NRR Project: 'On a Note of Triumph' (May 8, 1945)

 

NRR Project: “On a Note of Triumph”

Written, produced, and directed by Norman Corwin

CBS Radio

Broadcast May 8, 1945

57:06

This recording represents two apogees. It denotes the high-water mark of the American century, and it stands as the one of the last great works of famed radio producer, director, and writer Norman Corwin.

The defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945 was an immensely emotional moment. Six years of war had devastated Europe and turned the United States from an isolated, sleeping giant into a world power crusading for democracy. The victory affirmed our values – freedom, inclusion, diversity, tolerance – and set these principles out as our guiding philosophy, our hope for the future of the world.

Corwin was an eloquent recorder of the American experience. In his many broadcasts he articulated contemporary wisdom, as we heard in his landmark “We Hold These Truths,” which you can read about here.

“On a Note of Triumph” is a companion piece. It shouts to the world our glee at finally beating Hitler and his rotten gang of criminals and psychopaths. It articulates our reasons for fighting, describes the good that is to come, and asks questions about the struggle and our victory.

Corwin constructs here a complex tapestry of voices, led by the narration of Martin Gabel. The great Bernard Herrmann, who got his start with radio’s Mercury Theatre, provides a stunning score.

“So they’ve given up! They’re finally done in and the rat is dead in an alley back of the Wilhelmstrasse. Take a bow, G.I.! Take a bow, little guy! The superman of tomorrow lies dead at the feet of you common men of this afternoon! This is it, kid! This is the day! . . . You had what it took and you gave it . . . seems like free men have done it again!”

The show goes on to outline the general rejoicing resounding around the world. The tone is grandiose, bombastic, naïve, evangelical – reflecting the feeling pervasive in the country.

“Somehow the decadent democracies, the bumbling Bolsheviks, the Saxon softies, were tougher in the end than the brown-shirt bully boys. And smarter too, for without whipping a priest, burning a book, or slugging a Jew, without corralling a girl in a brothel or bleeding a child for plasma, far-flung, ordinary men, unspectacular but free, rousing out of their habits and their homes, got up early one morning, flexed their muscles, learned as amateurs the manual of arms, and set across across perilous plains and oceans to whop the bejeepers out of the professionals.”

What follows, exuberantly, is a paean to the victors and a final, scornful analysis of the sins of the enemy. It recites the crimes of the Nazis, and holds up their actions to contempt. Corwin definitively differentiates the principles of the victors from the values of the defeated. Germany is thoroughly mocked for its imperial ambitions and its insensate cruelties.

And it asks questions – “Who did we beat? How much did it cost to beat him? What did we learn? What do we do know now that we didn’t know before? What will we do now? Could it all happen again?”

The broadcast then purports to answer these questions. Given the fact that the Allies were still at war with Japan, the job is seen as unfinished and vigilance and patience is counseled. Isolation is scorned and international cooperation is promoted. The broadcast ends with hope for the future.

America had not yet dropped its problematic atomic bombs on the enemy. For a couple of months, America could see itself as the embodiment of virtue. Corwin’s work celebrates that exuberant belief in the American way, and the dream of universal brotherhood.

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 Fred Allen Show.

NRR Project: 'Tubby the Tuba' (1950)

 

NRR Project: “Tubby the Tuba”

Music: George Kleinsinger; words: Paul Tripp

Narrated by Victor Jory

Recorded 1945

11:50

This pleasant entry is masterfully written about by Cary O’Dell at the National Recording Registry – you can read that here.

The idea of creating pedagogical compositions to familiarize children with musical instruments is not new. Prokofiev did it with Peter and the Wolf; Benjamin Britten would do it later with his Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This cheerful and chipper story is meant to be a non-intimidating introduction to the orchestra.

It succeeds in the context of a modern fairy tale, written in imitation of Andersen’s Ugly Duckling. Tubby the Tuba is tired of playing just accompaniment and wants to play a melody of his own. He is mocked for this. Disconsolate, he goes to a river – and there finds a frog who also feels left out musically. Together, they create a basso melody that Tubby then takes back to the orchestra.

