What the hullabaloo’s about

______________________________

Today’s post features the lyric of the song “So It’s Spring,” written by Tommy Wolf (music) and Wayne Arnold (words). I’d been unable to find the lyric online so I decided to transcribe the words myself, a job which I completed late last night before retiring. The lyric is found below the video in the post, and has also been added to my page on the song, which I’d published about a year ago. That page is here: So It’s Spring.

The earliest recording of “So It’s Spring” that I’m aware of is that released on the 1958 Tommy Wolf album Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, Fraternity Records F-1010. The album was recorded on 5 & 6 September 1957, and features a trio consisting of Tommy Wolf (piano, vocals), Monty Budwig (bass), and Shelly Manne (drums). Other recordings include the following:

• Jackie & Roy with Bill Holman’s Orchestra, released on the 1958 album Free and Easy!, ABC-Paramount ‎ABC-207
• Carol Lawrence with orchestra conducted by Harry Betts, released on the 1962 album This Heart of Mine, album produced by Jackie Mills and Tommy Wolf
• Ed Vodicka & Friends, released on the 1987 CD album Portfolio, Best Recordings BR89-512

These are actually the only four recordings of the song that I’ve yet found.

Tommy Wolf — from the 1958 album Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most (dr. chilledaire),(Discogs.com), Fraternity Records F-1010; album recorded on 5 & 6 September 1957

____________________________

So It’s Spring (Tommy Wolf, Wayne Arnold) lyric

verse:

When the snow and the sleet are done
And the woolens are put away
Everyone shouts hooray!
It’s spring, hooray!

But I never have figured out
What the hullabaloo’s about
Why do the people shout
Hooray! hooray!

I don’t give a tooralay
If it’s April, March, or May
This is what I’ve got to say

chorus:

1
So it’s gonna be spring, so what?
So it’s spring
Is that good?
When I walk through the park
I just walk through the park
And go home to my own little bed

2
So the bird’s on the wing, so what?
I should care
Let it wing
All that passionate cooing
The pigeons are doing
Don’t matter a smidgen
Unless you’re a pigeon
I’m not, and so what if it’s spring

3
Each bud that is bursting in bloom
Unfolds to the delicate bee
And though such hocus-pocus
May tickle a crocus
It’s kind of revolting to me

4
Gee, so it’s gonna be spring, so what?
So it’s spring
Nitchevo
If you’re only a guy with a gleam in his eye
And with no one exciting for hand-to-hand fighting
It might as well be Halloween
See what I mean!
So it’s spring

(repeat 3)
Each bud that is bursting in bloom
Unfolds to the delicate bee
And though such hocus-pocus
May tickle a crocus
It’s kind of revolting to me

(repeat 4, with variation)
Yes, it’s gonna be spring, so what?
So it’s spring
Nitchevo
If you’re only a guy with a gleam in his eye
And with no one exciting for hand-to-hand fighting
It might as well be Halloween
See what I mean
So it’s spring!

~ lyric transcribed by Jim Radcliff (doc), 7 April 2019, from the 1957 Tommy Wolf recording

See also my page Unsung lyrics, transcribed by doc.

Advertisements

Spring ain’t the thing

____________________________

Selected songs in which spring temporarily disappoints, for various reasons, including the following:

• for being late to arrive
• because the coming of spring sometimes marks the end of a romance rather than the beginning of one
• for failing to live up to its reputation as an auspicious, benign, and rejuvenating season of love and romance
• for failing to impress one with its various phenomena, no matter how magical and delightful they appear to others, which in at least one case moves one to reject spring and opt instead to cling to winter
• for being suspected of not being the real cause of feelings, emotions, and other effects that it is typically credited with generating or arousing
• because early in the season one may be deceived (fooled) into thinking its warmth has come to stay, only to be slapped back into reality when winterlike cold abruptly returns
• because late spring typically includes a brief cold snap that always reminds a spurned lover of their loss

Such songs may have become fashionable in the mid-1950s. Blue links are for Songbook feature pages or posts.

1939 — Some Other Spring (m. Irene Kitchings, w. Arthur Herzog, Jr.)

