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Centuries of Sound
Author: James M Errington
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© 2022 James Errington
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Audio time travel with mixes for every year of recorded sound, starting in the 1850s and working our way through to the present. "Radio podcasts" are bonus commentary with occasional guests. Find out more at centuriesofsound.com
131 Episodes
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This time James Errington is joined by John Ashlin to explore the music of 1916. While Europe lies devastated in the midst of the darkest year of the first world war, America is hotting up, with the birth of jazz and blues music imminent, while the old world of Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley is struggling to adapt.
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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.
1948 Part Two – Move
In part one we saw how tape technology was transforming the sound of the world in 1948. In part two we’ll take a cue from another new development – the long playing record. When I first heard that the LP had been less than twenty years old when Sgt Pepper was released – or just eleven years old when Kind of Blue was released, it seemed hard to believe. I was so accustomed to thinking of music as naturally fitting in this format – two sides of around 20-25 minutes each. But until now, nobody was experiencing music like that. There were “albums” it’s true – there had been since the Edwardian age – but these were “albums” in the “photo album” sense. Booklets of perhaps eight double-sided shellac discs, with sides numbered under the assumption that they would be played as a stack on top of a record player (side one matched with side eight maybe.) These cumbersome things were meant for classical music, and not anything as disposable as jazz. But jazz was one step ahead already. By now of course we have this wave of Be Bop artists, often playing improvised music for hours on end, also very much unsuited to a short side of shellac.
Columbia’s new long playing discs (and RCA Victor’s new 7” singles) do not make up a substantial proportion of this mix, but where last time everything was a tape cut up, this time we’re more in the realm of the sometimes meandering, sometimes slow groove building world made possible by this new medium. This is less of a mix to pay attention to, and more a mix to sit back and enjoy. Which is the way forward? We’ll just have to see. The decade is almost over, we’ve come a long way, but there’s one last shock for us before we reach the heart of the century.
Support the show at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
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Full index of episodes at https://centuriesofsound.com
Tracklist
Intro
(Clip from Naked City)
0:00:00 John Cage & Jay Gottlieb – Dream
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
(Clip from Truth or Consequences)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
0:00:54 Brother Bones And His Shadows – Sweet Georgia Brown
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
0:03:51 Cold Storage Rhythm – Skokiaan
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
0:06:24 Blue Ridge Quartet – Hard Times Will Soon Be Over
Part One – Rock
(Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra)
0:09:02 Wynonie Harris – Good Rockin’ Tonight
(Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra)
0:11:45 Bill Moore – We’re Gonna Rock
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
0:14:23 Jimmy Liggins – Cadillac Boogie
(Clip from This is Bing Crosby)
0:16:28 Wild Bill Moore – Rock and Roll
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
0:19:17 Amos Milburn – Chicken-Shack Boogie
(Clip from interview with Vera Hall)
Part Two – Move
0:21:23 Crown Price Waterford – Move Your Hand, Baby
(Clip from Spike Jones Show)
0:23:06 Milt Jackson & Thelonious Monk – Misterioso
(Clip from Exploding Cigarettes Prank)
(Clip of Symphony Syd introducing Miles Davis Band)
0:27:26 Miles Davis – Move
0:30:36 Charlie Parker – Relaxin’ at the Camarillo
0:32:54 Hazel Scott – Love Will Find A Way
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
Part Three – Mist
0:35:07 Pee Wee King – Bull Fiddle Boogie
(Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra)
0:37:43 Rip Ramsey – Wanderers Swing
(Clip from interview with Vera Hall)
(Clip from Bertrand Russell / Fr Frederick Copleston debate on existence of God)
0:40:24 Kenny Clarke – Algerian Cynicism
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
0:43:12 Duke Ellington & His Orchestra – Lady Of The Lavender Mist
0:46:27 Thelonious Monk – Evonce
(Clip of Helen Keller speaking)
Part Four – Size
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
0:49:33 Nellie Lutcher – Fine Brown Frame
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
0:52:30 Julia Lee – King Size Papa
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
0:55:09 John Lee Hooker – Boogie Chillen
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
0:58:03 Big Jay McNeeley’s Blue Jays – The Deacon’s Hop
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
1:00:52 Joe Swift – That’s Your Last Boogie
Part Five – Twist
(Clip from interview with Vera Hall)
1:03:54 Dizzy Gillespie – Prince Albert
(Clip from The Treasure of The Sierra Madre)
1:08:43 Paul Williams Sextette – The Twister Pt. 1
1:10:08 Paul Williams Sextette – The Twister Pt. 2
(Clip from Believe It Or Not)
1:11:16 Tuareg Women of Adrar des Iforas – Air de Kel Ajjer (Rhythme Ellehelleh)
(Clip from Bertrand Russell / Fr Frederick Copleston debate on existence of God)
1:12:53 Pablo Casals – Manel Sarerra Puigferrer Dubte
Part Six – Run
(Clip of Edward R Murrow)
1:15:39 Louis Jordan – Run Joe
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
1:17:52 Machito and His Afro-Cuban Salseros – Asia Minor
1:19:50 Henry Salvador – Maladie D’amour
(Clip from Red River)
1:22:05 Nellie Lutcher and Her Rhythm – There’s Another Mule In Your Stall
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
1:24:53 Roy Brown – Mighty, Mighty Man
Part Seven – Rope
(Clip from Bicycle Thieves)
1:27:35 Howard McGhee Sextet with Milt Jackson – Merry Lee
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
1:29:43 Lonnie Johnson – Tomorrow Night
(Clip from Kraft Music Hall)
1:32:48 Charles Trenet – Une Noix
(Clip from Rope)
1:34:56 John Cage & Jay Gottlieb – Dream
1:37:23 The Trumpeteers – Milky White Way
Part Eight – Hate
(Clip from Bertrand Russell / Fr Frederick Copleston debate on existence of God)
1:39:34 The Pilgrim Travelers – I Want My Crown
(Clip from Drunken Angel)
1:42:48 Thelonious Monk – Suburban Eyes
(Clip from Key Largo)
1:45:54 Milt Jackson & Thelonious Monk – Epistrophy
(Clip from Key Largo)
(Clip from Spike Jones Show)
1:49:31 Pee Wee Crayton – Texas Hop
(Clip from Brighton Rock)
1:52:13 Victor Silvester – Golden Earrings
(Clip from Brighton Rock)
Part Nine – Love
1:54:39 The Orioles – It’s Too Soon To Know
(Clip from This Is Bing Crosby)
1:57:32 Paula Watson – A Little Bird Told Me
2:00:08 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Little Boy, How Old Are You?
(Clip from interview with Vera Hall)
2:02:38 Ella Fitzgerald – Robbin’s Nest
(Clip from interview with Carmen Miranda)
2:05:55 Line Renaud – Etoile Des Neiges
Part Ten – Mirth
(Clip from Hamlet (Gielgud – BBC Radio))
2:08:46 Tadd Dameron Sextet – The Squirrel
(Clips from Hamlet (Olivier – Film))
2:12:48 Miles Davis – Budo (Hallucinations)
(Clip from Hamlet (Olivier – Film))
2:17:06 Sonny Thompson – Long Gone, Part 2
(Clip from Macbeth (Welles – Film))
2:19:59 Wynonie Harris – Blow Your Brains Out
(Clip from Macbeth (Welles – Film))
2:23:43 Charlie Parker – Embraceable You
Part Eleven – Stew
(Clip from The Jack Benny Program)
2:26:31 Hal Singer Sextette – Beef Stew
(Clip from The Spike Jones Show)
2:30:13 Camille Howard – X-Temperaneous Boogie
(Clip from The Jack Benny Program)
2:32:15 Erskine Hawkins – Corn Bread
(CLip from The Jack Benny Program)
2:34:33 Tommy Sargent – Steel Guitar Boogie
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
2:37:31 Hazel Scott – Dancing On A Ceiling
(Clip from Germany Year Zero)
Ending
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
(Clip from Calvacade of 1948)
2:40:25 Nat King Cole – Nature Boy
(Clip from Calvacade of 1948)
(Clip from The Phil Harris & Alice Faye Christmas Show)
2:43:05 Peggy Lee – Don’t Smoke In Bed
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip from Top Tunes of 1948)
2:46:14 Russ Morgan – So Tired
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from Germany Year Zero)
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.
1948 Part One – Something Big Out Of Something Little
It started with Bing Crosby wanting to improve his golf. Bing was a big golfer (in fact he would die on a golf course three decades later) but it was difficult to find the time for it when he was spending four days a week recording radio shows – and because of the time differences he’d often have to perform the whole show twice. Pre-recording had been suggested, but the quality of a half-hour disc side was not up to scratch. (LPs would also be introduced in 1948, but we’re not in 1948 yet) and the radio stations just would not accept it. So for 18 months, there was an impasse. But luckily there was a way out.
At the end of the second world war, Jack Mullin, a member of the US Signal Corps, had been tasked with finding out about German electronics. One day at the headquarters of Radio Frankfurt, he made a discovery. Magnetic recording had been around for nearly half a century at this point, but it always gave a distorted, inadequate sound. Not here. The AEG ‘Magnetophon’ was capable of recording and reproducing sounds to a fidelity completely unheard of before. You could even speed up or slow down tapes without any significant loss. Mullin took two of these machines back to the USA and spent the next couple of years trying to convince anyone that they were of use, until finally Murdo MacKenzie, an assistant to Crosby, was impressed enough to try them out. Within a few months, he was able to record shows in bulk, edit them at his leisure, and spend more of his time playing golf.
