NRR Project: 'South Pacific' (1949)

 

NRR Project: “South Pacific”

Composed by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Performed by the original Broadway cast

Recorded 1949

1 hr., 4 min.

Read Laurence Maslon’s excellent essay on the recording’s history here, at the National Recording Registry.

Once Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! became a hit in 1943, they continued their long run of successful shows with the offerings Carousel (1945) and Allegro (1947). They then snared the rights to James Michener’s collection of Tales of the South Pacific, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Working with director and co-writer Josh Logan, Hammerstein crafted two interlocking tales – both dealing with racial prejudice. Addressing a serious topic was a new direction for American musicals, which were usually escapist romps.

The musical is set in title location, during World War II. Ensign Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse (played by Mary Martin), meets and falls in love with a French planter, Emile DeBeque (operatic bass Ezio Pinza). She wants to be with him, but she is leery of the fact that he has mixed-race children from a previous marriage to a native woman. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Joe Cable (William Tabbert) falls for Liat, a native girl. However, he realizes his family would never accept her as his wife. The prejudice that the Americans are steeped in prevent them from finding happiness.

Of course, all this happens in the context of  a musical – and the songs are some of the best R & H ever wrote – “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Bali Hai,” “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy,” “Younger Than Springtime,” “Happy Talk,” and on and on. The musical was a smash hit, ran for years, and inspired many successful pop covers.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.

NRR Project: 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' (1949)

 

NRR Project: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Composed by Johnny Marks

Performed by Gene Autry

Recorded June 27, 1949

3:08

Orvon Grover Autry was born in Texas in 1907. Taking on the moniker of Gene, he grew up on the family ranch. After high school, he got work as a telegrapher, and he used to sing and play guitar to while away the time on the job (and got fired for it). He received encouragement from many people who heard him play, most notably Will Rogers. 

He started off singing on the radio in Oklahoma in 1928. In 1929, he landed a recording deal with Columbia Records. He finally scored a hit with “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” which he co-wrote. Soon his popularity went through the roof, and he became known as “The Singing Cowboy.”

In 1935, he was cast as the star of The Phantom Empire, a 12-part movie serial that improbably mashed together music, Western drama, and science fiction. He soon was the leading man in low-budget Westerns in which he would sing, fight bad guys, and joke around with his sidekick, Smiley Burnette. He wound up making 96 films in the course of his career, and made an amazing 640 recordings. He was Public Cowboy #1, and inspired a host of imitators.

Autry had a melodious voice, and an easy-going, upbeat persona that appealed to just about everybody. On his horse Champion, he righted wrongs and crooned cowboy ballads. He eventually would branch off into radio and television as well. He is the only person to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his work in film, radio, TV, recording, and live performance.

It is difficult to gauge now just how popular Autry was. Everyone played his songs, saw his movies, listened to him on the radio, read his comic books, played with toys licensed by his brand. He became a role model for the nation’s youth, and penned a 10-part Cowboy Code that outlined the attributes of an upstanding human being. Kids worshipped him.

“Rudolph” was conceived in 1939 by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward department-store franchise, as a marketing tool. Ten years later, his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote this song. (Marks, who was Jewish, made a specialty of writing Christmas songs.)

Autry didn’t want to record this, but his wife insisted. It was a huge hit, an instant Christmas classic. The story of Rudolph, corny as it may seem, seeped into the public’s consciousness and became one of those songs everybody knows.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘South Pacific’.

NRR Project: Hank Williams sings 'Lovesick Blues' (Dec. 22, 1948)

 

NRR Project: “Lovesick Blues”

Music by Cliff Friend; lyrics by Irving Mills

Performed by Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys

Recorded Dec. 22, 1948

Released Feb. 11, 1949

2:45

Read Susan Masino’s excellent explanatory essay here at the National Recording Registry!

Who can account for the hellacious splendiferousness of Hank Williams? His songs were imprinted on my soul by my mother, who played him constantly. We went and saw the 1964 biopic “Your Cheatin’ Heart” with George Hamilton as Williams. He was revered in our home like a saint. 

A born songwriter. A beautiful voice. And a huge pain in the neck.

.Born in 1923 in Alabama, Williams learned the guitar as a kid. He began performing country music in bars, schoolhouses, theaters, and at tiny radio stations. He finally got a record contract in 1944. He joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. Then he performed this song.

It was not a country song. It was not his own song. “Lovesick Blues” was a Tin Pan Alley song, written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills in 1922. Emmett Miller recorded it in 1925 and 1928. Country singer Rex Griffin put his spin on it in 1939. Williams, who had heard Miller and Griffin’s renditions, decided to imitate Griffin’s approach. He played it on the Hayride show. The crowd went wild.

They recorded it. It went to Number One and stayed there for 16 weeks. Williams made it to the Grand Ole Opry on June 11, 1949; he was instantly a superstar.