1943 — Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year (Frank Loesser)

1955 — Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most (m. Thomas Wolf, Jr., w. Frances Landesman)

1956 — April Fooled Me (m. Jerome Kern, w. Dorothy Fields)

1956 — Melancholy March (m. Herm Saunders, w. Dory Langdon)

1957 — So It’s Spring (Tommy Wolf, Wayne Arnold)

1957 — They Say It’s Spring (Bob Haymes, Marty Clark)

1976 — Blackberry Winter (Alec Wilder, Loonis McGlohon)

• Blackberry Winter, 1976-2009 recordings (part 1)
• Blackberry Winter – recordings after 2009 (part 2)

Love is like spring

_______________________

Selected songs in which love or a loved one is metaphorically likened to spring, has agreeable qualities or effects similar to those of spring, or seems to turn a winter month into a warmer one (blue links are for Songbook feature pages):

1929 — Like a Breath of Springtime (m. Joe Burke, w. Al Dubin)

1930 — It Seems to be Spring (m. Richard A. Whiting, w. George Marion, Jr.)

1933 — When You’ve Got a Little Springtime in Your Heart (Harry Woods)

1934 — June in January (m. Ralph Rainger, w. Leo Robin)

1936 — I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Irving Berlin)

1939 — Love Turns Winter to Spring — m. Matt Dennis, w. Frank Killduff (Brigham Townsend)

1941 — Soft As Spring (Alec Wilder)

1943 — Suddenly It’s Spring (m. Jimmy Van Heusen, w. Johnny Burke)

1945 — It Might as Well Be Spring (m. Richard Rodgers, w. Oscar Hammerstein II)

1947 — In the Spring of the Year (m. Alec Wilder, w. Lee Kuhn)

1957 — They Say It’s Spring (Bob Haymes, Marty Clark)

1957 — Their Hearts Were Full of Spring (Bobby Troup)

All in vain I’ve wandered the snow lands

_________________________________________________

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Today’s new page is on the song “Like a Breath of Springtime,” written by Joe Burke (music) and Al Dubin (words). The song was copyrighted on 20 May 1929 and used in the 1929 romance film Hearts in Exile, which is considered a lost film.

1929 recordings include those by Roy Ingraham and his Orchestra, Harold “Scrappy” Lambert, Henry Busse and his Orchestra (vocal: Burt Lorin), Sam Lanin Orchestra (vocal: Marvin Young), Pete Woolery, and Adrian Schubert and his Salon Orchestra (vocal: Scrappy Lambert). “Burt Lorin” is a pseudonym for Scrappy Lambert, so Lambert is the vocalist on three of the seven recordings included in the page. Most, if not all, of these recordings were released under the copyright title “Like a Breath of Spring-Time.” I’ve modified the spelling of the last word of the title to conform with modern usage. Here’s a link to the new page:

Like a Breath of Springtime

A verse is sung in the Scrappy Lambert (Brunswick), Henry Busse, and Pete Woolery recordings, preceding the chorus. I’d been unable to find the full verse online, so I made the following transcription on 22 March 2019:

Winter blows its breath on the low lands
Over every green covered glen
All in vain I’ve wandered the snow lands
Looking for the sunshine again, then…

Recordings included in the page::

• Roy Ingraham and his Orchestra — recorded on 5 August 1929; issued on the 78 rpm single Brunswick 4544, b/w “Deep in the Arms of Love” (w.m. Lou Davis, Roy Ingraham)

• Harold “Scrappy” Lambert — recorded 15 September 1929 and issued on the 78 rpm single Brunswick 4556, c/w “When The Real Thing Comes Your Way”

Scrappy Lambert links: Wikipedia, JazzAge1920s.com, Discography of American Historical Recordings, Discogs.com, archive.org

audio file (4.9 MB, VBR MP3) from the Harold Scrappy Lambert Collection 1925-1935 at archive.org:

.