A studio musician often used by Crosby was one Les Paul, these days of course better known for his development of the electric guitar, but in the mid 40s more of a jobbing session guitarist. Paul had played a major role in Crosby’s 1945 number one “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” for example. Crosby showed the new tape-recording devices to Paul and encouraged him to build a studio, where he experimented with the first multitrack tape recordings. Until this point, of course, every record you hear is in essence a live recording. A minor quirk here perhaps is that the two apparently multitracked selections (“Lover” and “What Is This Thing Called Love?”) actually date from before he successfully constructed his multitrack studio, instead they were constructed by recording and altering the speed of acetate discs – on “Lover” for example, that’s eight different Les Pauls playing along at different speeds.
Les Paul wasn’t the only person experimenting with tape recording, of course. In France we also have Pierre Schaeffer, the father of Musique Concrète. Cutting up, rearranging and juxtaposing sounds was not a new idea (is there ever really a new idea?) as you will perhaps remember from the Dziga Vertov sound collages used in the 1925 mix. But Schaeffer’s experiments do mark the start of a movement, and one which will be important to these mixes from now on, starting from this one.
Listening to this mix, you will likely find it noticeably different from those before, and there’s a reason. In this half, inspired by Les Paul, Pierre Schaeffer and even Bing Crosby, as well as the new popular, advertising-supported media, we have a quick-moving cut-up style. This includes all of the year’s news. Next time we’ll be taking a break from all of that in any case.
Tracklist
0:00:00 Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Violette
(Clip from The Red Shoes)
(Clip from Edward R Murrow – I Can Hear It Now)
(Clip from Unknown Radio show)
0:01:01 Les Paul – Lover
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
(Clip from Howdy Doody)
(Clip from NBC Cavalcade of 1948)
(Clip from Howdy Doody)
(Clip from The Life of Riley)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from 1948 Television Commercial)
January
(Clip from The Jack Benny Program)
0:04:44 Texas Ruby & Curley Fox – Come Here Soon
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
(Clip from US propaganda film)
0:07:44 Charlie Parker’s All Stars – Constellation
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from US propaganda film)
0:10:16 Raj Kapoor – Solah Baras Ki Bhayee Umariya
(Clip from NBC Cavalcade of 1948)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clips from NBC News of The World)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from NBC News of The World)
(Clip of Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Violette)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
(Clip from NBC News of The World)
February
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from The Life of Riley)
0:16:12 Woody Herman And His Orchestra – Sabre Dance
(Clips from CBC – John Fisher on Post-War Europe)
(Clips of Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Violette)
0:19:43 Muddy Waters – I Feel Like Going Home
(Clip from 1948 Television Commercial)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
0:23:22 Willy Walden & Piet Muyselaar – Jantje Is Gaan Voetballen
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clip from Pepsodent TV Commercial)
(Clip from BBC Archive)
March
(Clip from CBC – The Atom Bomb)
(Clip of Banta Trance Speech)
0:25:06 Youkoui Bamileké – Ngwop
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
(Clip from The Life of Riley)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from Fitch Bandwagon)
0:27:14 Mado Robin – Air De La Reine De La Nuit
(Clip of Banta Trance Speech)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
0:28:59 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Ill Barkio
(Clip from The Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show)
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
(Clip from US Propaganda Film)
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip of Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Violette)
April
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
0:32:30 Rose Murphy – Cecilia
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clips from BBC Archive – Budget Day)
0:36:35 Red Ingle & The Natural Seven – Cigareetes, Whuskey, And Wild, Wild Women
(Clip from Fitch Bandwagon)
(Clip from The Jack Benny Programme)
(Clip from US Propaganda Film)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
0:39:45 Astor Piazzolla – Villeguita
(Clip from Nederlands In Zeven Lessen)
May
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from Dennis Day)
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from The Life of Riley)
(Clip from This Is Bing Crosby)
0:42:29 Peggy Lee – Why Don’t You Do Right?
(Clips from NBC Dewey-Stassen Debate)
0:46:39 Sotiría Béllou & Vasílis Tsitsánis – Péfteis Se Láthi
(Clips from NBC Clifton Utley commentary on Palestine)
(Clip from newsreel – Haganah Troops Occupy Jaffa)
(Clip from Edward M Murrow – I Can Hear It Now)
0:50:30 Dalila Rochdi – Haragli Guelbi, Pt. 1
(Clip from The Chicken of Tomorrow)
(Clip of Peter Lorre on Spike Jones Show)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip of Banta Trance Speech)
June
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip of guest appearance by Frank Sinatra)
(Clip from Jack Benny Show)
0:54:13 Mukesh & Shamshad Begum – Raat Ko Jee Chamke Taare Aag
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clip from Cavalcade of 1948)
(Clip of Harry S Truman describing the blockade of Berlin)
0:57:55 Elder A. Johnson – God Don’t Like It
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
1:00:21 Willie Gumede & His Concertina Band – U Gumede
(1948 TV Commercial)
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clip from The Life of Riley)
July
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
(Clips from BBC Archive)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
1:04:17 Arthur Smith – Guitar Boogie
(Clips from Clement Atlee – The New Social Services and The Citizen)
(Clips from National Health Service Story)
1:09:51 Les Paul – What Is This Thing Called Love?
(Clips from Cavalcade of 1948)
(Clip from Alastair Cooke Letter From America)
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
1:14:07 Roy Hogsed – Cocaine Blues
(Clips from BBC – Last German POWs leave the UK)
(Clip from This Is Bing Crosby)
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip from Fitch Bandwagon)
August
(Clip from Strom Thurmond’s Swimming Pool Speech)
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clip from Strom Thurmond’s Swimming Pool Speech)
(Clip from Fitch Bandwagon)
1:18:32 Tex Williams – Drop Dead
(Clips from Cavalcade of 1948)
1:20:07 Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Pathetique
(Clip from What is Television?)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
1:20:57 Ann Miller – Shakin’ The Blues Away
(Clip from Cavalcade of 1948)
(Clips from BBC Archive)
(Clip from 1948 TV Commercial)
September
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip from The Original Amateur Hour)
(Clip of Banta Trance Speech)
1:24:15 Dave Brubeck – How High The Moon
(Clips from BBC Archive)
1:29:32 The Sauceman Brothers – Hallelujah We Shall Rise
(Clip from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not)
(Clip from What is a Television?)
(Clip from Fitch Bandwagon)
1:31:04 Standard Radio Sound Effect – Canadian Geese
(Clip from BBC Archive)
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clip from 1948 Television Commercial)
(Clip from WXQR Halloween Nightmare)
(Clip from Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Pathetique)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
October
(Clip from 1948 Television Commercial)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
(Clip from 1948 A Year of Great Decision)
(Clip from 1948 Year In Review)
1:33:32 John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson – Stop Breaking Down
(Clip from The Jack Benny Program)
(Clip from The Profit Motive)
(Clip from Truman Address in St Louis)
1:36:22 Dick Wellstood – So in Love
(Clip from WXQR Halloween Nightmare)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
(Clip from WXQR Halloween Nightmare)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
(Clip from WXQR Halloween Nightmare)
(Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business)
(Clip from Peter Lorre on Spike J
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.
1947 Part Two – Boptamism
A baby boom – a notable increase in babies born – may indicate many socio-economic factors at play, but most of these factors are refractions of hope. Hope that there will be a good world for your children to become adults in, hope that you will be able to provide everything they need, hope that the path of your new family will not be littered with traps and nasty surprises. As I write this in 2024, birth rates in western countries have been in decline for decades, but in 1947 we were just on the spike of the “baby boom” which was so notable it gave its name to a generation. Is this then a time of hope? Will this mix sound optimistic and hopeful?
There was an idea at one point that these mixes would provide some sort of historical narrative into the years in question. Was it an idea that I had, or was it thrust on me by the war? It’s truthfully hard to say, I was already arranging things (not music) month by month back in 1939, maybe it’s a habit I’ve slipped into. In any case the arrangement has now become fairly meaningless (with a couple of exceptions I’ll come to in a moment), just a way to break up years into more manageable chunks or chapters, for example October is fairly bop-heavy and December is winding down for the Christmas section.
That’s the second exception in this mix, the first is the independence of India and Pakistan, a large public event with newsreels and speeches to sample, but whose ramifications wouldn’t be as easy to capture. In China the civil war turned a corner, with the Nationalists increasingly looking doomed. Communists also officially took power in Poland. The spread of communism triggered The Truman Doctrine, as good a date as any for the start of The Cold War. Is any of this evident from this mix? Well no, not at all. This of course does not mean that these things are unimportant, it just means that they haven’t yet impacted the cultural record, or at least my cultural record.
The people – the musicians – here were interested in exploring their art, they were interested in entertaining, they were interested in making people dance, they were interested in making something new. All art is in some sense political, and their stretching out in this freedom to create and share tells you something about their mood. The prospect of nuclear war, even of the Korean War, were not yet in the air. So to answer my own question, yes, we are still in the brief window of hope, but we can grasp this from the absence. There are other things to write about than existential dread.
