March Winds and April Showers

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March Winds and April Showers (Walter G. Samuels, Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell)

chorus lyric: adapted from a transcription posted by Auld_Carl_Hood, in the thread Poem about months of the year, at The AnswerBank*

March winds and April showers
Make way for sweet May flowers
And then comes June, the moon, and you

March winds and April showers
Romance will soon be ours
An outdoor paradise for two

With your lips to mine
In a thrill divine
I’ll be so inspired
That I’ll get you the Moon for a toy balloon

March winds and April showers
Make way for happy hours
And Maytime, June time, love time, and you

Victor Young and his Orchestra, vocal: Jimmie Ray — recorded on 7 February 1935; issued on the 78 rpm single Decca 378, b/w “When Love Knocks at Your Heart” (m. Peter de Rose, w. Billy Hill)

Ruth Etting — recorded on 11 February 1935; issued on Columbia 3014D, as the B-side of “Things Might Have Been So Different” (m. J. Fred Coots, w. Sam M. Lewis)

Abe Lyman and his California Orchestra, vocal: Louis Rapp — recorded on 12 February 1935; issued on Brunswick 7389, b/w “I’m Misunderstood”

Harlem Hot Shots, vocals: Wingy Manone, Nappy Lamare — recorded in New York on 20 February 1935 (matrix 16798, take 2); issued in the US on Melotone 13333, b/w “Love is Just Around the Corner”; also issued on Oriole 3103, Banner 33366, Perfect 16085, and Romeo 2477; in the UK it appeared on the B-side of the 1936 single Vocalion (Swing Series) 3, the A-side being a recording of “Solitude” by Benny Goodman and his Modernists

personnel:
Wingy Manone – trumpet and vocal, Nappy Lamare – guitar and vocal, Matty Matlock – clarinet, Eddie Miller – clarinet and tenor sax, Gil Bowers – piano, Harry Goodman – string bass, Ray Bauduc – drums

(below) release date unknown; issued on the 78 rpm single (Germany) Imperial 17041, as the B-side of “Solitude”; A-side by Benny Goodman and his Modernists

The label displayed in the video clearly has matrix number 16798,1 on it, indicating that that the master was created from take 1. The Discogs.com page on the single (Germany) Imperial 17041 also includes a label with matrix number 16798,1.

However, this recording sounds the same as that in the above video. I suspect that either the German release was in fact take 2 and not take 1, or the recording in this second video isn’t take 1. Complicating things further is the fact that the YouTube provider seems to have incorrectly identified the matrix number as 16798-3, suggesting that it’s take 3.

Harry Roy and his Orchestra from the Mayfair Hotel — recorded on 29 March 1935; issued on Parlophone F145, c/w “Dream Man, Make Me Dream Some More” (m. Milton Ager, w. Joe Young)

sources:

78rpmcommunity.com > Parlophone F100-F199
Arthur Calkin with Harry Roy

Teddy Joyce and his Orchestra, vocal: Eric Whitley — released in April 1935 or May 1935 on the single (UK) His Master’s Voice B.D.145, b/w “What Are You Doing Out In The Rain?” (Leslie Sarony, Leslie Holmes)

Phyllis Robins — issued in June 1935 on (UK) Rex Records 8504, as the B-side of “Dancing with My Shadow” (Harry Woods)

Ralph Sharon Trio — recorded in London, England on 9 December 1952 — (from jazzdisco.org) released in England on the EP Spring Fever, Decca LF 1107; released in the US on the EP Spring Fever, London Records LL 733**, and on the LP Autumn Leaves and Spring Fever, London Records LL 1339

Ralph Sharon – piano
Jack Fallon – bass
Tony Kinsey – drums

ProleteR — released under the title “April Showers” on the 2011 digital album Curses from past times EP

When you cover a song, how difficult is it to get the title correct? There is a pop and jazz standard titled “April Showers,” and this is not it.

According to WhoSampled.com (1), (2), ProleteR’s track includes direct samples of multiple elements from the 1935 recording by Teddy Joyce and his Orchestra, with vocalist Eric Whitley. The instrumental break starting at about 2:07 in the Teddy Joyce recording above is clearly sampled throughout the ProleteR track. However, to me the vocalist in ProleteR’s track appears to be Ruth Etting (see recording above). I find it hard to believe that speeding up Eric Whitley’s voice would make it sound like Ruth Etting’s.

This “remix” is an unbearable muddle, and not only because of the incessant, incredibly annoying, and often seemingly random electronic percussion beats that sound like raindrops of static. But that hasn’t stopped raving fans of the producer, or of the track, from drooling and gushing over the track all around YouTube, where copies are available on countless channels. The following video, for example, has received over 5.5 million views (since 25 Nov 2011) as of 12 March 2018, generating over 85,000 likes and 10,000+ comments. I guess today it really pays to put out music produced by someone with no sense of rhythm.