He deserved it. He had a magical ability to telegraph whatever he was singing at the heart of the listener. He wrote and sang “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “I Saw the Light,” “Honky Tonkin’” and “Jambalaya,” “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “Cold Cold Heart.” He even did gospel – his narrative performances as Luke the Drifter are worth seeking out, as are his radio transcriptions.

And he had a tremendous problem with a alcohol and drugs. He was in chronic pain from a case of spina bifida. He became a stumbling wreck; he grew notoriously unreliable and out of it. He married and had a child, but he did not stop destroying himself as fast as he possibly could. He died in the back seat of a car on the way to a gig on New Year's Day, 1953. He was 29.

Touched with genius and madness, Hank Williams’ life is a cautionary tale. His art is eternal, deeply influential, and at its best poignantly heart-breaking. He was heartbreak personified.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’.

NRR Project: 'The Little Engine That Could" (1949)

 

NRR Project: “The Little Engine That Could”

Narrated by Paul Wing

Recorded 1949

13:44

This children’s classic receives its definitive oral rendition here. The story, narrated by Paul Wing, is written about by Roy E.Plotnick here.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Hank Williams plays Lovesick Blues.

NRR Project: 'Kiss Me, Kate' (1949)

 

NRR Project: “Kiss Me, Kate”

Words and music by Cole Porter

Original Broadway cast album

Released Feb. 15, 1949

54:44

Cole Porter (1891-1964) was one of America’s songwriting geniuses. Along with Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser, he wrote both his music and his lyrics – a standalone talent.

Coming from a wealthy background, Porter attended elite schools, traveled widely, and lived well. His precocious talents meant that he was a prolific writer of songs, although he did not gain recognition until age 36. However, once he caught on he became highly celebrated. His work appeared in a number of successful musicials, with many of his hit songs becoming American standards. These include “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Let’s Do It,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” and “You’re the Top.”

Porter came from an older songwriting tradition – one in which the songs did not relate intrinsically to the narrative material around them. Songs were plugged into librettos willy-nilly. This all changed with the success of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! in 1943. Now songs were integrated into a musical’s plot, used to advance the action or to illustrate character.

Porter met this challenge with Kiss Me, Kate, a backstage musical about a warring couple of performers who are starring in a musical version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. (Producer Arnold Saint-Subber was inspired for the musical’s concept by observing the fractious relationship of famous actors/couple Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne in their 1935 production of Shrew.) Porter wrote some of his best work for the show – “So in Love,” “Too Darn Hot,” “From This Moment On,” and “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.”

The cast album came on on 78 r.p.m. records and, for the first time, on a brand-new technology -- a 33 1/3 r.p.m. “long-playing” record.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Little Engine That Could.

NRR Project: 'The Jazz Scene' (1949)

 

NRR Project: “The Jazz Scene”

Various artists

Produced by Norman Granz

Recorded 1949

2 hrs., 33 min.

Wow! I had heard pieces of this before, but I had no idea this album existed. It’s a jazz masterpiece, consisting of many talents contributing to a view of American jazz in the year 1954. Giants perform on this recording, and they play not their hits but new, challenging work that stretches the listeners’ sense of what the genre could accomplish.

Read Tad Hershorn’s epic, exhaustive essay on this album. The man to make this happen was the legendary producer Norman Granz (1918-2001), who supported the jazz community and worked for civil rights as well. Here he corrals great artists into doing whatever they want on record, going with the takes the artists approved of.

You must listen to this album! It carries a wide spectrum of performances, including: Charlie Parker. Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Nat ‘King’ Cole (on piano), , Buddy Rich, Bud Powell, and Billy Strayhorn. Here is Coleman Hawkins’ immortal solo piece, “Picasso,” and Machito’s hypnotic, stellar “Tanga,” bursting with horn blasts like shafts of light.

And so much more. Granz released the album in a set of only 5,000; he priced them at the then-astronomical $25. The album contained extensive liner notes, and photographs of the performers as well. It was truly a luxury object. This is America's classical music.

The extended version, gifted with some alternate takes, is over two hours of sonic bliss. I am listening to it again, all the way through.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘Kiss Me, Kate’.

NRR Project: Flatt and Scruggs play 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' (Dec. 11, 1949)

 

NRR Project: “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”

Written by Earl Scruggs

Performed by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

Recorded Dec. 11, 1949

2:20

Wow. This iconic musical selection is interpreted by not one, but two expert essayists – Thomas Goldsmith and Brian Bader. Read their pieces!

Flatt and Scruggs were the first musicians to defect from playing for the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. IT was evidently not a pleasant divergence. Such was the case with a myriad of musicians who played for Bill for a while and then moved on. Earl Scruggs was perhaps the most accomplished banjo player of all time; it certainly sounds like that on this recording.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘The Jazz Scene’.