If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ
Tracklist
0:00:00 George Melachrino Strings – Serenade (Drigo)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
(Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance)
0:01:20 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Bop
July
0:04:24 Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents
0:05:15 Forrest Sykes – Tonky Boogie
(Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance)
0:08:33 Jo Stafford & Red Ingle – Temptation
(Clip from Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents)
0:11:40 Spike Jones – I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
(Clip from High-Diving Hare)
0:14:19 Jack Mcvea’s All Stars – Open The Door Richard
(Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party)
0:17:14 Hank Williams – I’m A Long Gone Daddy
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
0:20:01 Utah Smith – I Got Two Wings
0:23:09 Bama – How I Got In The Penitentiary (Interview)
0:23:52 Bama – Stackerlee
0:26:02 Vladimir Horowitz – Variations On A Theme From Bizet’s Carmen
(Clip from Dark Passage)
0:28:25 Kenneth Anger – Spoken introduction from ‘Fireworks’
0:29:21 Barry Ulanov’s All Star Metronome Jazzmen – 52nd Street Theme
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:31:02 Amos Milburn – Down The Road A Piece
(Clip from The Walgreen Show with Bob Hope)
August
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
0:34:07 Harmonicats – Peg O’ My Heart
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
0:36:45 Surashri Kesarbai Kerkar – Gaud Malhar
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
(Clip from Nehru Speech)
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
0:40:51 Sonny Thompson W. The Sharps & Flats – Long Gone
(Clip from Shy Guy)
0:43:57 Tampa Red – Let’s Try It Again
(Clip from British Movietone Review of The Year)
0:47:01 Dodo Marmarosa – Dodo’s Dance
(Clip from British Movietone Review of The Year)
0:50:37 Roy Acuff – Freight Train Blues
(Clip from British Movietone Review of The Year)
0:53:16 Signe Flatin – Skuldalsbruri
0:54:45 Kiko Kids – Tom Tom
(Clip from Slick Hare)
0:57:43 The Big Three Trio – Signifying Monkey
(Clip from Slick Hare)
1:00:47 Louis Jordan – Barnyard Boogie
(Clip from The Walgreen Show with Bob Hope)
1:03:40 Tex Williams – Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)
(Clip from Shy Guy)
September
(Clip from Fibber McGee & Molly)
1:06:41 The Bopland Boys – Cherokee (Jeronimo)
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:12:04 Julia Lee – Snatch And Grab It
(Clip from Easy To Get)
1:14:03 Bull Moose Jackson – I Want A Bowlegged Woman
(Clip from Dark Passage)
1:17:16 Todd Rhodes Orchestra – Blues For The Red Boy
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
1:19:57 Les Baxter – Mist O´the Moon
(Clip from Black Narcissus)
1:22:51 Spade Cooley – Oklahoma Stomp
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
1:25:38 Wynonie Harris – Good Rockin’ Tonight
(Clip from How To Discipline Children)
1:28:09 Bill Harris All Stars – A Knight In The Village
(Clip from Out Of The Past)
1:32:34 Xavier Cugat – Miami Beach Rhumba
1:34:26 Chano Pozo Y Su Ritmo De Tambores – Tambombarana
(Clip from Speech to the Berlin Philharmonic)
1:36:55 Astor Piazzolla – Se Armó
October
(Clip from It’s That Man Again)
1:38:46 Wayne Raney – Lost John Boogie
1:41:22 Dizzy Gillespie – Emanon / Things To Come
(Clip from Shy Guy)
1:44:51 Dexter Gordon – The Duel
(Clip from Out Of The Past)
1:47:16 Lionel Hampton – Mingus Fingers
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:50:33 Dodo Marmarosa Trio – Bopmatism
(Clip from Easy To Get)
1:53:49 Charlie Parker All Stars – Chasin’ The Bird
(Clip from The Jazz Singer – Radio Play)
1:56:37 Thelonious Monk – ‘Round Midnight
1:59:14 Billie Holiday – Solitude
2:02:16 Frank Sinatra – Try A Little Tenderness
(Clip from Dark Passage)
2:05:25 The Trenier Twins – Hey Sister Lucy
November
(Clip from British Movietone Review of the Year)
2:07:56 Stella Haskil – Bir Allah
(Clip from British Movietone Review of the Year)
2:09:52 Kasagi Shizuko – Airei Kawaii Ya
(Clip from Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents)
2:12:24 Sarah Vaughan – I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself a Letter
(Clip from You Bet Your Life)
2:14:53 Maddox Brothers & Rose – Milk Cow Blues
(Clip from Crowing Pains)
2:18:09 Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys – Blue Grass Breakdown
(Clip from Shy Guy)
2:20:50 Roy Brown – Lolly Pop Mama
(Clip from Easy To Get)
2:23:08 Jimmy Liggins – Cadillac Boogie
(Clip from Easy To Get)
2:25:45 Walter Brown & Jay Mcshann Quartet – W. B. Blues
2:28:11 Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings – Swanee River Boogie
2:30:40 T-Bone Walker – Bobby Sox Blues
(Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party)
2:33:27 Leadbelly – Laura
December
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
2:35:30 Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup – That’s All Right
(Clip from It’s That Man Again)
2:36:36 Tiny Bradshaw – Take The Hands Off The Clock
(Clip from Tweety Pie)
2:39:13 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – I Kiss Your Hand Madame
(Clip from It’s That Man Again)
2:41:14 Watanabe Hamako – Tokyo No Yoru
(Clip from Shanghai)
2:43:13 The Barton Brothers – Cockeyed Jenny
2:44:40 Abbott & Costello – Christmas Tree
2:47:31 Frankie Laine – That’s My Desire
(Clip from The Bishop’s Wife)
2:50:49 Sarah Vaughan – The Lord’s Prayer
(Clip from Miracle on 34th Street)
2:53:39 Sister Rosetta Tharpe And Marie Knight – Beams Of Heaven
(Clip from Miracle on 34th Street)
2:56:19 Nat King Cole Trio – For Sentimental Reasons
(Clip from Life of Riley)
2:58:25 Jacob Do Bandolim – Flamengo
(Clip from Truth or Concequences)
Ending
3:00:21 Miles Davis – Out Of Nowhere
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
3:04:35 Nat King Cole Trio – There I’ve Said It Again
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
3:07:45 Cecil Gant – Special Delivery
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
(Clip from Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents)
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.
1947 Part One – Cubana Bop
From time to time in music there are sparks which briefly spring to life, then almost immediately fizzle out again, but not without leaving long-lasting reverberations. One of these moments began in the summer of 1947, when 32-year-old dancer, bodyguard, shoeshiner and noted percussionist Chano Pozo arrived in New York on a passenger ship from the rich man’s playground of Havana. Raised in one of the most dangerous slums in Cuba, Pozo had found himself in reform school at the age of 13, only having had three years of education. His crime may have been the accidental killing of an American tourist. While there he learned not only literacy and the Afro-Caribbean religion Santería, but also to play a range of percussion instruments. On release he became a “rumbero” – the beating heart of a musical/dance troop at carnival, and after only a few years he had had become perhaps the most famous one in Cuba.
He may have achieved fame, but there was no fortune to be found in working-class Cuba, and in 1947 he decided to move to the USA, where a nascent Cuban music industry was already in place. Band leader Mario Bauza, who already had a good deal of success, arranged a series of recording sessions for Pozo, and at a party at Harlem in September introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie, who was already interested in Cuban music, and who immediately invited him to join his band. Before the end of the month they would be on stage together at Carnegie Hall.
The music that Gillespie and Pozo made together in the next 15 months is so arresting that it’s astonishing that it isn’t better-known. Perhaps the musicianship on display prevented anyone else from easily borrowing. In any case the 75 years since have done nothing to blunt its power. Taking all the unpredictable, stimulatingly jarring musical shapes from be bop and fusing them to this driving, complex Cuban rhythm is nothing short of magical.
The collaboration was cut short prematurely when Pozo was murdered by another Cuban expat outside a Harlem bar, but by that point Pozo and Gillespie had collaborated on Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Tin Tin Deo and Manteca, all to be featured prominently in these two mixes.
There’s been a bit too much history in Centuries of Sound of late, too many events taking place. This is supposed to be a celebration and exploration of sound. Sure, 1947 traditionally marks the start of the Cold War – and there is one large international event which we’ll get to in part two – but I’m pleased to say there’s little sign of it here. When I listen back to the records (and the sounds) here the joy in experimentation is the biggest takeaway. I hope it is for you too.
If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ
Tracklist
0:00:00 Unknown Birds – Birdsong (from Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi Four Seasons intro)
(Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’)
0:00:36 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Be
(Clips from Are You Popular?)