• Henry Busse and his Orchestra, vocal: Burt Lorin (pseudonym of Harold “Scrappy” Lambert) — recorded on 20 September 1920; issued 8 November 1929 the 78 rpm single Victor 22140, b/w “Since I Found You” (m. Ray Perkins, w. Herman Ruby) — In the UK, the recording was issued in January 1930 on the B-side of HMV B 5751, the A-side being a recording of “Sunny Side Up” by Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders.
• Sam Lanin Orchestra, vocal: Marvin Young (pseudonym of Irving Kaufman)– recorded on 26 September 1929 (Columbia matrix W149055); issued on the 10-inch 78 rpm single Harmony 1018-H, c/w “Melancholy”
• Pete Woolery, accompanied by violin and piano — recorded on 9 October 1929 (Columbia matrix W149069); issued on Columbia 2004-D, c/w “Deep in the Arms of Love” (w.m. Lou Davis, Roy Ingraham)
• Adrian Schubert and his Salon Orchestra, vocal: Harold “Scrappy” Lambert — recorded on 1 November 1929; issued on the following US singles (all except Banner 507, c/w the Irving Berlin song “To Be Forgotten”):
  • Perfect 15247 – as Adrian Schubert and His Salon Orchestra, acc. to Henry König’s Perfect 1928-1934 catalog at http://musiktiteldb.de; as Adrian Schubert’s Salon Orchestra, acc. to 78discography.com
  • (US) Pathe 37066 – as Adrian Schubert and His Salon Orchestra, acc. to Henry König; as Adrian Schubert SO, acc. 78discography.com
  • Domino 4447 – as Russ Carlson and His Dance Orchestra, acc. to Henry König, as Adrian Schubert Society Orchestra, acc. 78discography.com
  • Banner 507 – as Russ Carlson and His Dance Orchestra, acc. to Henry König; as Russ Carlson’s Dance Orchestra, acc. to 78discography.com — c/w “A Waltz That Brings a Memory,” by Willie Creager and his Orchestra

also issued on the French Pathé ‎label on the following single:

• • Pathé ‎X. 6300, b/w “Lady Luck” (Ray Parkins) – as House Orchestra
• Sam Browne — issued on 30 October 1930 on the 78 rpm single (UK) Edison Bell Radio 1388, as the B-side of “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” (m. Joe Burke, w. Al Dubin)

_________________________

Other recordings that I haven’t found yet include those by Dr. Eugene Ormandy’s Salon Orchestra, OKeh 41319, 17 September 1929; Debroy Somers Band, (UK) Columbia CB 90, 2 June 1930; as well as several others by British dance bands and vocalists.

Bewitchin’ to beggar and king

_________________________________

Today I published a short page on the song “In the Spring of the Year,” with music by Alec Wilder and words by Lee Kuhn, including the only four recordings of the song that I’ve found so far. According to WilderWorld podcast 129 the song was written in 1947. However, the copyright date is 20 April 1949. I’ve included a transcription of the lyric that I did today using the 1951 Lee Kuhn recording. In other versions, the order of sections vary, as do the number of times certain sections are sung. Here’s a link to the new page:

In the Spring of the Year

Recordings included in the page:

• Joe Graydon Orchestra with Four Hits and a Miss – recorded on 25 March 1949 (matrix L 4945); released on the single Coral 60068, c/w “Amarillo”
• Lee Kuhn sings, with piano accompaniment (pianist unidentified) — 1951 Associated Recording Studios recording

• • WilderWorld podcast 129, 8 April 2008
• Mabel Mercer – from her 1958 album Once in a Blue Moon, (US) Atlantic Records 1301, SD 1301

.

• Joyce Breach with The Keith Ingham Trio — from the 2003 CD album Remembering Mabel Mercer – Volume Two, Audiophile ACD-326

In the Spring of the Year (m. Alec Wilder, w. Lee Kuhn)
~lyric transcribed by doc on 30 March 2019, from the 1951 Lee Kuhn recording

In the spring of the year
All of a sudden
The bloomin’ and buddin’
Get into your blood ‘n’ you sing
Not a sigh do you hear in the spring
Of the year

In the spring of the year
Some hocus-pocus
Induces the crocus
To blossom and grow ’cause it’s spring
There’s a magic that’s queer in the spring
Of the year

Birds are singier
Vines are clingier
Bells are ringier too
The sun is sunnier
Bees are honeyer
Rabbits are bunnier too

In the spring of the year
Folks get an itchin’
For wooin’ and hitchin’
Bewitchin’ to beggar and king
For the fling of the year in the spring
Of the year

Trees are sappier
Wings are flappier
Laughs are laughier too
The moon is moonier
Tunes are tunier
Dreams are balloonier too

(repeat section 4)