Mean to Me

By Fred E. Ahlert and Roy Turk
1929

From the tail end of the Roaring '20s comes this sad, plaintive ballad with a clever lyric by Roy Turk which plays on the double meaning of the word "mean". It was introduced by Annette Hanshaw (pictured), considered in the early '30s to be the female equivalent of Bing Crosby. Ruth Etting also scored a major hit with it later that year. The melody would also be featured that year in the Krazy Kat cartoon "Ratskin", the first animated short produced by Columbia Pictures.

Lyrics: 

You're mean to me
Why must you be mean to me?
Gee, honey, it seems to me
You love to see me cryin'
I don't know why
I stay home each night
When you say you phone
You don't and I'm left alone.

Sing the blues and sighin'
You treat me coldly each day in the year
You always scold me
Whenever somebody is near, dear
I must be great fun to be mean to me
You shouldn't, for can't you see
What you mean to me

Recorded By:

Dean Martin
Robert Goulet
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday
Anita O'Day

Ain't Misbehavin'

By Fats Waller, Harry Brooks & Andy Razaf

1929

Standard of the Day continues its fifth anniversary celebration this month with another signature tune, this time from the great Fats Waller. Fats claimed to have written the song while in prison, which partly inspired the title. He introduced it in 1929, and it was an instant hit, being recorded by several other artists in that year alone, and of course countless times over the decades since. It was the title tune for a 1978 Broadway musical based around Waller's songs, and was also performed by Leon Redbone during the first season of Saturday Night Live. It was also adopted as a theme song by comedian George Burns. More than any other, this song captured the irresistible charm and enthusiasm of the inimitable genius Fats Waller.

Lyrics:

No one to talk with, all by myself
No one to walk with, but I'm happy on the shelf
Ain't misbehavin', I'm savin' my love for you.

I know for certain the one you love
I'm through with flirtin', it's just you I'm thinkin' of
Ain't Misbehavin', I'm savin' my love for you.

Like Jack Horner in the corner
don't go nowhere, what do I care
Your kisses are worth waitin' for . . . Believe me.

I don't stay out late, don't care to go
I'm home about 8, just me and my radio
Ain't Misbehavin', I'm savin' my love for you.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Eartha Kitt
Django Reinhardt
Johnnie Ray

Honeysuckle Rose

By Fats Waller & Andy Razaf
1929

One of the most mainstream of all the compositions of Waller and Razaf (pictured), this song made its way into the lexicon of pop and jazz not long after its introduction by Fats' own ensemble. The infectious, syncopated melody is amongst Waller's best, and Razaf's lyric is playfully flirtatious, setting up the object of his love as a viable sugar substitute (who needs Splenda?) A joyful standard that has brought joy to music fans for generations.

Lyrics: 

Ev'ry honeybee.... fills with jealousy
When they see you out with me
I don't blame them....goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose

When you're passin' by....flowers drop and sigh
And I know the reason why
You're much sweeter....goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose

Don't buy sugar....you just have to touch my cup
You're my sugar....it's so sweet when you stir it up

When I'm taking sips...from your tasty lips
Seems the honey fairly drips
You're confection.....goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose.

Recorded By:

Louis Armstrong
Eva Cassidy
Jane Monheit
Anita O'Day
Lena Horne

Just You, Just Me

By Jesse Greer & Raymond Klages 
1929 

A film musical number with understated grace, gentle simplicity and sublime beauty, it's no wonder that this song has become especially popular amongst jazz instrumentalists dating back to the Big Band era. It was introduced by Chaplin paramour Marion Davies and Lawrence Grey in the film Marianne (pictured), and was even later performed by Liza Minelli in the 1976 Martin Scorsese musical New York, New York, as well as by Edward Norton as a serenade to Drew Barrymore in the 1996 Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love You.

Lyrics:

Just you, just me
Let's find a cozy spot
To cuddle and woo.
Just us, just we
I've missed an awful lot
My trouble is you.

Oh, gee!
What are your charms for?
What are my arms for?
Use your imagination!

Just you, just me
I'll tie a lover's knot
Around wonderful you.

Recorded By:

Bing Crosby
Artie Shaw
Judy Garland
Lester Young
Duke Ellington

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

By Joe Burke & Al Dubin
1929

If you think it was Tiny Tim who introduced this song, then think again. This was a tried-and-true standard introduced by "The Crooning Troubadour" Nick Lucas in the movie Gold Diggers of Broadway. Lucas' version also hit number one on the pop charts and stayed for the 10 weeks. It became one of the most popular tunes of the early '30s, recorded many times. Novelty act Tiny Tim (as well as The Human Society) reintroduced it as an odd relic in the late 1960s. Tim's recording was also recently included to spooky effect in the 2011 horror film Insidious.

Lyrics:

Tiptoe through the window
By the window, that is where I'll be
Come tiptoe through the tulips with me

Oh, tiptoe from the garden
By the garden of the willow tree
And tiptoe through the tulips with me

Knee deep in flowers we'll stray
We'll keep the showers away
And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight
Will you pardon me?
And tiptoe through the tulips with me

Recorded By:

Tiny Tim
The Human Society
Jean Goldkette
Johnny Marvin
Roy Fox

What Is This Thing Called Love?