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:02:59 Amos Milburn – Chicken Shack Boogie
January
0:05:25 Charlie Parker Quintet – Bird Of Paradise
(Clip from Alastair Cooke – Letter From America – New Year 1947)
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
0:08:31 Maddox Brothers & Rose – Honky Tonkin’
(Clip from The Walgreen Show – Groucho Marx/Bob Hope)
0:11:01 Ella Fitzgerald – How High The Moon
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
0:14:23 Wild Bill Moore – We’re Gonna Rock
0:16:11 Frank Sinatra & Jimmy Durante – From The Heart
0:20:47 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – William Tell Overture
0:23:54 Sonny Boy Williamson II – Shake That Boogie
(Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’)
0:26:53 Sister Rosetta Tharpe And Marie Knight – Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
0:29:19 Julia Lee – Tell Me, Daddy
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:32:18 Little Brother Montgomery Quintet – El Ritmo
(Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party)
0:35:21 Tadd Dameron Sextet – The Chase
February
(Clip from Bob Hope & Bing Crosby – The Road To Hollywood)
0:38:26 Chet Atkins – Canned Heat
(Clip from Dark Passage)
0:41:51 Hank Williams – Move It On Over
(Clip from Montreal By Night)
0:44:45 Chano Pozo Y Su Orquestra – Rumba En Swing
0:47:18 Dizzy Gillespie – Manteca
(Clip from Human Reproduction)
0:50:20 Manhattan Paul & Paul Bascomb Orchestra – Rock And Roll
(Clip from Alan Lomax – What Makes A Work Song Leader?)
0:53:18 ’22’ With Little Red, Tangle Eye, & Hard Hair – Early In The Mornin’
(Clip from Alan Lomax – What Makes A Work Song Leader?)
0:55:39 Tangle Eye – Tangle Eye Blues
(Clip from Black Narcissus)
0:58:00 John Cage, Maro Ajemian, William Masselos – Three Dances for Two Pianos
(Clip from Marlon Brando – Screen Test for Rebel Without A Cause)
0:59:48 Nellie Lutcher – He’s A Real Gone Guy
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
1:02:51 Vladimir Horowitz – The Hut On Fowl’s Legs
(Clip from The Postman Always Rings Twice)
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
(Clip from The Postman Always Rings Twice)
1:06:15 Charlie Parker Quintet – Superman (The Hymn)
March
(Clip from British Movietone Review of the Year)
1:08:48 Band Of The Gold Coast Police – Dagomba
(NBC in Chicago ident)
1:11:41 Muddy Waters – I Feel Like Going Home
(Clip from Out of the Past)
1:15:01 Betty Hutton – I Wish I Didn’t Love You So
1:17:41 Henry Red Allen – Indiana
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
1:21:34 Ivory Joe Hunter – I Like It
(Clip from Oor Willie – The Man With Many Voices)
1:24:13 Johnny Doran – My Love Is In America
(Clip from Oor Willie – The Man With Many Voices)
1:27:01 Pete Seeger – Come All Fair Maids
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
1:29:48 Robert Mitchum – Foolish Pride
(CLip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:32:59 The Four Aces Of Western Swing – Yodel Your Blues Away
(Clip from Lux Radio Theatre – The Jazz Singer)
1:35:46 Freddy Martin & His Orchestra – Managua, Nicaragua
(Clip from Lux Radio Theatre – The Jazz Singer)
1:37:12 Edmundo Ros – Manana
April
1:39:10 Ella Logan & Donald Richards – Look To The Rainbow (Introduction)
1:39:27 Annie Laurie – Since I Fell For You
(Clip from Black Narcissus)
1:42:21 Thelonious Monk – Who Knows?
(Clip from Dark Passage)
1:45:03 Ichimaru – Samisen Boogie
(Clip from Shanghai)
1:47:05 Yukie Kubo – Shin Shin Tankoubushi (Coalminer’s Tale)
(Clip from Shanghai)
1:49:06 Tabata Yoshiro – Machi No Dateotoko
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:51:59 Gatemouth Moore – Did You Ever Try To Cry
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
1:54:10 Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker – Dizzy Atmosphere
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
1:57:16 Bill Harris And Charlie Ventura – High On An Open Mike
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
2:02:03 Stan Kenton – Peanut Vendor
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
2:06:51 Ted Weems & His Orchestra – Heartaches
May
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
2:09:34 Ray Noble & His Orchestra – Linda
(Clip from Shy Guy)
2:13:00 Ernest Tubb – Have You Ever Been Lonely?
(Clip from Shy Guy)
2:15:48 Big Maybelle – Sad And Disappointed Girl
(Clip from DDT – So Safe You Can Eat It)
2:18:25 Mamica – Nwomboko
(Clip from DDT – So Safe You Can Eat It)
2:19:36 Woody Herman – Sabre Dance
(Clip from Along Came Daffy)
2:22:10 Cab Calloway – Everybody Eats When They Come To My House
(Clip from Along Came Daffy)
2:25:02 Spike Jones – Popcorn Sack
(Clip from Easy To Get)
2:27:39 Stick Mcghee – Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee
(Clip from Crowing Pains)
2:29:46 The Sons Of The Pioneers & Roy Rogers – Cool Water
(Clip from Bob Hope & Bing Crosby – The Road To Hollywood)
2:31:58 Sons Of The Pioneers – Tumbling Tumbleweeds
(Clip from The Humpbacked Horse)
2:33:36 Joe Morris – The Applejack
June
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
2:35:15 Mahalia Jackson – Amazing Grace
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
2:38:24 Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
2:41:57 Louis Jordan – Run Joe
(Clips from Montreal By Night)
2:45:19 Les Baxter – Radar Blues
(Clip from Montreal By Night)
2:48:18 Ernie Harper – Chicago Boogie
(Clip from Out of the Past)
2:51:15 Merle Travis – Sixteen Tons
(Clip of Albert Camus reading L’etranger)
2:54:12 Line Renaud – Ma Cabane Au Canada
(Clip of Albert Camus reading L’etranger)
2:56:40 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Diminishing
2:57:36 The Stanley Brothers – Standing In The Need Of Prayer
2:59:23 Jimpson With Men Chopping Trees – No More, My Lord
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
3:00:59 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – How Far From God
Ending
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
3:03:15 Ethel Waters – A Hundred Years From Today
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
3:06:13 Big Maceo Merriweather – My Own Troubles
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
Previously at Centuries of Sound:
Christmas 1902-1924: Deep Magic From Before The Dawn Of Time
A Holiday Between The Wars, Christmas Records 1926-1938
A Wartime Christmas 1939-1945
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The period between the end of the Second World War and the Rock & Roll craze of 1954 may be strangely absent from popular memory on the whole, but when it comes to the Christmas season everything is suddenly reversed. The age of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, of Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, The Andrews Sisters’ Winter Wonderland, the hit version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, and of course Baby, It’s Cold Outside – these all seem to have been set in amber as the prototypical classic American Christmas experience. But meanwhile, of course, Rhythm & Blues, Western Swing, Mambo and Be-Bop are all at their peak, so don’t expect an entirely mainstream Christmas here.
Tracklist
0:00:00 Red Skelton – Clip from Raleigh-Kool Radio Program – Christmas Stories (1946)
0:00:04 Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) (1946)
0:03:11 Jimmy Stewart – Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
0:03:50 Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter Orchestra – White Christmas (1947)
0:06:43 Burns & Allen – Clip from Christmas Presents (1946)
0:07:31 Guy Lombardo & The Andrews Sisters – Winter Wonderland (1946)
0:10:09 Abbott & Costello – Clip from Christmas Show (1947)
0:11:24 Frankie Carle & His Orchestra with Majorie Hughes – Little Jack Frost Get Lost (1947)
0:14:02 Gene Lockhart – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:14:32 Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus (1947)
0:17:02 Life of Riley – Clip from Family Christmas Present (1947)
0:17:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) (1948)
0:20:12 Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show – Clip from Christmas Present (1948)
0:20:23 Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye – Merry Christmas At Grandmother’s House (1948)
0:22:38 David Niven – Clip from The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
0:23:01 Kay Starr – December (1949)
0:26:21 Unknown – Radio Commercial for Eggnog (1949)
0:26:36 Louis Jordan & Ella Fitzgerald – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (1949)
0:29:15 Much Binding In The Marsh – Clip from Christmas Programme (1948)
0:29:28 Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby (1949)
0:32:18 Dragnet – Clip from 22 Calibre Rifle for Christmas (1950)
0:32:23 Lionel Hampton Orchestra – Boogie Woogie, Santa Claus (1950)
0:35:04 Matinee with Bob and Ray – Clip from Christmas Season Program (1949)
0:35:08 Henry Jerome and His Orchestra – Sleigh Ride (1950)
0:36:47 Stars Over Hollywood – Clip from A Christmas Carol (1951)
0:36:57 Sauter-Finegan Orchestra – Midnight Sleighride (1952)
0:39:13 Suspense – Clip from The Night Before Christmas (1951)
0:39:35 Weekend Hyttens Kor And Orkester – Bjaldeklang (Jingle Bells) (1951)
0:41:53 Jack Benny Program – Clip from Christmas Shopping (1951)
0:42:26 Jan Garber And His Orchestra – Frosty The Snowman (1951)
0:45:01 Let’s Pretend – Clip from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1952)
0:45:23 Les Brown Orchestra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1952)
0:47:46 Billy May and His Orchestra – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo (1954)
0:50:20 Bing Crosby with The Rhythmaires – Sleigh Ride / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1953)
0:55:30 John Payne – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:55:54 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby (1953)
0:59:13 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet – Clip from The Lost Christmas Gift (1953)
0:59:16 Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters – White Christmas (1954)
1:01:53 Truth or Consequences – Clip from Christmas Show (1947)
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.
