Harold Arlen Sings Arlen: selected recordings, 1931 to 1966

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page originally published on 26 December 2013; latest edit: 31 January 2024

Music by Harold Arlen for all songs included in the page

1931

Two songs from the 1931 musical You Said It

You Said It (m. Harold Arlen, w. Jack Yellen)

Red Nichols and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — recorded on 16 January 1931; issued on the 78 rpm single Brunswick 6029, b/w “Sweet and Hot” (Arlen, Yellen)

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Sweet and Hot (m. Harold Arlen, w. Jack Yellen)

Red Nichols and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — recorded on 16 January 1931; issued on the 78 rpm single Brunswick 6029, as the B-side of “You Said It” (Arlen, Yellen)

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1932

Stepping Into Love (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler)

Leo Reisman and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — This is an independent song, not associated with any show, and (according to Fadograph’s Weblog) it became the first song recorded by Reisman featuring Arlen as the vocalist. It was recorded on 19 January 1932 and issued on Victor 22913, with flip-side “Tango Americana”, recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.

audio file, Ogg Vorbis (1.5 MB), from archive.org:

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1933

Stormy Weather (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler)

Leo Reisman and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — recorded on 28 February 1933 (Victor matrix BS-75329), and issued in March 1933 on the single Victor 24262, b/w “Maybe I Love You Too Much” (B-side vocal by Fred Astaire)

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Matrix BS-75329 was also reissued on 12 September 1934 on the single Victor 24716, as the B-side of “Night and Day” (A-side vocal by Fred Astaire).

audio file, VBR MP3 (7.5 MB), from archive.org:

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Let’s Fall in Love (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Keohler) — written for the 1933 film Let’s Fall in Love

Harold Arlen with an orchestra conducted by Ray Sinatra — recorded on 1 November 1933; issued on Victor 24467, c/w “This Is Only the Beginning” (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler), another song from the film

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(above) Leo Reisman and his Orchestra

Happy As the Day Is Long (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler)

The Virtual Victrola says,

Arlen and Koehler penned this song for the 22nd Cotton Club Parade in 1933. Other Arlen-Koehler tunes from this show include “Get Yourself A New Broom (And Sweep The Blues Away),” “Raisin’ The Rent,” and the immortal “Stormy Weather.” Originally Cab Calloway’s orchestra was scheduled to accompany the show, but other obligations (due no doubt to Cab’s meteoric rise to fame) kept him away from the Cotton Club. So Duke Ellington accepted the club owners’ offer to rejoin the stage show — the spot that first boosted Ellington to stardom four years earlier.

Leo Reisman and his Orchestra, vocals: Harold Arlen (singer), Reisman and Arlen (spoken) — recorded on 2 May 1933; issued as the B-side of Victor 24315, “The Gold Diggers’ Song” (vocal: Fred Astaire)

MP3 (5.6 MB)

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1934

As Long as I Live (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler)

As Long as I Live was written for the 24th Edition of the Cotton Club Parade, the last on which the songwriting team of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler worked. The show opened on 23 March 1934. The song was introduced by Avon Long and Lena Horne. Another Arlen-Koehler jazz standard, Ill Wind, was also introduced in this show.

I believe the album cited by the provider of the following video, Composers at Play : Harold Arlen and Cole Porter Sing Their Own Compositions, incorrectly attributes the band, but not the vocalist, of the recording. In fact there is no band. This is Harold Arlen singing, accompanied by Arthur Schutt on piano. Arlen did make another recording of the song as a vocalist, on 28 February 1934, with Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra (see second video below), but I’ve not yet found any evidence to support the information provided in the album’s track listing suggesting that Arlen recorded the song with Leo Reisman. Reisman also recorded the song, but when he did so the vocalist was Phil Neely.

Harold Arlen, vocal; accompanied by Arthur Schutt on piano — recorded on 6 February 1934; issued on Victor 24569, c/w “Ill Wind”

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Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — recorded on 28 February 1934; issued on Victor 24579, as the B-side of “Ill Wind”

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audio file, VBR MP3 (2.2 MB), from the collection Eddy Duchin Orchestra 78rpm Collection at archive.org:

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Ill Wind (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ted Koehler)

“Ill Wind (You’re Blowin’ Me No Good)” was written for the 24th Edition of the Cotton Club Parade, the last on which the songwriting team of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler worked. The show opened on 23 March 1934. The song was introduced by Adelaide Hall. Another Arlen-Koehler standard, “As Long As I Live,” was also introduced in this show.