Fortunately, the great conductor Pizzicato recognizes the value of Tubby’s tune, and the other instruments join in and fill out the orchestration. Everyone is happy! Tubby the Tuba has been recorded many times since, but here is the original rendition, featuring the narration of character actor Victor Jory.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: On a Note of Triumph.

NRR Project: Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on International Organization (April 25 - June 26, 1945)

 

NRR Project: Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on International Organization

Recorded April 25 to June 26, 1945

These recordings are another resource that is on file but not readily available to the public. First, read Brandon Burke’s excellent essay on this entry at the National Recording Registry.

As World War II drew to a close, the victors once again strove to create a governing body for all the nations of the world. This had been attempted previously, with the League of Nations after World War I , but that organization proved ineffective. Now the Allies convened in San Francisco in 1945 to found the United Nations.

NBC Radio covered the proceedings, and the audio was recorded onto disc and stored for future reference. The conferrals are all there for the scholar to examine.

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

NRR Project: Arthur Godfrey broadcasts FDR's funeral procession (April 14, 1945)

 

NRR Project: The funeral of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Broadcast April 14, 1945

 Before everyone asked where you were when Kennedy was shot, they asked you where you were when you found out that Roosevelt died.

He was my father’s President. From two years before his birth to the age of 12, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in his White House. He governed enthusiastically, dynamically, some say with a heavy-handed imperiousness. Het got us through the Depression, and largely through World War II. His mythic weight, multiplied by his radio addresses and public speeches, marked him as an articulate and thoughtful President.

That being said, I can’t access the recording involved. Arthur Godfrey was the morning guy at the CBS radio affiliate WJSV, in Washington, D.C.  (Read about Godfrey’s performance on the full day of WJSV recording in possession of the Registry essay I wrote.)

Godfrey, using his unique technique of relaxed folksiness and emotional honesty, described Roosevelt’s funeral procession from the top of a nearby bank building. Godfrey broke down, and switched the show back to the studio. Read Christopher H. Sterling’s account of it here.

It was a genuinely moving tribute to one of the Twentieth Century’s essential individuals. Godfrey’s broadcast elevated him to star status.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on International Organization.

NRR Project: 'The Guiding Light' (Nov. 22, 1945)

 

Irna Phillips

NRR Project: “The Guiding Light”

Created by Irna Phillips and Emmons Carlson

Broadcast Nov. 22, 1945

14 min.

It was the longest-running scripted show in electric media’s history. This soap opera, 15 minutes Monday through Friday, debuted on NBC Radio on January 5, 1937. It moved to CBS Radio in 1947, continuing even after the TV version began its broadcast on June 30, 1952. (For four years, the performers did it twice: once for the microphone, once for the camera.) The video incarnation lasted until Sept. 18, 2009.

It is difficult to conceive how prevalent the soap opera has been, from its beginning in early network radio. It was the great progenitor, Irna Phillips, who launched the genre with Painted Dreams in 1930. Phillips would create many more, including this show, As the World Turns and Another World. She was a genius at spawning a drama that would move forward with various and interconnecting emotional dramas, eking out mileage from conflicts, misunderstanding, and the woes of the fated, that were designed to amuse bored housewives during the day.

Looking at a schedule of daily broadcasts, it is instructive to see that soaps dominate the hours between the morning news and the afternoon kids’ shows. Some titles: Adopted Daughter, Backstage Wife, John’s Other Wife, Life Can Be Beautiful, Myrt and Marge, The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters.

Phillips produced her own stuff, then sold it to sponsors and the networks. She somehow wrote (or rather dictated) 30,000 words a week, composing multiple series simultaneously, keeping things clear with charts. For a time, she had the inhabitants of three different soaps – Guiding Light, The Woman in White, and Today’s Children – interpenetrate each others’ stories.

At the show’s beginning, its protagonist was Rev. John Ruthledge, who ministered to the folk of “Five Points” in Chicago. He and his daughter Mary (the great Mercedes McCambridge) interacted with the parish, and the usual heavy drama ensued, year after year, effortlessly making the move to television.