1946 Part Two – That’s All Right For You
In the popular imagination the late 1940s is poorly represented. In the 1930s there’s the great depression (which is also somehow the golden age of Hollywood), then WWII takes place, then [SCENE MISSING], then there’s the 1950s, rock & roll, teenagers, fashion, Hollywood glamour, the beat poets, Rosa Parks, the golden age of TV, and you know I could keep on just listing themes here but I’ll stop. These signifiers make the decade easy to get a grip on, and have been constantly revisited on TV, in films and – of course – in music ever since. For anyone under the age of 66 or so, this mythologised version of the fifties is the only fifties you’ve ever known. The late 40s on the other hand have had no such treatment – I can think of only a handful of films set in the period, all fairly obscure.
How can we begin to transition from one era to another then? The soldiers arrive back from the second world war, everyone settles down to keep quiet and do nothing for five years, then BOOM here we are in the modern age? Well, of course that’s not how it’s going to be. Those cultural threads spread out wide, and as our main concern here is music, the headline here is that the musical movements associated with that later era are not being anticipated in 1946, they aren’t starting to get underway, they are in fact already in full bloom. The headline could even be “1946 – The Year Rock & Roll Started!” – but for reasons I will surely go into later, there is no easy start date.
Though the majority of this mix is rock & roll in all but name, plenty does not fit that pattern. Some is in fact quite traditional pop music, but with artistry and production seemingly years ahead of its time. Jazz selections have been picked with a general feel of bubbling excitement. These songs are not so concerned with dreaming or looking into the future as in part one, but they push into the future by being (for the first time in a long time) fully able to immerse into the now. Most of this mix is dance music, though there are also plenty of calmer breaks.
One final thought before I say “just listen” – the reason many of these performers disappeared in the rock & roll era (as we know it) is that many were simply not around anymore. Big Maceo Merriweather had a severe stroke in 1946, and died in 1953. Sonny Boy Williamson I would be killed in a robbery in 1948. Albert Ammons would survive to play Truman’s inauguration in 1949, but then died later that year. Cecil Gant made it no further than 1951. A disappointing truth is that these are still very tough years, and this small sampling of joy tells just one story from many. I could say the same for any mix, of course, but it seems more important to point it out here.
Ok, so if I haven’t ruined it, just listen. And if you want to chat as you do so, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/jw5vZcN8
Tracklist
0:00:00 Charles Mingus and his Orchestra – Shuffle Bass Boogie
(Clip from Notorious)
(Clip from Wacky Weed – Andy Panda)
July
(Clip from Television Is Here Again)
0:03:10 Sonny Boy Williamson I – Shake The Boogie
0:05:53 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown
(Clip from The Story of Menstruation)
0:08:48 June Christy – Willow Weep For Me
0:11:43 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – ‘Round Midnight
0:15:25 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Fat Boy Rag
(Clip from The Big Sleep)
0:18:41 Cousin Joe – Weddin’ Day Blues
0:20:42 Albert Ammons – Jammin’ The Boogie
0:24:39 Dylan Thomas – On The Marriage of a Virgin
0:26:07 Johnny Guarnieri Quartet – Temptation
0:27:00 Lennie Tristano Trio – I Can’t Get Started
(Clip from La Belle et la Bête)
0:29:48 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra with Django Reinhardt – Improvisation #2
0:30:47 T-Bone Walker With Jack McVea’s All Stars – Bobby Sox Blues
August
(Clip from Pathe – Very early mobile phone prototype)
0:33:53 Sister Rosetta Tharpe ft. Sam Price Trio – This Train
(Clip from A Gruesome Twosome)
0:37:12 Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra – How Big Can You Get, Little Man?
(Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life)
0:40:00 Cecil Gant – Nashville Jumps
(Clip from Hair-Raising Hare)
0:42:49 Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup – That’s All Right, Mama
(Advertisement for Squibb Dental Cream)
0:44:44 Louis Jordan – Reet Petite And Gone
0:47:17 Freddie Slack & Ella Mae Morse – Pig Foot Pete
0:50:05 Big Joe Turner – Rebecca
(Clip from Baseball Bugs)
0:52:54 Roosevelt Sykes – Date Bait
0:55:51 Barry Moral Y Su Orquesta De Jazz – El Boogie Woogie De Artie Shaw
0:58:58 Philip Larkin – Wedding Wind
1:00:10 Charlie Parker Septet – I’ve Always Got The Blues
(Clip from Adam Hats)
1:01:49 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Rhapsody From Hunger(y)
September
(Clip from Television Is Here Again)
1:04:02 Tex Ritter – Trouble In Mind
1:06:48 Moon Mullican – New Pretty Blond (New Jole Blon)
(Clip from La Belle et la Bête)
1:09:53 Django Reinhardt – Django’s Tiger
(Clip from La Belle et la Bête)
1:10:37 Velma Nelson – If I Were A Itty Bitty Girl, Part 1
(Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life)
1:13:34 Don Byas – How High The Moon
1:16:03 Dizzy Gillespie – Salt Peanuts
1:17:58 Luke Jones – Shufflin Boogie
(Clip from The Great Piggy Bank Robbery)
1:20:09 Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson – Juice Head Baby
(Clip from Notorious)
1:12:15 Tampa Red & Big Maceo – Crying Won’t Help You
(Clip from Interview With Somerset Maugham)
1:25:25 Louis Jordan – Choo Choo Ch’boogie
1:28:06 Pat Flowers – Googie Woogie
October
1:30:55 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 2
(Clip from Final Judgement Read at Nuremberg Trials)
1:35:36 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 2
(Clips of judge sentencing Goering and Hess at Nuremberg)
1:36:55 Duke Ellington – Transblucency
1:39:10 Út Trà Ôn, Hu?, Th?y – Tôn T?n Gi? ?iên (Vietnam)
1:42:32 Tshamumania Anastasie And Singers – Ndumba Wakumi Diekde Dikasa (Luba-Kasai; Congo)
1:45:17 Francisco Canaro & Nelly Omar – Rosa De Otoño
(Clip from The Killers)
1:48:19 Les Brown (Vocal – Doris Day) – All Through The Day
1:49:43 The Ink Spots – I Never Had A Dream Come True
1:52:27 Freddie Slack & Ella Mae Morse – Your Conscience Tells You So
(Clip from The Big Sleep)
1:55:22 Ella Fitzgerald – I’m Just A Lucky So And So
1:58:13 Lester Young – D.B. (Detention Barracks) Blues
(Clip from Hair-Raising Hare)
2:01:21 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Coquette
November
(Clip from Notorious)
2:04:19 Jack McVea & His Band – Open The Door, Richard
2:07:07 Amos Milburn – Amos’ Blues
2:09:29 Big Maceo Merriweather – Maceo’s 32-20
2:12:16 Joe Turner – My Gal’s A Jockey
2:15:24 Lionel Hampton – Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop
2:18:41 Jay Mcshann – Voodoo Woman Blues
2:22:16 Roy Milton – R.M. Blues
2:24:09 Nat King Cole – You Call It Madness
2:27:05 Charlie Parker – Ornithology
2:28:36 Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson – Mr Cleanhead Steps Out
2:30:00 Lucky Millinder And His Orchestra – Shorty’s Got To Go
December
(Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life)
2:33:31 Merle Travis – Pigmeat Stomp
2:34:45 Delmore Brothers – Freight Train Boogie
2:37:24 Jazz Gillum – Look On Yonder Wall
(Clip from Casey Crime Photographer)
2:39:19 Pixinguinha, Benedito Lacerda – 1 X 0
(Clip from Baseball Bugs)
2:40:12 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Hawaiian War Chant
(Clip from Baseball Bugs)
2:42:21 Lester Young and his Band – Lover, Come Back To Me
2:44:54 Joe Liggins – Got A Right To Cry
2:48:08 Dan Burley Skiffle Boys – South Side Shake
(Clip from Casey Crime Photographer)
2:51:04 Coleman Hawkins – I Mean You
2:52:40 Lionel Hampton – Hamp’s Salty Blues
2:55:48 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Hamp’s Boogie Woogie
Ending
3:02:53 Charlie Parker – Lover Man
(Clip from My Darling Clementine)
3:06:17 Charles Trenet – La Mer
(Clip from The Killers)
(Clip from Baseball Bugs)
This Halloween special was first broadcast in 2022 and features music from 1927 to 1938 and also features my son Milan. To get full downloads and a host of extras, and help the show survive, come to http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
When we think of the great depression of the 1930s, the images which may spring to mind – The Grapes of Wrath, the dustbowl songs of Woody Guthrie – are generally from the 1940s. Popular entertainment of the thirties leaned not on realism, but on escapism. This is the golden age, not only of Hollywood musicals, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers, Busby Berkley routines and screwball comedy, but also of horror movies. Aside from the film clips, we naturally have plenty of novelty recordings, original sound effect records, hot jazz, and to close a suite of particularly morbid blues records.
This Centuries of Sound mix comes courtesy of my supporters at patreon.com/centuriesofsound – join them for as little as $5 per month and get a full archive and a host of bonus material.