Harold Arlen, vocal; accompanied by Arthur Schutt on piano — recorded on 6 February 1934; issued on Victor 24569, c/w “As Long As I Live”

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Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra, vocal: Harold Arlen — recorded on 28 February 1934; issued on Victor 24579, b/w “As Long As I Live”

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From the Broadway musical Life Begins At 8:40 — Winter Garden Theatre (8/27/1934 – 3/16/1935) — music: Harold Arlen, lyrics: Ira Gershwin and E.Y. Harburg

• What Can You Say In a Love Song
• You’re A Builder Upper
• Fun To Be Fooled
• Shoein’ the Mare

Four 27 July 1934 recordings by Leo Reisman and his Orchestra, with vocals by Harold Arlen, for the Brunswick label:

Audio files, from archive.org:

What Can You Say In a Love Song — issued on Brunswick 6941, c/w “You’re A Builder Upper”

MP3 (6.8 MB)

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You’re A Builder Upper — issued on Brunswick 6941, c/w “What Can You Say In a Love Song”

MP3 (6.6 MB)

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Ogg Vorbis (1.5 MB)

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Fun To Be Fooled — issued on Brunswick 6942, c/w Shoein’ the Mare

MP3 (7.0 MB)

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(above) Rumba dancers in Havana perform the Cuban folk dance “Shoeing the Mare,” from an article in the LIFE Magazine 4 April 1938 issue, pp. 66-69

Shoein’ the Mare — issued on Brunswick 6942, c/w “Fun To Be Fooled”

Ogg Vorbis file (1.5 MB)

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“Shoein’ the Mare” (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ira Gershwin, E. Y. Harburg)
lyric transcribed by doc, 29 December 2013

verse:
This is a dance from Las Fritas *
Las Fritas is in Havana
On account of which this music is Cuban
It isn’t like “Carioca”
Nor is it like “Peanut Vendor”
They call it “Shoein’ the Mare”
You may like it
You may hate it
Anyway, here’s how we translate it:

chorus:
Shoein’ the mare
The mare needs shoein’
Or else it’s ruin
She’ll keep you all atwitter
If you never get to shoe the critter
That Cuban critter

Shoein’ the mare
Don’t be too tender
Forget her gender
Don’t let her kick the ground up
Or you’re headin’ for a Cuban roundup
That Cuban roundup

Woman is like a mare
She’ll boss you, she’ll toss you
Double-cross you
You’ll never know where on earth you stand
Unless you get the upper hand

Shoein’ the mare
When wild muchacha
Begins to hotcha
You’re on the road to ruin
Brother, if you never get to shoein’
Shoein’ the mare

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1937

From Hooray For What! — Winter Garden Theatre (12/01/1937 – 5/21/1938)

Buds Won’t Bud (m. Harold Arlen, w. E. Y. “Yip” Harburg)

Harold Arlen sings, accompanying himself on piano — from Volume 1 of the 1955 double album The Music of Harold Arlen, Walden Records 306 (Vol.1) & 307 (Vol.2)

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1954

The Man That Got Away (m. Harold Arlen, w. Ira Gershwin) — from A Star Is Born (1954)

Harold Arlen sings, accompanying himself on piano (incomplete) — from a Colgate Comedy Hour episode (TV), c. 1954

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1955

I Never Has Seen Snow (m. Harold Arlen, w. Truman Capote and Harold Arlen) from the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers

From the biography at HaroldArlen.com:

Never having met each other, Arlen began work on the score with Capote while he was in Paris. The two actually wrote the show’s title song together over the phone. After three months of long-distance collaboration, Arlen and Capote finally met in New York in February 1954.

It was not long after their first meeting that Harold became seriously ill with an ulcer. Arlen and Capote had completed three songs, House of Flowers, I Never Has Seen Snow, and A Sleepin’ Bee and had begun work on Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree when Harold was rushed to Doctor’s Hospital for surgery. Harold’s ulcer was bleeding terribly, which caused him to lose volumes of blood and required close to three dozen transfusions. Fortunately, Harold managed to hang on and even insisted upon having Capote visit the hospital so that they could continue to work on the show.

Harold Arlen sings, accompanying himself on piano — from Volume 1 of the 1955 double album The Music of Harold Arlen, Walden Records 306 (Vol.1) & 307 (Vol.2)

audio file from the page The Music of Harold Arlen: 1955 Walden Sessions, or the page House of Flowers: I Never has Seen Snow, at Spotify.com:

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Last Night When We Were Young (m. Harold Arlen, w. Yip Harburg)

Harold Arlen sings, accompanying himself on piano — from Volume 1 of the 1955 double album The Music of Harold Arlen, Walden Records 306 (Vol.1) & 307 (Vol.2)

audio file from the page The Music of Harold Arlen: 1955 Walden Sessions, or the page Last Night When We Were Young, at Spotify.com:

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1966

From the 1966 album Harold Sings Arlen (with Friend), (US) Columbia Masterworks OS 2920 (Stereo), OL 6520 (Mono)

Blues in the Night (m. Harold Arlen, w. Johnny Mercer)

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My Shining Hour (m. Harold Arlen, w. Johnny Mercer)

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* Las Fritas — This seems to refer to a street in Havana. The “s” is silent in both “Las” and “Fritas.”

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Principle sources include:

• HaroldArlen.com
• Leo Reisman Victor recordings, 1929-1933 (audio files) — archive.org
• Leo Reisman Brunswick recordings, 1933-1935 (audio files) — archive.org
• The Online Discographical Project — 78discography.com
• Leo Reisman and his Orchestra: A Discography — honkingduck.com; links to 78discography.com
• Fadograph’s Weblog
• Discogs.com, Harold Arlen page
• Paul Roth’s Music Liner Notes
• YouTube (videos)

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