Karen Fishman’s story about this entry is top-notch and must be referred to. She has heard the actual episode and I have not. It takes the form of a Thanksgiving sermon, the first since the end of the war. Fishman quotes from it extensively: it is well worth a read. The gist of it is the reaffirmation of the spirit of brotherhood in mankind. Such noble sentiments are true and good, even if unenforceable. However, it reflects a time during which America was seen as the moral conscience of the world, and could best deliver salvation thereunto through democracy and capitalism. We were sick of war; we really wanted the unification of the human race (well, except for with the godless Communists -- the Cold War was already brewing).

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: F.D.R.’s funeral.

NRR Project: Fiorello LaGuardia reads the comics (July 8, 1945)

 

NRR Project: Fiorello LaGuardia reads the comics

Broadcast July 8, 1945

Go to Cary O’Dell’s explanatory essay for not only an extensive outline of this entry but a look at the political uses of radio broadcasting during the period.

Fiorello LaGuardia (1882-1947) was an extraordinary politician who is most famous for serving as the mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946. He was progressive, reform-minded, gregarious, a natural and ebullient communicator.

Growing up, he worked all kinds of jobs. He earned a law degree and began to work in the system. He was the deputy attorney general of the state, and went on to serve as a Congressman, He won the mayoral election and got to work.

He was a little dynamo, a short, squat figure with tons of energy. He got the city back on its feet, helped the poor, improved the city’s infrastructure. He was an interventionist – he outlawed burlesque houses, pinball machines. When Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were threatened by American Nazis over their creation of comic-book hero Captain America, LaGuardia provided protection for them.

Most memorably though it is his widely publicized reading of the comics to New York City’s children (over New York City’s radio station, WNYC) that he is remembered for. The reason for this was a strike by newspaper delivery personnel. LaGuardia disapproved; his solution to the deprivation of the funny papers to the children of the city was simple and direct – he read them to the kids.

Listening to an excerpt, it is clear LaGuardia was a practiced showman. With great enthusiasm he describes the panels from the cartoons and reads the dialogue, interrupting to editorialize about how a life in crime results in misery.

For three weeks, LaGuardia kept it up. And it was a political stunt, sure, another platform for the mayor to direct his beliefs through. But he was engaging.

The strike ended. Things got back to normal. But many would remember the chipper voice of New York’s “Little Flower” mayor breathlessly updating us to the status of Dick Tracy.

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 Guiding Light.’

NRR Project: 'Ko Ko' (November 26, 1945)

 

NRR Project: ‘Ko Ko’

Written by Charlie Parker

Performed by Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Curley Russell, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie

Recorded Nov. 26, 1945

3:01

A new chapter in jazz starts here. Charlie Parker (1920-1955) is responsible.

The young saxophonist practiced incessantly and quickly became a virtuoso. However, he wanted more out of jazz than the usual melody-based improvisations. They were boring and predictable to him, and he longed to express a music that he heard but could not quite articulate.

"I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time,” he said, “and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive.”

Parker’s ability to write new tunes over standard chord changes, his speed, his inventiveness, gave him the power to soar free above the musical conventions of the day. It remained only for him to record it. A musicians’ strike from 1942 through 1944 meant that no new music could be recorded. It was during this lull that “bebop” developed. This new style consisted of music definitely not crafted with the dance floor in mind. Faster tempos, complex rhythmic approaches, unusual harmonies, and a general sense of cutting free from the crowd-pleasing ethos of the swing era informed this new music.

On Nov. 26, 1945, Parker, trumpeter Miles Davis, trumpeter and pianist Dizzy Gillespie, bassist Curley Russell, and drummer Max Roach gathered in New York for a recording session. The tune we know as “Ko Ko” was derived from the chord changes in Ray Noble’s 1938 composition “Cherokee.” Parker took these basic building blocks and squeezed out something new and unique, involved, complex, and challenging. “KoKo” is also performed at breakneck speed.

The overall effect is bracing – Parker is making it up as he goes, turning the contents of his head into notes in the air. The traditional jazz musicians and listeners were initially off-put by the new music’s strangeness, but soon “bebop” would become the dominant expressive mode of jazz. And it all started 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: Fiorello LaGuardia reads the comics.

NRR Project: 'Caldonia' (Jan. 19, 1945)

 

NRR Project: ‘Caldonia’

Written by Louis Jordan

Performed by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five

Recorded Jan. 19, 1945

2:40

He’s the grandfather of rock and roll. It’s the birth of rhythm and blues. It’s proto-rap. It’s infectious. It’s an inspiration for a whole generation of music-makers.

Louis Jordan (1908-1975) played the alto sax, sang, wrote songs, and led a band. He got his start in the Swing Era of the 1930s, with drummer Chick Webb’s band. He set out on his own and really connected with the mood of the times. The war was almost over; people wanted something upbeat, something propulsive. “Caldonia” is all that.

Jordan starts things off with a straight-ahead boogie woogie riff on the piano. The horns join in slyly. Jordan begins to sing.

“Walkin' with my baby she's got great big feet

She's long, lean, and lanky and ain't had nothing to eat

She's my baby and I love her just the same

Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caldonia is her name

 

Caldonia, Caldonia

What makes your big head so hard?

I love you. I love you just the same

I’ll always love you baby cause Caldonia is her name”

 A nifty sax break follows, then an interplay. Then there’s spoken engagement, reminiscent of the approach of the late Fats Waller, and destined to be passed on to Chuck Berry, Bill Hailey, and even unto James Brown, Our Godfather of Soul.

 “You know what mama told me? She told me to leave Caldonia alone, that’s what she told me. No kidding. That’s what she told me. That’s what she said, she said, ‘Son, leave that Caldonia alone. She ain’t no good. Don’t bother her.’ But Mama didn’t know what Caldonia was puttin’ down. So I’m going to Caldonia’s house and going to ask one more time:”

 “Caldonia, Caldonia

What makes your big head so hard?

I love her. I love her just the same

Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caldonia is her name”

“MOP!” yells Jordan, and it sounds appropriate. Jordan would continue to entertain for decades. His record is unmatched. He spent almost twice as many weeks on the R & B charts than any other performer. He had 54 Top 10 hits, including “Saturday Night Fish Fry,” “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens,” “Five Guys Named Moe,” “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby,” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”. He made Decca Records.

In 1945, they made a two-reel movie of “Caldonia,” in which Jordan and company do the title song, “Honey Child,” “Tillie,” and “Buzz Me.” You can dial him up and watch him at work.

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

NRR Project: The Library of Congress Marine Corps Combat Field Recording Collection, Second Battle of Guam (July 20-August 11, 1944)

 

NRR Project: The Library of Congress Marine Corps Combat Field Recording Collection, Second Battle of Guam

July 20-August 11, 1944

As usual, I must point to Karen Fishman’s excellent explanatory essay on this entry.

The combat field recordings in this collection were captured by Marine combat correspondents during battles in the Pacific. The original intent was to record native songs and rituals on the islands fought for by U.S. forces.

However, the project morphed into something larger. Taking incredible risks, correspondents recorded actual combat, and also covered briefing sessions, interviews, and messages home. Altogether, many hours of material was gathered, and remains stored in the Library of Congress for the use of researchers. This represents the first time thorough documentation of combat was attempted.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Louis Jordan performs Caldonia.

NRR Project: 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' (July 2, 1944)

 

NRR Project: ‘Jazz at the Philharmonic’

Recorded July 2, 1944

First, let me point you to Tom Maxwell’s clear and comprehensive essay on this entry at the National Recording Registry.

Jazz changed during the war years. Swing music faded away as the dominant form. The tight arrangements and sweeping sway of Goodman, Shaw, Miller, and Dorsey no longer enchanted the majority of the country’s listeners. Instead, singers began to become the focus of mainstream music, and bands began to perform as glorified backup ensembles.

Meanwhile, bebop came along, forged on the West Coast in the mid-1940s. This new style, in which jazz became a kind of chamber music, cut out the need to make something to dance to and replaced it with something connoisseurs could sit quietly and listen to. Much more adventurous in nature, bebop and related subgenres of jazz appealed to a smaller but enthusiastic listenership.

Enter Norman Granz. The jazz enthusiast and promoter was dedicated to providing the audience with content that was normally reserved for after-hours jam sessions. Granz wanted to bring this raw creativity to the average listener. He began booking gigs on Monday nights, first in clubs and then in L.A.’s Philharmonic Auditorium. He booked jazz’s greatest exponents and simply let them get together and blow.

The results he recorded and released, beginning a new tradition in jazz. The excitement of these live sessions was easily translated onto vinyl, and Granz continued to curate lively recording sessions for decades.

Another huge step forward was the debut of the racial integrated ensemble. To this point in jazz history, there had been white bands and Black bands. Granz struck down those barriers, choosing his participants for their talent, not for the color of their skin.

The lineup for the very first Jazz at the Philharmonic was stellar. Nat King Cole played paino, and Les Paul was on guitar. Illinois Jacquet and Bumps Myers were on tenor sax, pianist Lux Lewis was there, trumpeter Shorty Sherlock as well, Johnny Miller on bass, Together they tore up the night with wild improvisations, in front of an enthusiastic crowd. A newchapter in jazz was being written.

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 Library of Congress Marine Corps Combat Field Recording Collection, Second Battle of Guam. (July 20-August 11, 1944).

 

 

NRR Project: Eisenhower addresses troops, Europe on D-Day (June 6, 1944)

 

NRR Project: D-Day address to the troops/to occupied Europe

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Broadcast June 6, 1944

1:49/3:18

In World War II, the Allied invasion of Europe took place on D-Day, June 6, 1944. This massive operation involved hundreds of thousands of men. The fate of the war rested on its successful outcome.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, knew it was important to communicate to both his troops and to the people of occupied countries. To give them hope, and to invoke their patience. He recorded two messages for broadcast: first, to his soldiers:

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

His second address was broadcast to Europe that same day. In addition, millions of copies of it, in five different languages, were distributed surreptitiously across the continent.

“People of Western Europe: A landing was made this morning on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force. This landing is part of the concerted United Nations plan for the liberation of Europe, made in conjunction with our great Russian allies.

I have this message for all of you. Although the initial assault may not have been made in your own country, the hour of your liberation is approaching.

All patriots, men and women, young and old, have a part to play in the achievement of final victory. To members of resistance movements, I say, follow the instructions you have received. To patriots who are not members of organized resistance groups, I say, continue your passive resistance, but do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal to rise and strike the enemy. The day will come when I shall need your united strength. Until that day, I call on you for the hard task of discipline and restraint.

Citizens of France! I am proud to have again under my command the gallant Forces of France. Fighting beside their Allies, they will play a worthy part in the liberation of their Homeland.

Because the initial landing has been made on the soil of your country, I repeat to you with even greater emphasis my message to the peoples of other occupied countries in Western Europe. Follow the instructions of your leaders. A premature uprising of all Frenchmen may prevent you from being of maximum help to your country in the critical hour. Be patient. Prepare!

As Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, there is imposed on me the duty and responsibility of taking all measures necessary to the prosecution of the war. Prompt and willing obedience to the orders that I shall issue is essential.

Effective civil administration of France must be provided by Frenchmen. All persons must continue in their present duties unless otherwise instructed. Those who have made common cause with the enemy and so betrayed their country will be removed. As France is liberated from her oppressors, you yourselves will choose your representatives, and the government under which you wish to live.

In the course of this campaign for the final defeat of the enemy you may sustain further loss and damage. Tragic though they may be, they are part of the price of victory. I assure you that I shall do all in my power to mitigate your hardships. I know that I can count on your steadfastness now, no less than in the past. The heroic deeds of Frenchmen who have continued the struggle against the Nazis and their Vichy satellites, in France and throughout the French Empire, have been an example and an inspiration to all of us.

This landing is but the opening phase of the campaign in Western Europe. Great battles lie ahead. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us. Keep your faith staunch – our arms are resolute – together we shall achieve victory.”

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

NRR Project: George Hicks' D-Day broadcast

NRR Project: George Hicks’ D-Day broadcast

Recorded June 6, 1944

13:57

It is nothing short of astonishing to hear this recording. NBC correspondent George Hicks was assigned to cover the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day – June 6, 1944. Lugging a heavy recorder, he placed himself high up in the workings of the U.S.S. Ancon, a support vessel sitting close off the coast of Normandy.

What we hear is 15 minutes of combat, narrated by Hicks. The ship is endangered by German plane attacks. The ship’s gunnery crew shoots one down. Hicks lets the story tell itself, only occasionally breaking in to provide some explanation for what we are hearing and what he is seeing. This is warfare, with no quarter given.

The recording was played over radio networks hours later, after the recording had returned safely to England. This slice of life on the battlefield was breathtaking then, and is still impressive today.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Eisenhower’s D-Day address.

 

 

 

 

 

NRR Project: Hot Lips Page and 'Uncle Sam Blues' (1944)

 

NRR Project: ‘Uncle Sam Blues’

Performed by Oran ‘Hot Lips’ Page with Eddie Condon’s Jazz Band

Recorded 1944

3:18

“Uncle Sam ain't no woman

But he sure can take your man
Uncle Sam ain't no woman
But he sure can take your man
Women wringing their hands and a-cryin'
All over the land

I know you cross your fingers, baby
And pray for me every night
I know you cross your fingers, baby
And pray for me every night
With you in my corner
Lord knows everything's alright

Fritz and Tojo sure got themselves in a jam
Fritz and Tojo sure got themselves in a jam
They gotta go now
I'm crossing up my Uncle Sam”

The sentiments were apt. The U.S. was deep inside World War II, and the war, the Armed Forces, and the draft were on all citizens’ minds.

I must first point you to the excellent explanatory essay by Todd Bryant Weeks at the National Recording Registry. He spells out the history of Hot Lips Page, and outlines his significance in the history of blues and jazz. He speculates on the song as an expression of skepticism towards “Uncle Sam” and his ability to separate a man from his woman.

There are multiple alternate lyrics to this song, among these this very cynical set:

“You know I'm headed off for war
I got my questionnaire baby
You know I'm headed off for war
Well, now I'm gonna do some fightin'
Well, no one knows what for

Well, Uncle Sam ain't no woman
You know he sure can take your man
Said, "Uncle Sam ain't no woman"
You know he sure can take your man
Well, there's forty thousand guys in the service list
Doin' somethin', somewhere, they just don't understand

Well, I'm gonna do some fightin'
Of that I can be sure
Said, "I'm gonna do some fightin"
Of that I can be sure
Well, now I wanna kill somebody
Won't have to break no kind of law

I got my questionnaire baby
You know I'm headed off for war
I got my questionnaire baby
You know I'm headed off for war
Well, now I want to kill somebody
Won't have to break no kind of law”

Hot Lips’ original version is the canonical set.

He was a double threat: a vocalist who could improvise endlessly, and an admirable trumpeter. The music really swings; it’s a classic of straight-up blues, a particularly American sound that marks the sway of overwhelming current events over the soul of the guy in the street.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: George Hicks’ D-Day radio broadcasts.

NRR Project: 'This Land Is Your Land' (1944)

 

NRR Project: ‘This Land Is Your Land’

Written and performed by Woody Guthrie

Recorded 1944

2:47

First, I must point you to Bill Nowlin’s excellent essay on the song at the National Recording Registry. It covers all the territory!

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was America’s troubadour. A confirmed leftist, he famously wrote on his guitar, “This Machine Kills Fascists.” He was a prolific writer, songwriter, and performer. His career was cut short by the onset of Huntington’s disease, which hospitalized him in 1956.

"This Land is Your Land” is his most famous song, and has become an unofficial national anthem. It spread by word of mouth in an age when popular songs only became such by being sung by the famous, or broadcast on media. This is a testament to the power of the composition. It is undeniably catchy and memorable.

It celebrates the natural beauty of the country, unity, and fellowship. “This land was made for you and me” is its refrain. (There are a couple of distinctly leftist political verses that are usually left out of covers of the song!) Guthrie advocated for the common people, those who culture and society routinely overlooked.

His work influenced countless musicians that followed him, including Pete Seeger, who played with him beginning in 1940, and Bob Dylan, who made pilgrimages to his bedside in the hospital. Even long after his death, many groups have set his unpublished lyrics to music, making new albums that celebrate his genius (Mermaid Avenue, Wonder Wheel).

He remains a central figure in American folk music, one who lit fires that are still burning.

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

NRR Project: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm (1944-1946)

  

NRR Project: ‘Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s’

Performed by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm

Recorded 1944-1946; released 1984

49:07

Wow! This is a real find.

This is the story of the first integrated all-female jazz band in the United States. And they were GOOD. Before you do anything else, listen to this recording – it swings like all get-out!

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were formed at the Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1941. This group of young (14 to 19-years-old) musicians came together for a specific purpose – to raise money for the school. This they did, until they broke away from the institution and went professional.

Composed of white, Black, Latina, Asian, Native American, and Puerto Rican members, the group toured and performed with a 17-member conplement. They faced the usual trouble working for Southern audiences; many times, the white players would have to “black up” to make their performing possible. They were refused service at hotels and restaurants. They were paid miserably.

The group only stuck together for a few years. Deaths, marriages, the rigors of traveling, and other factors contributed to the group’s demise. By 1949, the band had broken up.

Thanks to jazz historian and producer Rosetta Reitz, archival recordings of the band via such mechanisms as the Armed Forces Radio Service were uncovered and committed to vinyl in 1984. Eighteen tracks are all that survive of their output, but it is enough. They were outstanding.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Your Land’.

NRR Project: Sister Rosetta Tharpe plays 'Down by the Riverside' (1944)

 

NRR Project: ‘Down by the Riverside’

American Spiritual

Performed by Sister Rosetta Tharpe with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra

Recorded 1944

3:04

“Sister” Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973) was nothing less than the wellspring of rock and roll. Her killer guitar work, coupled with her inventive, high-charged vocals, made musical history. She called rock and roll just sped-up rhythm and blues. She pioneered work on the electric guitar.

Rosetta Tharpe was a child prodigy from Cotton Plant, Arkansas who played guitar and sang gospel songs for years at the Church of God in Christ. In 1938, at age 23, she began to record for Decca. In this same year, her other gospel single, “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” was a hit; this, too, proved popular.

Tharpe brings an overwhelming intensity to her performances. She is emphatic, precise; she can scat, she can warble. Her guitar work is rough, loud, nimble-fingered. She plays like someone who has had to play to lots of large live crowds. Her attack on a song is no-holds-barred; the church disapproved of some of her more secular hits as “I Want a Tall Skinny Papa.”

By and large, though, what she performed was a sacred music transformed by her in accordance with the driving rhythms of urgency, a blues sensibility, and virtuoso sing-shouting that became the voice that rockers aspired to but could not imitate. She mixes together the best of everything; she is sui generis.

Here, she begins to skit-scat through the lyrics about halfway through, then takes a guitar break that is tough, that swings. That break would influence countless guitarists.

As she moves to the climax of the song, she burns even hotter. She moves to full-on vocalese, a kind of speechful speechlessness that is the stuff of gospel and jazz and rock. The phrase “ain’t gonna study war no more” is powerful because it is for meant for real. It has conviction, and it is repeated with a vibrant insistence unfound elsewhere.

Her 2003 compilation “The Gospel of the Blues” gives you all of her best work. She was decades ahead of her time. In 1998, she belatedly appeared on a 32-cent stamp.

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 International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

 

NRR Project: 'Ac-cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ (Oct. 4, 1944)

 

NRR Project: ‘Ac-cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’

Music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Sung by Johnny Mercer

Recorded Oct. 4, 1944

2:48

Johnny Mercer (1909-1976). What a giant. He was a famed lyricist, honored songwriter, popular singer. He co-founded Capitol Records. He won four Oscars for Best Original Song. He was nominated 19 times.

What did he write, or have a hand in writing? Some are “I’m an Old Cowhand,” “Too Marvelous for Words,” “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,” “Blues in the Night,” “One for My Baby,” “That Old Black Magic,” “Laura,” “Autumn Leaves,” “On the Atcheson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe,” “I Remember You”. He worked on around 1,500 songs. (He also had an affair when he was 35, married, and a new child – with a 19-year-old Judy Garland.)

And he sang. Mercer was hip, he was from Savannah, Georgia. He had a comical drawl he would fall into when he sang that was folksy and charming. He could sell his songs, so they put him in front of a microphone at let him do his stuff.

The song is framed as a bluesy sermon:

“Gather 'round me, everybody

Gather 'round me while I'm preachin'

Feel a sermon comin' on me

The topic will be sin and that's what I'm ag'in'

If you wanna hear my story

The settle back and just sit tight

While I start reviewin’

The attitude of doin' right

 

You've got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

 

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium's

Liable to walk upon the scene

 

To illustrate my last remark

Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark

What did they do just when everything looked so dark?

 

(Man, they said "We'd better accentuate the positive")

("Eliminate the negative")

("And latch on to the affirmative")

Don't mess with Mister In-Between (No!)

Don't mess with Mister In-Between!”

Mercer sells it with a sincere, super- cool delivery. In the throes of World War II, songs like this were a comfort to folks at home. Looking up and staying brave were character traits stressed at the time. The Allies were looking close to conquering Germany in the fall of 1944; the Battle of the Bulge would ignite in December. The nation wanted to believe that right made might, a continental myth of martial prowess combined with virtue that would come to paper over many a fault.

So Mercer gives us a feel-good toe-tapper that’s catchy and emblematic of the call to think positively in the face of international tragedy. It’s an aural pick-me-up.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Sister Rosetta Tharpe and ‘Down by the Riverside.’

NRR Project: Leonard Bernstein's debut conducting the New York Philharmonic (Nov. 14, 1943)

 

NRR Project: Leonard Bernstein’s debut with the New York Philharmonic

Nov. 14, 1943

Leonard Bernstein is the best-known and most honored conductor in American history. His commanding presence, supreme interpretive skills, and ease of communication made him a master of classical music in performance. He vaulted to overnight fame after this concert.

Bernstein was a newly hired, 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. On Nov. 14, 1943, a Sunday afternoon concert by the orchestra was scheduled at New York’s Carnegie Hall, set to be broadcast live on CBS radio. The guest conductor, Bruno Walter, became ill. The Philharmonic’s regular conductor, Arthur Rodzinski, was snowed in miles from the venue. It was up to Bernstein to lead the orchestra – without a single rehearsal.

Bernstein delivered. The program featured Schmann’s “Manfred” Overture, Rozsa’s Theme, Variations, and Finale, Strauss’ “Don Quixote,” and Wagner’s Prelude to “Die Meistersinger.” Hearing the selections today, it is remarkable how assured he seems with these not-so-easy pieces. The orchestra responds magnificently to his direction. The audience in the hall and those listening at home were amazed by Bernstein’s confidence and vitality. He received the plaudits of the crowd.

Bernstein would go on to become the music director of the orchestra, and would play world-wide. His numerous televised Concerts for Young People turned a whole generation of children onto classical music. Then, as a composer he created everything from symphonies to choral works to musicals such as On the Town and West Side Story. His remarkable career started with this pinch-hit triumph, which propelled him to the headlines of newspapers around the country.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Johnny Mercer sings ‘Ac-cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’.

NRR Project: Horowitz/Toscanini, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 (April 23, 1943)

 

NRR Project: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23, B-flat Minor

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Vladimir Horowitz, piano; Arturo Toscanini; conductor; NBC Symphony Orchestra

Recorded April 25, 1943

31:27

I simply can’t do better than Caesare Civetta’s essay at the National Recording Registry.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Leonard Bernstein’s debut.

NRR Project: Mary Margaret McBride interviews Zora Neale Huston (Jan. 25, 1943)

NRR Project: “Mary Margaret McBride” – McBride interviews Zora Neale Hurston (Jan. 25, 1943)

45 min.

This is another entry I can’t explore as a recording is not available. Read Cary O’Dell’s excellent essay at the National Recording Registry.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23, B-flat Minor. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Vladimir Horowitz, piano; Arturo Toscanini; conductor; NBC Symphony Orchestra. (April 25, 1943)

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