The 1940s was a scary time, but not really in a way that we can comfortably celebrate at Halloween. Nevertheless there were still a few horror movies being made, and it’s from these that I’ve largely drawn for this mix (the best are of course the works of Val Lewton, a shame there aren’t more.) The most traditionally Halloween-themed musical numbers here are from Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and along with the lack of Universal Horror monsters except in semi-parody retreads, this seems to indicate that 40s audiences were in no mood to be frightened. If it isn’t already obvious, I’ll leave it to Al Bowlly to explain why.
Tracklist:
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
0:00:06 Bing Crosby & The Rhythmaires - Headless Horsemen (1947)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker)
0:03:17 Carl Stalling - Ghost Wanted (1940)
(Clips from House of Dracula)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:07:17 Louis Armstrong - You've Got Me Voodoo'd (1940)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:10:09 Charles Mingus Sextette (Vocal by Claude Trinier) - Weird Nightmare (1946)
(Clip from Cat People)
0:13:34 Delta Rhythm Boys - Dry Bones (1941)
(Clip from Suspense Theatre - Donovan's Brain)
0:16:39 Una Mae Carlisle - Oh I'm Evil (1941)
(Clip from Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man)
0:19:13 Louis Jordan - Somebody Don Hoodooed The Hoodoo Man (1940)
(Clip from I Walked With A Zombie)
0:22:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers - My Old Flame (1947)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker)
0:26:06 Josh White - Evil Hearted Man (1944)
(Clip from Ivan The Terrible)
0:29:10 Kai Winding Sextet - A Night on Bop Mountain (1949)
(Clip from Suspicion)
0:33:08 Washboard Sam - Evil Blues (1941)
(Clip from Bedlam)
0:36:26 Bob Wills - The Devil Ain't Lazy (1947)
(Clip from Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man)
0:39:16 Wayne Raney - Jole Blon's Ghost (1948)
(Clip from Notorious)
0:41:50 Lionel Hampton Sextet & Dinah Washington - Evil Gal Blues (1943)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
0:44:55 Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys - The Ghost and Honest Joe (1949)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
0:48:06 Stan Jones And The Death Valley Rangers- Ghost Riders In The Sky (1948)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead)
0:51:09 Jay Mcshann - Voodoo Woman Blues (1946)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead)
0:54:15 Charlie Shavers - Zooming At The Zombie (1940)
(Clip from Cat People)
0:57:00 Lena Horne - Haunted Town (1941)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
1:00:21 Texas Slim - Devil's Jump (1949)
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
1:03:19 Fred Astaire - Me And The Ghost Upstairs (1940)
(Clip from Lights Out - Kill)
1:05:48 Al Bowlly & Jimmy Mesene - When That Man Is Dead And Gone (1941)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
1:08:50 Kay Starr - The Headless Horseman (1948)
(Clip from Isle Of The Dead)
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - The Man Who Couldn't Die)
It seems like an obvious thing to say that the Second World War was A Bad Time, at least it seems obvious to me. Half a decade of some of the most terrible, miserable events of all time – or more than half a decade, the last war-free mix was 1938 and even that included the ominous events of Munich – and even when things were going the right way for the last couple of years, there was the committing and uncovering of war crimes to deal with. It says something unfortunate about our society that this is the one period we focus on the most – put on a history documentary and there’s a 50/50 chance that it will concerned in some way with WWII. Foolishly, when I started on these mixes I thought it would attract a new audience, but people interested in tanks, military tactics and Hitler’s private life are by no means guaranteed to be also interested in social history and culture of the early 40s – in fact, beyond a couple of totemic songs, the sounds of the era seem to have disappeared from culture more than any time since the dawn of the jazz age. It didn’t help of course that the recording industry was blighted by long-running industrial disputes, lack of resources for recording and touring, with many musicians sent off to fight.
History has not finished by any means in 1946 – this is, of course, the start of The Cold War, the year of the “Iron Curtain” speech – but it has at least faded enough into the background for cultural life to resume. There is a sense here of people getting back on track after a derailment, though if you were dropping in here, you might not even have that sense, so little reference is made to recent events.
We aren’t picking up where we left things in the 30s, of course. The big bands have largely split, and those reforming are already largely nostalgia acts. Their singers have fame and record contracts of their own now, and no need to go on tour with a radio in every home. Tastes have also changed in innumerable ways; blues has become rhythm & blues, swing has become be bop, country has become western swing (all of these much more complicated than that of course – these genres are barely formed, these musicians in dialogue – often literally – with one-another.)
You may find this mix surprisingly relaxed, mellow, yet forward-looking, even futuristic, and more of a world tour than usual. This is deliberate – rather than arbitrarily dividing the year up, the lack of news allowed me to experiment with form a little. As it took shape, I realised that it was settling into a groove that I didn’t really want to disturb – it fitted the feeling of liberation, of finally being able to look to the future, and not dwell on Earthly realities, for the moment.
Part two, of course, has its own distinct feel -but we’ll leave that for next time.
Tracklist
Introduction
0:00:00 Miguelito Valdes With Noro Morales’ Orchestra – Rumba Rhapsody
(Clip from BBC war reporters visit to the Netherlands)
(Clip from The Big Sleep)
0:02:56 BBC – Television Is Here Again
0:03:33 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – Things to Come
January
(Clip from BBC – Television Is Here Again)
0:06:51 Henry Red Allen – Count Me Out
(Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life)
0:09:34 Amos Milburn – My Baby’s Booging
0:11:47 Charlie Parker Septet – A Night In Tunisia (Two Versions)
0:15:08 Lennie Tristano Trio – Interlude [aka A Night In Tunisia]
(Clip from World News In Review)
0:18:19 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 1
(Clip from War Victims Find Haven In America)
0:21:16 Harry James – You’ll Never Know
0:24:20 Don Byas – Gloria
(Philip Larkin – Going)
0:27:18 Coleman Hawkins And Orchestra – You Go To My Head
(Alan Lomax – Calypso After Midnight Introduction)
0:31:13 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – Stone Cold Dead In The Market
0:33:50 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Bob Wills Boogie
0:36:52 Nat King Cole Trio – Route 66
February
(Clip from Truman Speaks To Pathe News)
0:39:48 Baron Mingus & His Octet – This Subdues My Passion
(Clip from World News In Review)
0:42:41 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Laura
(Clip from World News In Review)
0:45:50 Duke Ellington & His Orchestra – Happy-Go-Lucky Local
0:48:43 Duke Ellington – Bond Promo 4
0:49:52 Kenny Clarke and his 52nd Street Boys – Epistrophy
(Clip from The Big Sleep)
0:52:59 Manik Verma – Charkhi Vale O
0:55:49 Hermanos Huesca – La Bamba
(Clip from BBC – Television Is Here Again)
0:59:00 Boyd Raeburn – Body And Soul
1:01:59 Chanteurs A La Croix De Cuivre – Batata Dia Bwanga
1:04:46 Sister Ernestine Washington – God’s Amazing Grace
1:07:32 Billie Holiday – Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
March
(Winston Churchill – Iron Curtain Speech)
1:09:40 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 1
(Clip from World News In Review)
1:11:36 Tabata Yoshiro – Kaeribune
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
1:13:07 Charles Mingus Sextette (Vocal by Claude Trinier) – Weird Nightmare
1:16:06 Duke Of Iron – Introduction To Ugly Woman / Ugly Woman
1:19:17 Hoagy Carmichael – Huggin’ And Chalkin’
(Clip from Casey Crime Photographer)
1:21:53 Benny Bell & Paul Wynn – Shaving Cream
1:23:13 Clyde Mccoy – Mr Wah Wah
1:25:27 Jimmy Mundy – Bumble Boogie
(Clip from Notorious)
1:27:05 Dexter Gordon Quintette – Dexter Digs In
1:29:22 Sacasas – Rumba Negra
(Clip from Inauguration of Cannes Film Festival)
1:32:04 El Marios All Girl Rumba Band – Babalu
1:34:27 Xavier Cugat With Miguelito Valdes – Babalu
April
(Clip from World News In Review)
1:37:16 Dizzy Gillespie – Convulsion
(Clip from Despotism)
1:39:46 Shalom Katz – Eil Malei Rachmim
(Clip from Despotism)
1:42:05 Charles Brown With Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers – You Won’t Let Me Go
(Clip from Despotism)
1:45:12 Woody Guthrie – Pastures Of Plenty
(Clip from Despotism)
1:47:40 James Baskett – Zip A Dee Doo Dah
(Clip from Despotism)
1:49:59 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Jones Polka
1:52:34 Boyd Raeburn and his Orchestra – Boyd Meets Stravinsky
1:55:23 Dizzy Gillespie – Shaw ’nuff
1:58:25 Dinah Washington & Gerald Wilson & His Orchestra – Oo Wee Walkie Talkie
2:00:00 Bing Crosby – Pretending
2:02:38 Sarah Vaughan with John Kirby and his Orchestra – You Go to My Head
May
(Clip of Albert Einstein on Nuclear Weapons and World Government)
2:05:38 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 1
2:06:25 Piphat Phataya-Koson – Homrong Chan Chao (Thailand)
2:08:04 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Perfume Suite from Date with Duke
2:12:04 Dinah Washington – Joy Juice
(Clip from Inauguration Du Festival De Cannes 1946)
2:13:37 Edith Piaf – La Vie En Rose
(Clip from A Matter of Life & Death)
2:16:43 Astor Piazzolla & Francisco Fiorentino – Viejo Ciego
(Clip from Nye Bevan speech)
2:19:51 Neriman Altindag – Soyledi Yok Yok
(Clip from The Best Years of Our Lives)
2:24:11 Chet Atkins – Guitar Blues (Picking The Blue)
2:26:54 Harry Choates – Jole Blon
(Clip – British soldier in Greek Civil War)
2:29:38 Unknown Artist – Huculka & Kozachok
2:30:53 Lord Invader – Introduction to Tie-Tongue Baby / Tie-Tongue Baby
June
2:34:38 Macbeth The Great – Introduction to Do Lai Do / Do Lai Do
2:37:38 Oum Kalsoum – Excerpt from Nagh El Borda
(Clip of BBC journalist in Greek Civil War)
2:41:23 Erskine Hawkins – After Hours
(Clip from A Matter of Life & Death)
2:43:44 Jo Stafford – Come Rain Or Come Shine
(Clip from A Matter of Life & Death)
2:47:21 Sarah Vaughan with John Kirby and his Orchestra – It Might as Well Be Spring
(Clip from A Matter of Life & Death)
2:50:45 Billie Holiday – No Good Man
2:54:04 The Maddox Brothers & Rose – I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again
2:56:12 Benedito Lacerda & Pixinguinha – Ainda Me Recordo
2:57:30 Peggy Lee – I Don’t Know Enough About You
(Clip from “The Seaside Reopens” – Pathe)
3:02:20 Ssekinomu – Ekyalema Nakato
3:02:46 Lusk, Gribble & York – Rolling River
Ending
3:05:00 Julia Lee – Lotus Blossom
(Clip from My Darling Clementine)
3:08:27 Teddy Wilson Quartet Quartet feat. Sarah Vaughan – September Song
(Clip from Inner Sanctum)
In this first of a series of special editions of the Centuries of Sound Radiopod, I’m joined by Simon O’Dwyer of Ancient Music Ireland to talk about music from a time before we had recordings, or even music notation, and hear some reconstructed prehistoric music from his own collection and others.
Simon and Maria’s website is at https://www.ancientmusicireland.com
Their new sound library, Paleosonic, is available at https://www.ancientmusicireland.com/sound-library
James Errington takes you on another journey into the pre-history of recorded sound — this time joined by Cambridge 105 Radio’s own Alex Elbro to explore the music of 1915, from hot dance ragtime to South-American proto-tango, English music hall comedy and some surprising responses to the first world war.
Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To get access to the full archive of full mixes, radio podcasts, and a host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the four-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Well, we made it! Seven years of Second World War mixes. It has been intense, dramatic, often disturbing, occasionally fun. I don’t think anyone reasonably expected these mixes to have the feel of the nostalgic action films which form so much of the popular memory of the era, but speaking for myself, how miserable this era was to live through wasn’t something I truly appreciated until I’d fully immersed myself in it. Part of this immersion was the downloading of hundreds of hours of original radio broadcasts, and while music has still formed the bulk of these mixes, the bulk of the work – and therefore the heart of these things – has increasingly been in constructing montages of these broadcasts of news events. I wouldn’t say this has exactly derailed things, there was really no alternative, but it limited choices, it imposed a narrative and a structure on each mix. Being free from that – as I was for the second half of this mix – is an absolute joy, and already I can feel my enthusiasm for the project returning.
Musical stars of this mix largely avoided the war. Dizzy Gillespie said to his selective service interviewer “in this stage of my life here in the United States whose foot has been in my ass? So if you put me out there with a gun in my hand and tell me to shoot at the enemy, I’m liable to create a case of ‘mistaken identity’ of who I might shoot.” He was classified as 4-F, “not acceptable for military service” – as were Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Louis Jordan had a hernia, Nat “King” Cole had either flat feet or hypertension, and Frank Sinatra was “not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint.” Conscription being only for men, Mary Lou Williams, Judy Garland, Betty Hutton and Kay Starr were naturally not asked to serve. The only exception to this general rule was Cecil Gant, labelled “The G.I. Sing-sation” on his earliest releases – somewhat ironically as his health was already in a poor state, and he would die in 1951.
Though most did not serve in Europe or The Pacific, there’s no doubt that the end of the war came as a relief to these artists as much as it did the rest of the population, especially as it meant that they would no longer be held back from touring or recording due to lack of fuel or plastics. This new era doesn’t arrive with a wave of celebration, exactly, nor quite a sense of relief. Instead there’s a sense of a new freedom to spread out and express. The musicians recording be bop were doing so not to entertain a dancing crowd, but to explore and enjoy sounds themselves. Jump blues artists were in a sense going completely the other way, but their audiences being smaller and more raucous than those of the big bands, their music was therefore equally expressive and free. Perhaps most representative of all, 1945 saw Mary Lou Williams’s “Zodiac Suite” – a cycle of piano recordings combining jazz (and even be bop) with modern classical music, a record which not only transcends genre, but anticipates the different ways music would be appreciated once long playing records and home stereo systems became standard a decade later.
So this is, in a sense, a fun mix, albeit one that contains, in its first half, events such as the dropping of the atom bomb over Hiroshima. Towards the end, though, you may be hear something awakening. The late 40s aren’t years that live on vividly in the popular imagination, but maybe that’s something that should change.
Intro
0:00:00 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner – Shostakovich Sixth Symphony (Excerpt)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1430-NBC-WEAF-Woman-In-White)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1215-NBC-WEAF-Maggies-Private-Wire)
(Clip from 1945-09-23-ABC-Lear-Radio-Show-01—Prophecy)
0:00:53 Dizzy Gillespie – All The Things You Are
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1245-NBC-WEAF-The-Music-Room)
0:03:41 Xavier Cugat – Tierra Va Tembla
0:06:49 Fred Allen – It’s In The Bag
0:08:21 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown
(Clip from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)
June
0:11:35 Mary Lou Williams – Aries
(Clip from 1945-06-xx-WTIC-The-War-Goes-On—USS-Franklin-Survivors-Alfred-E-Amos-of-Hartford–Stanley-J-Olander)
(Clip from 1945-06-10-General-Patton-Speech-Los-Angeles)
(Clip from 1945-06-12-Guildhall-Address-London)
(Clip from 1945-06-22-NBC-Ben-Grauer-Reports-On-Eisenhowers-Homecoming)
0:16:04 Bidu Sayao – Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, for voice & 8 cellos
(Clip from 1945-06-xx-WTIC-Bob-Steele-Interviews-Cpl-Charles-Connor–Cpl-Henry-Eaststrich)
(Clip from 1945-09-20-Orphan-Anne-Performs-Mock-Sign-On-For-US-Newsreels)
(Clip from 1945-08-09-NHK-The-Zero-Hour-Hosted-By-Orphan-Anne-Iva-Toguri)
(Clip from 1945-09-20-Orphan-Anne-Performs-Mock-Sign-Off-For-US-Newsreels)
(Clip from 1945-06-15-NHK-The-Zero-Hour-Hosted-By-Orphan-Anne-Iva-Toguri)
(Clips from 1945-06-xx-VOA-First-Marine-Division—A-Love-Note-To-Tokyo-Rose)
0:21:06 Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five – Caldonia
(Clip from 1945-12-25-MBS-In-Review-1945-In-Review)
0:23:45 Erskine Hawkins – Caldonia
0:25:15 Abbott & Costello – Who’s On First?
