1928 selected standards, part 1

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I Wanna Be Loved by You (music: Herbert Stothart, Harry Ruby/lyrics: Bert Kalmar)
If I Had You (James Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Ted Shapiro)
When You’re Smiling (Shay, Fisher, and Goodwin)
Sweet Lorraine (Cliff Burwell, Mitchell Parish)
Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) (Cole Porter)
She’s Funny That Way (Charles N. Daniels, Richard E. Whiting)
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)
I Must Have That Man (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)
Die Moritat von Mackie Messer / Mack the Knife (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht)

Separate feature pages:

See also:

1928 selected standards, part 2: Makin’ Whoopee, Love Me or Leave Me, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Button Up Your Overcoat, I’ve Got a Crush on You, Together, Creole Love Call, Lover Come Back to Me, Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise, El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)

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I Wanna Be Loved by You (music: Herbert Stothart, Harry Ruby/lyrics: Bert Kalmar) was written for the 1928 musical Good Boy.

From Wikipedia:

The song was first performed in 1928 by Helen Kane, who became known as the ‘Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl’ because of her baby-talk, scat-singing tag line to the song. This version was recorded when Kane’s popularity started to reach its peak, and became her signature song. Two years later, a cartoon character named Betty Boop was modeled after Kane.^[2]

However, Kane had already used the famous scat line in an earlier 1928 show, in a different song, “That’s My Weakness Now,” according to the Wikipedia Helen Kane page.

Ben Selvin Orchestra, recording as Broadway Nitelites, with vocalist Vaughn De Leath – 1928

Annette Hanshaw – 1929

Marilyn Monroe in the film Some Like it Hot (1959)

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rudy-vallee-conducts

If I Had You (James Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Ted Shapiro) was originally a popular British ballad sung by Al Bowlly. But a recording by Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees followed Bowlly’s hit onto the pop charts within weeks. Campbell and Connelly (in this case under the pseudonym Irving King) also wrote the lyrics of the popular hits “Goodnight, Sweetheart” (1931) and “Try a Little Tenderness” (1933), the latter of which is a jazz standard.

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Rudy Vallee – 1929

Benny Goodman Sextet, recorded 28 Oct 1941

Clarinet : Benny Goodman
Trombone : Lou McGarity
Piano : Mel Powell
Guitar : Tom Morgan
Bass : Sid Weiss
Drums : Ralph Collier

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When You’re Smiling (Shay, Fisher, and Goodwin)

The Louisiana Rhythm Kings led by Red Nichols (not to be confused with The New Orleans Rhythm Kings) – 1928

The youtube provider reports that the band included such “top sidemen” as Miff Mole, Pee Wee Russell, Bud Freeman, Jimmy Dorsey, and Fud Livingston “or” Jack Teagarden. The “or” might be a typing error since these latter two didn’t play the same instruments.

Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra – 11 Sep 1929

(below) This Pathetone Weekly (British Pathé) short , issued 09/03/1931, contains a dance number using a medley of two songs. First, When You’re Smiling is danced by The Empire Girls. At about 1:02, dancer Charlie Robbins replaces the girls and performs to the 1929 song Great Day. Finally, both dance to Great Day at a quicker tempo.

The title page seems to indicate that the song was used in either the feature film Hit the Deck (1930) or perhaps a revival of the 1927 musical from which the film was adapted. Neither song was in the original production of Hit the Deck, or the 1930 film. I’ve been unable to connect either one of these acts with the film.

Billie Holiday – 1938

About this recording, Chris Tyle writing in the Jazz History Notes section of the song profile at jazzstandards.com says:

The relationship between tenor saxophonist Lester Young and vocalist Billie Holiday has often been described as a “musical romance.” A perfect example of their symbiosis is the marvelous 1938 recording led by pianist Teddy Wilson.

Dean Martin

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Sweet Lorraine (Cliff Burwell, Mitchell Parish)

Johnny Johnson and his Orchestra – 11 June 1928

Nat King Cole – A 1940 recording by Cole was a big hit. I haven’t dated this performance yet.

Frank Sinatra with the Metronome All Star Band – 1946

Count Basie and Oscar Peterson from the album Nightrider – 1978

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Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) (Cole Porter) The song was introduced in the Broadway musical Paris which included five Porter compositions (several others were dropped before the New York opening).