By Cole Porter
1929

A mournful dirge by the great Porter for the musical Wake Up and Dream, in which it was introduced in London by Elsie Carlisle (pictured). Porter was known for his bouncy, light-hearted highs and desolate lows. This would be an example of the latter, and its soulful, introspective nature made it a natural for the jazz artists who discovered it in the 1930s and beyond. In fact, several jazz compositions, including "Fifth House" by John Coltrane and "Barry's Bop" by Fats Navarro, are based on the chord structure of this song.

Lyrics:

I was a humdrum person,
Leading a life apart.
When love flew in through my window wide,
And quickened my humdrum heart.

Love flew in through my window,
I was so happy then.
But after love had stayed a little while,
Love flew out again.

What is this thing called love?
This funny thing called love?
Just who can solve its mystery?
Why should it make a fool of me?

I saw you there one wonderful day.
You took my heart, and threw it away.
That's why I ask the Lord in heaven above,
What is this thing called love?

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Bill Evans
Coleman Hawkins

With a Song in My Heart

By Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
1929

A sweepingly melodious ballad from the Rodgers & Hart musical Spring Is Here, introduced on stage by John Hundley and Lillian Taiz. It was featured in numerous film musicals for decades after, but firstly in the full-length film version of Spring Is Here in 1930 (pictured).

Lyrics:

Though I know that we meet ev'ry night
and we couldn't have change since the last time,
to my joy and delight,
it's a new kind of love at first sight.
Though it's you and it's I all the time
ev'ry meeting's marvelous pastime.
You're increasingly sweet,
so whenever we happened to met
I greet you ...

With a song in my heart
I behold your adorable face.
Just a song at the start
but it soon is a hymn to your grace.

When the music swells
I'm touching you hand
It tells that your're standing near, and ..

At the sound of your voice
heaven opens his portals to me.
Can I help but rejoice
that a song such as ours came to be?

But I always knew
I would live life through
with a song in my heart for you.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Perry Como
The Supremes
Doris Day
Sammy Davis Jr.

Why Was I Born?

By Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II
1929

The Kern/Hammerstein musical Sweet Adeline was a part of the 1920s nostalgia fad for the "Gay '90s", i.e. the last decade of the 19th century. Broadway legend Helen Morgan (pictured) introduced this classic torch song in the production, and it was also sung by Irene Dunne in the 1935 film version. Truly a ballad of great power.

Lyrics:

Spending these lonesome evenings
With nothing to do,
But to live in dreams that I make up,
All by myself.
Dreaming that you're beside me,
I picture the prettiest stories,
Only to wake up,
All by myself

What is the good of me by myself?

Why was I born?
Why am I living?
What do I get?
What am I giving?

Why do I want a thing
I daren't hope for?
What can I hope for?
I wish I knew.

Why do I try
To draw you near me?
Why do I cry?
You never hear me.

I'm a poor fool,
But what can I do?
Why was I born
To love you?

Recorded By:

Maude Maggart
Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Vic Damone

Happy Days Are Here Again

By Milton Ager & Jack Yellen
1929

Best remembered as FDR's 1932 election campaign song, this tune has come to symbolize peace and prosperity in America. It was introduced by the Leo Reisman orchestra, yet interestingly its most famous interpreter may be Barbra Streisand, who recorded it decades later. It has also been featured in countless films, and was the theme song for comedian Rip Taylor and social satirist Mark Russell.

Lyrics:

So long sad times,
Go long bad times,
We are rid of you at last.
Howdy gay times,
Cloudy gray times,
You are now a thing of the past.

Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again,
So lets sing a song of cheer again.
Happy days are here again!

Altogether shout it now,
There's no one who can doubt it now,
So let's tell the world about it now,
Happy days are here again!

Your cares and troubles are gone.
There'll be no more from now on,
From now on...

Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again,
So, lets sing a song of cheer again,
Happy days are here again!

Recorded By:

Guy Lombardo
Tierney Sutton
George Shearing
Mitch Miller
Ray Brown

More Than You Know

By Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose & Edward Eliscu
1929

Written for the musical Great Day, this beautiful expression of longing was introduced on stage by Mayo Methot, future wife of Humphrey Bogart. One of the last big hits of the Roaring '20s, it was popularized on the radio by Jane Froman.

Lyrics:

More than you know,
More than you know,
Man of my heart, I love you so.
Lately I've found you on my mind
More than you know.

Whether you're right,
Whether youre wrong,
Man of my heart, I'll string along.
I need you so,
More than you'll ever know

Loving you the way that I do,
There's nothing I can do about it.
Loving may be all you can give,
But darling, I cant live without it.

Oh, how I'd cry,
How I'd sigh,
If you got tired and said goodbye.
More than I'd show,
More than you'd ever know.

Recorded By:

Stacey Kent
Billie Holiday
Barbra Streisand
Carmen McRae
Brent Spiner

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.

Puttin' on the Ritz

By Irving Berlin
1929

This one has gone through quite a transformation over the years. Written for the 1930 musical film of the same name, in which it was introduced by Harry Richman, it was originally about poor blacks in Harlem who "put on the Ritz", or pretended to be affluent--a reference to the Ritz Hotel. When Fred Astaire sang it six years later, Berlin had changed the lyrics to pertain to affluent whites. It was featured to great comedic effect in Mel Brooks' 1974 picture Young Frankenstein. And a decade after that, Dutch singer Taco scored a #4 hit on the charts with his synth-pop cover, making the 95-year-old Berlin the oldest songwriter to ever have a charted hit.

Lyrics:

[Original version:]
Have you seen the well-to-do
Up on Lenox Avenue?
On that famous thoroughfare,
With their noses in the air?
High hats and colored collars,
White spats and fifteen dollars.
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time.

If you're blue and you don't know where to go to,
Why don't you go where Harlem sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Spangled gowns upon a bevy of high browns 
From down the levee, all misfits,
Puttin' on the Ritz.

That's where each and every lulubelle goes
Ev'ry Thursday evening with her swell beaus,
Rubbing elbows.

Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee,
And see them spend their last two bits.
Puttin' on the Ritz.

[Revised version:]
Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue? 
On that famous thoroughfare,
With their noses in the air?
High hats and Arrow collars,
White spats and lots of dollars.
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time.

If you're blue, and you don't know where to go to, 
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Diff'rent types who wear a day coat, pants with stripes, 
And cutaway coat, perfect fits.
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Dressed up like a million dollar trouper,
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper--
Super duper!
 
Come, let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks,
Or um-ber-ellas in their mitts.
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Benny Goodman
Judy Garland
Fred Astaire
Taco

I'll See You Again

By Noel Coward
1929

OK, so it's not an American song. I'll be making exceptions from time to time, especially for excellent tunes like this one--a bittersweet gem written by Coward for an operetta aptly titled Bitter Sweet. The musical was filmed twice, the more notable version being a 1940 Nelson Eddy-Jeanette McDonald MGM production which Coward allegedly found so awful it brought him to tears. The song is rare for having an intro that is even longer than its verses. Listen to the Maude Maggart recording below to hear the full lyrics.

Lyrics:

I'll see you again,
Whenever spring breaks through again.
Time may lay heavy between,
But what is mean,
Is past forgetting.

This sweet memory
Across the years will come to me.
Though my world may go awry,
In my heart will ever lie,
Just the echo of a sigh--
Goodbye.

I'll see you again,
Whenever spring breaks through again.
Time has lain heavy between,
But what is mean,
Can leave me never.

Your dear memory,
Throughout my life will come to me.
Though my world has gone awry,
Though the years my tears may dry,
I shall love you 'til I die--
Goodbye.

Recorded By:

Maude Maggart
Frank Sinatra
Glenn Miller
Mario Lanza
Bryan Ferry

I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan

By Arthur Schwartz & Howard Dietz
1929

With its catchy tune and lyric, this sophisticated song was written for the Broadway revue The Little Show. It was introduced by Clifton Webb, the actor who would gain great acclaim decades later for his roles in movies like Laura, The Razor's Edge, Cheaper By the Dozen and the "Mr. Belvedere" films. The Little Show also produced the hit song "Can't We Be Friends", written by Kay Swift & Paul James. Fred Astaire would bring the song back nearly 25 years later in The Band Wagon. Trivia note: this tune came to be popularly known as "The Blue Pajama Song".

Lyrics:

I guess I'll have to change my plan.
I should have realized there'd be another man.
I overlooked that point completely,
Until the big affair began.

Before I knew where I was at,
I found myself upon the shelf, and that was that.
I tried to reach the moon,
But when I got there,
All that I could get was the air.
My feet are back upon the ground--
I lost the one girl I'd found.

I guess I'll have to change my plan,
I should have realized there'd by another man.
Why did I buy those blue pajamas,
Before the big affair began?

My boiling point is much too low,
For me to try to be a fly Lothario.
I think I'll crawl right back into my shell,
Dwelling in my personal hell.
I'll have to change my plan around--
I lost the one girl I'd found.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Bobby Darrin
Ella Fitzgerald
Stacey Kent
Tony Bennett

S'posin'

By Paul Denniker & Andy Razaf
1929

A bit of a pop novelty from the Roaring '20s, this tune was one of several by the team of Denniker & Razaf, Tin Pan Alley regulars who also worked as song "demonstrators" for sheet music shops. Rudy Vallee was the first to make a hit of the infectious number, and despite being relatively lightweight--unkinder critics may say "shallow"--it became something of a jazz standard during the be-bop era.

Lyrics:

S'posin' I should fall in love with you,
Do you think that you could love me too?
S'posin' I should hold you and caress you,
Would it impress you?
Or, perhaps, distress you?

S'posin' I should say, "For you I yearn,"
Would ya think I'm speaking out of turn?
And s'posin' I declare it,
Would you take my love and share it?
I'm not s'posin'--I'm in love with you.

Recorded By:

Fats Waller
Frank Sinatra
Miles Davis
Dean Martin
Keely Smith