I had intended to post this new ‘Song of the Week’ back three weeks ago to commemorate an anniversary. Or, to be perfectly precise about the date, at ten past three in the morning of 17th April, the day and […]
I was seven years old when Emile Ford and the Checkmates topped the Christmas charts in 1959, remaining at the No 1 spot well into the New Year. Not that, at that age, I really had much idea of what […]
An upbeat song for the Spring from the prolific Sam Lanin … «Good-bye to winter I’ll see you next year Hello to Springtime Gee, I am glad your here»
Every once in a while (and I’m sure it happens to you too) I find a song remembered from my younger days going obsessively around my head, impossible to shake. Today it has been a recording from my one of […]
We’ve ran a piece last year on singer Ronnie Gilbert, so I’ve been feeling guilty ever since that we’ve neglected other equally exceptional songstresses who (have) continued to perform, and to stun audiences, into their late 70s, 80s, and 90s. […]
What can one say? great 1937 song from the pen of Noel Gay, interpreted by the brilliant Lupino Lane in this 1939 film version of the musical Me and My Girl.
It’s been a while since our last blog post. Apologies. Really, sincerely. We feel bad about that. We’ve both been so frantically immersed in other projects for a while that we’ve neglected Radio Days. So here’s a treat. When I […]
It’s surprising that, in light of their long and successful career together, the all-singing all-dancing Peters Sisters from Santa Monica, California, are not better known today. The earliest recordings I know of date from 1936, as does the clip below, […]
This week’s Song of the Week, Twilight in Turkey, comes in the context of the work I’ve been doing over the past month or so in putting together a programme of songs, stories, film, and ephemera for ‘The New Orientalism’ […]
OK, I admit it–I’m cheating just a little with this week’s choice for Song of the Week. Yes, the Carter Family had first recorded this song for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1930; however the recording below, by the […]
One of the engaging things about much of music hall is that, as expressed by W. Macqueen-Pope (1957), It was completely down to earth. Its comedians sang to the audience about their everyday life, about mother-in-law, the lodger, the woman […]
Although there have survived some very short silent film clips of music-hall stars from the turn of the last century, we sadly (though pretty obviously) have no audiovisual records of performances from the era. We do, thankfully, have on film […]
I’ve always been a big fan of Harry Roy, but had not seen either of his two films until serendipitously finding this clip. Enjoy the slightly surreal spectacular!
I really couldn’t say what brought the song to mind, but it’s been buzzing through my head much of this afternoon so I figured I had to share it with you. This 1929 song, with music by Nacio Herb Brown […]
I’m not sure whether this song falls a little too late in history for Radio Days or a little too early. No matter–we like it anyway, and it’s a good time for us to take a short musical holiday from […]
We’re continuing our series of popular songs, film, and other media from 1918 with two recordings of Hindustan, a hugely popular hit of that year penned by Oliver Wallace and Harold Weeks. The earlier of the two recordings, from 29th […]
A song from the pens of the brilliant and prolific songwriting team of R.P. Weston (lyrics) and Bert Lee (music) (who else could ever rhyme “Persia” with “curse ya”?), A Proper Cup of Coffee was, to my knowledge, first performed […]
I am indebted to Maria for inspiring this blog post. Following the performance at Leighton House last Sunday, she was now looking for a new repertoire of songs for her choirs, and was gravitating towards the skiffle and trad of […]
Maria and I were randomly talking this evening about ideas for future performances. And thus it was that I ended up revealing one of my closet passions when I began waxing lyrical about Vernon Dalhart, Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers, Merle […]
Another great song, one I think we’ll all know in one version of another (my own favourite was always the 1931 recording by Jack Teagarden, Joe Venuti, and Eddie Lang). But today, celebrating its centenary, we offer the original recording […]
I imagine that Yip Harburg is unlikely to be the first name to spring to your lips if asked to name a famous American songwriter from the Thirties. So you’ll probably be surprised to discover that you know many of […]
“Well, I gave my youth to king and country, But what’s my country done for me but sentenced me to misery. I traded my helmet and my parachute For a pair of crutches and a demob suit” An unusual choice […]
Here’s a treat: Marie Lloyd’s My Old Man Said Follow the Van, written in 1919 by Fred W. Leigh and Charles Collins, in this utterly wonderful performance by Jessie Wallace. Although humorous, the song (according to its Wikipedia entry): reflects […]
Malvina Reynolds? Peggy Seeger? Rosalie Sorrels? Dory Previn? Joan Baez? Buffy Sainte-Marie? Judy Collins? Ani Difranco? Certainly some outstanding names there; but no, the most important and most influential female folk singer (and protest singer and political activist) of the […]
It’s one of those songs that we’ve all known forever. Published in 1921, the lyrics by Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn, music by Richard A. Whiting, and recorded here by Gus Van and Joe Schenck, the song had first […]
Maria and I had a great time last Thursday morning presenting our first Protest Songs workshop at Brompton Cemetery Chapel in Fulham Rd, Kensington, covering the period from 1381 to the end of the 19th century. A bit rushed, trying […]
No comment to this, one of my favourite songs, written by one of my favourite writers (Yip Harburg) and sung by one of my favourite singers (Rudy Vallee), other than that this heralds in our coming season of “Protest Songs” […]
From some time around 1939, this recording by Ronald Frankau and Tommy Handley of a song I learned as a small child.
Those of you who know Radio Days well will know that we’ve a bit of a ‘thing’ about George Formby. Those of you who know us really well will know we’re also huge fans of Formby’s mentor, Cliff Edwards (“Ukulele […]
It was some time in the late 1960s that I bought a compilation album that featured among its tracks a 1931 recording by the Mills Brothers of ‘Sweet Sue’. I’d listened to it a number of times before it dawned […]