B.A. Rolfe and his Palais D’or Orchestra – 1928

Eartha Kitt – dated 1970. Appears to be a live studio recording for a television special.

Kim Basinger – in the film The Marrying Man (1991)

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(Above left) Ted Lewis in his trademark top hat, and (right) with his band on the set of the film Is Everybody Happy? (1929)

She’s Funny That Way (Charles N. Daniels/Richard E. Whiting) – Ted Lewis and his Band – 1928

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I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby (Jimmy McHugh/ Dorothy Fields)

From the site DorothyFields.co.uk

The tune was used in one of Fields’ and McHugh’s earliest collaborations, but was unpublished, and Dorothy wrote new lyrics for the music to provide a number for Delmar’s Revels (in either 1927 or 1928). Some sources say that the original song was a tribute to the superstar aviator Charles Lindbergh entitled I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Lindy. However, this doesn’t seem to tie in with a story Dorothy told later, involving her overhearing the conversation of a poor black couple gazing at the stylish and expensive jewelery on offer in Tiffany’s display window. Apparently the man said “Gee honey, I can’t give you anything but love.”

Whatever the original was, the staging of the revised song in Delmar’s Revels was a couple of poor kids sitting on the front steps of a tenement building. The unknown actors were Bert Lahr and Patsy Kelly, and he sang the song to her. Harry Delmar hated the song and insisted it be removed from the show after the first night!

However Fields and McHugh clearly believed in it, for they included it in several songs provided for Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1928 at the Liberty Theatre. Not everybody liked it – one critic called it “a sickly, puerile song“- but its detractors were vastly outnumbered by its admirers, and the sheet music and a recorded version by Cliff Edwards were massive hits.

Wikipedia says:

The song was originally introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928 in Lew Leslie’s Blackbird Revue. The revue later changed its name to Blackbirds of 1928 and enjoyed a long successful run on Broadway. In Blackbirds of 1928 the song was performed by Adelaide Hall, Aida Ward and Willard McLean.

Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders – 1928

Connee Boswell – recorded 26 August 1935 with The Ramblers in Laren, Holland

Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra – New York, 19 November 1936 – Jonah Jones, t / Benny Goodman (as JOHN JACKSON), cl / Ben Webster, ts / Teddy Wilson, p / Allan Reuss, g / John Kirby, sb / Cozy Cole, d / Billie Holiday, v.

Valaida Snow – recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1940

The provider says:

The Social Democratic Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning, wanted during the early summer all US. Citizens out of Denmark, before USA maby joined the Allies. Valaida Snow didn’t listen to the warnings, and finally she was arrested by the half independent Danish Police, bustered for illegal drugs. She was very lucky that she was deported and escorted by the Danish police to neutral Sweden, and not handed over to the German Gestapo. Many myths have been since been told about this. On this video I want to tell the truth about what happened, and also give a short description about life in Denmark between 1939-1941, when Valaida Snow was living there. On the sound track you hear one of her four recor[d]ings from Copenhagen in 1940. This one is: ” I can’t give you anything but love” with the Danish saxophonist and band leader Winstrup Olesen. Please, enjoy.

Nat King Cole – undated

Sarah Vaughan – date unknown

Judy Garland

Recorded for Capitol Records by Judy Garland with Orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle, 26 May 1958. Released on LP Judy in Love, 3 November 1958.

Recorded for Capitol Records by Judy Garland with Orchestra conducted by Norrie Paramor, 8 August 1960, released on LP Judy in London, 1972

Episode #21 of “The Judy Garland Show,” taped 31 January 1964

Adelaide Hall filmed live in concert at the Riverside Studios in 1989 at the age of 87.

I Must Have That Man (m. Jimmy McHugh, w. Dorothy Fields) — One of several hit songs from the Broadway revue Blackbirds of 1928. Other hits from the show included Diga Diga Do, Doin’ the New Low-Down, and I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.

See separate feature page:

I Must Have That Man

Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife) written by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht (1928) — English lyrics Marc Blitzstein, arr. Turk Murphy (1954)

See separate feature page: