and woes,
Feeling low, here I go.
Bye, bye blackbird.

Where somebody waits for me.
Sugar's sweet--so is she.
Bye, bye blackbird.

No one seems to love or understand me,
And all the hard luck stories they keep handing me.
Where somebody shines the light,
I'll be coming home tonight.
Blackbird, bye bye.

Recorded By:

Nina Simone
Joe Cocker
John Coltrane
Liza Minelli
Peggy Lee