0:30:12 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Artistry In Rhythm
(Clip from Lost Weekend)
0:33:14 Stan Kenton – Artistry Jumps
(Clip from The Seventh Veil)
0:35:39 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Artistry In Rhythm (Reprise)
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
0:36:00 Roy Milton & His Solid Senders – Milton’s Boogie
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
0:39:06 Oscar Pettiford and his 18 All Stars (feat. Dizzy Gillespie and Don Byas) – Somethin’ for You
(Clip from A Walk In The Sun)
0:42:15 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Caravan
(Clip from 1945-06-18-CBS-Wings-Over-Jordan-Interrupted)
0:45:38 The Les Paul Trio – How High The Moon
July
(Clip from The Clock)
0:47:27 Frank Sinatra – Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
(Clip from The House I Live In)
0:49:37 Ray McKinley Trio – Sugar
(Clip from Welcome Home)
(Clip from A Walk In The Sun)
(Clip from Welcome Home)
0:53:01 Harry James and His Orchestra – Autumn Serenade
(Clip from They Were Expendable)
0:55:46 Illinois Jacquet and his All Stars – Flying Home Part 1
(Clip from 1945-12-25-MBS-In-Review-1945-In-Review)
(Clips from Pathe – UK General Election 1945)
0:59:40 Trummy Young and his Lucky Seven – Rattle and Roll
(Clip from 1945-07-08-CBS-World-News-Today)
1:01:19 Wynonie Harris – Wynonie’s Blues
(Clip from 1945-07-28-MBS-Reports-Army-Bomber-Crashes-Into-Empire-State-Building)
(Clip from Alastair Cooke Letter From America)
(Clips from 1945-07-28-MBS-Reports-Army-Bomber-Crashes-Into-Empire-State-Building)
(Clip from Alastair Cooke Letter From America)
1:07:42 Miguel Caró – Cimarron de ausencia
(Clip from 1945-07-29-CBS-World-News-Today)
1:10:20 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Liebestraume
1:13:28 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Roly Poly
(Clip from 1945-08-14-NBC-HV-Kaltenborn-Comments-On-Japanese-Surrender)
1:16:15 Nat King Cole – Frim Fram Sauce
(Clip from 1945-07-29-Truman-Speaks-Of-Japanese-Rejection-Of-US-Ultimatum)
August
(Clip from 1945-08-05-BBC-David-Lloyd-James-Red-Cross)
1:19:22 Lester Young and his Band – These Foolish Things
(Clip from 1945-08-06-Atomic-Bomb-Destroys-Hiroshima)
(Clip from 1945-08-06-BBC-Frank-Phillips-Reports-On-Hiroshima-Bombing)
(Clip from 1945-08-08-BBC-Nagasaki)
1:23:55 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner – Shostakovich Sixth Symphony (Excerpt)
1:25:43 Sumoni & Party – Soya
(Clips from 1945-08-08-CBS-Edward-Morrow-Reports-Russia-Declares-War-On-Japan)
(Clips from 1945-08-09-MBS-Gabriel-Heatter-US-Waits-For-Japanese-Surrender)
1:27:33 Luis Vola Del Quinteto Del Hot Club De Francia – Mi Cielo Azul
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1100-NBC-WEAF-Japan-Surrender-Offer)
(Clips from 1945-08-10-1115-NBC-WEAF-News-announced-as-1145)
(Clip from 1945-08-11-NBC-Alex-Dreier-Weekly-News-Analysis)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1130-NBC-WEAF-Barry-Cameron)
(Clip from 1945-08-12-MBS-False-Initial-UPI-Report-Of-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-12-NBC-Story-Behind-The-Headlines—The-False-Peace-Flash)
1:30:49 Stan Kenton and His Orchestra with June Christy – It’s Been A Long Long Time
(Clips from 1945-08-14-MBS-Bulletin—Japan-Surrenders)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-NHK-Hirohito-Announces-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-CBS-OWI-Hirohito-Speech-Surrendering-Because-Of-A-Bomb)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Reports-Truman-Accepts-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Robert-Trout-Reports-End-Of-World-War-II)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-Commentary-On-End-of-the-War)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-Clement-Atlee-Announces-The-Surrender-Of-Japan)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-King-George-VI-To-Empire)
(Clips from 1945-08-15-President-Truman-On-Victory)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-WOR-Bulletin-Suicide-Of-Japanese-War-Minister)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-CBS-Bill-Henry-The-Second-World-War-Is-Over)
1:38:57 Cecil Gant – Jam Jam Blues
(Clip from 1945-08-14-KMBC-Live-From-Independence-Missouri)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Reports-VJ-Day-Celebrations-In-Cinncinati)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-1915-1930-MBS-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-1945-2000-ABC-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-2030-NBC-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Live-Streets-Of-Hollywood)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-MBS-Japanese-Surrender-News-NYC-Crowds)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-NBC-Ben-Grauer-On-VJ-Day-Celebrations-In-Times-Square)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-WISN-Japan-Surrender-Celebration-Milwaukee)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-British-Crowd-Celebrates-VJ-Day)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-British-Crowd-Sings-God-Save-The-King)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-Woman-Describes-VJ-Day-Announcement)
1:53:55 Woody Herman – Apple Honey
(Clip from 1945-08-1
James Errington takes you on another trip into the ancient history of recorded sound, this time joined by Cambridge native Liam Higgins to review the music scene on both sides of the Atlantic in 1914, the year the lights famously went out all over Europe. This episode includes for the first (and hopefully the last) time, your hosts actually singing. Sorry.
Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full nearly four-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
When I set out to put together this history told through sound, I knew well that at times music would become less important. I didn’t realise that, at a moment when music was taking bold leaps forward, it would nevertheless seem to be very much besides the point. But here we are. It’s 1945 and, while there is some brilliant, revolutionary music in this mix, the history part has risen to the surface. Around half of the runtime here is speech of one sort or another, and for once I cannot imagine it being any other way.
The speech here begins in January 1945, and ends some time in May. In those short four and a half months, the invasion of Germany (from both sides) has taken place, The Americans have landed on Iwo Jima, The Yalta Conference has taken place, Germany has been obliterated and then surrendered, Hitler, Roosevelt and Mussolini have died, and the atrocities carried out by the Nazis have been discovered. To have lived through this time, wherever you were in the world, would have been at the very least disorienting. For the survivors it would determine the next half century. In a sense we are still feeling the reverberations. It would have been ridiculous not to make this the main focus.
The music we have here includes some of the first professional recordings of the music now known as bebop, some jump blues, plenty of other genres from around the time. Some of the music is from early 1945, some is from late 1945. There was no great leap from one half to the other, so please excuse the slightly sloppy compromise here. There will be time to discuss music in part two.
There are horrors to be found in this mix, for sure, but some are so unspeakable that it even seemed disgusting to try to pair them with music of any sort. Even putting them with other, lighter news seemed impossible. As the Allies invaded Germany, attached reporters brought back first hand accounts of the atrocities carried out in concentration camps. Even in audio only form these are harrowing, and editing sections together was a grim, miserable duty, but one that had to be done. These things cannot be left out of our history, so here they are. I have separated them from the rest of the mix – you can find them as a twenty minute epilogue, starting three hours and twelve minutes in. If you don’t feel you can listen to that (and I won’t blame you) then you can stop the mix there.
Tracklist
January
0:00:00 Dizzy Gillespie – Bebop
(Clip from 1945 01 17 BBC Will Hay Programme)
(Clip from 1945 01 28 CBS World News Today)
0:01:23 Dizzy Gillespie – Salt Peanuts
(Clips from 1945 01 06 FDR Fireside Chat On Battle Of The Bulge)
0:04:14 Mary Lou Williams – Taurus
(Clip from 1945 01 07 CBS World News Today)
0:06:52 Lionel Hampton – Beulah´s Boogie
(Clip from 1945 01 07 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1945 01 14 CBS World News Today)
0:10:14 Betty Hutton – Stuff Like That There
(Clip from 1945 01 14 NBCB Yanks In The Orient)
0:13:10 Bidu Sayao – Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, for voice & 8 cellos
(Clips from 1945 01 19 WCCO Noon Newscast – Cedric Adams)
0:16:17 Lata Mangeshkar – Aankhon Ke Taare
(Clip from 1945 01 17 BBC Will Hay Programme)
(Clip from 1945 01 28 WMCA Healys Open House – Nylon Stockings)
0:18:44 Xavier Cugat – Oye Negra
(Clip from 1945 01 30 RRG Adolf Hitler – Last Broadcast)
0:21:02 Johnny Otis & His Orchestra – Harlem Nocturne
(Clip from The Body Snatcher)
February
(Clips from 1945 02 09 WEAF Evening News with Don Hollenbeck)
0:24:38 John Halik – Malo Kolo
(Clip from 1945 02 12 FDR Returns From Allied Conference At Yalta)
0:27:54 Charlie Parker – Red Cross
(Clips from 1945 02 18 CBS World News Today)
0:31:15 Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup – Rock Me Mama
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Arthur Prim Reports The First Strikes On Iwo Jima)
0:32:57 NBC Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Astrid Varnay – Schoenberg String quartet no. 2
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Iwo Flight Arthur Prim)
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Sgt Mawson On Iwo Jima Landings)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Secretary Of The Navy James Forrestal On The Battle Of Iwo Jima)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx NBC Battle for Iwo Jima Bud Foster)
(Clip from 1945 02 19 MBS On Iwo Battleship Leslie Nichols)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx CAN Iwo Jima Underground Fortifications)
(Clip from 1945 02 22 Tank Communications In Battle For Iwo Jima)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Bud Foster From Flagship Of Admiral Kelly Turner)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx NBC Battle for Iwo Jima Bud Foster)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Secretary Of The Navy James Forrestal On The Battle Of Iwo Jima)
0:41:49 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Texas Playboy Rag
(Clip from 1945 02 22 CBS The March Of Time How American Wives Are Faring)
(Clips from 1945 02 20 Inner Sanctum – No Coffin for the Dead)
0:44:25 Don Byas and Slam Stewart – Indiana
(Clips from 1945 02 20 Inner Sanctum – No Coffin for the Dead)
0:48:18 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – You’ll Always Hurt The One You Love
(Clip from 1945 02 22 CBS The March Of Time How American Wives Are Faring)
0:51:13 Duke Ellington – Suddenly It Jumped
(Clip from 1945 02 25 NBCB Jergens Journal Walter Winchell)
March
0:55:39 Illinois Jacquet and his All Stars – Jacquet Mood
(Clip from 1945 03 01 FDR Last Address Before Congress)
(Clip from 1945 03 01 CBC Fred Tilston Wins Victoria Cross For Attack In Germany)
0:58:05 Jay McShann – Trouble in My Mind
(Clip from 1945 03 03 MBS Leslie Nichols Reports As Battleship Destroys Plane)
(Clips from 1945 03 04 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1945 03 05 CBC A Soldier At The Breaking Point Matthew Halton)
1:01:21 T Bone Walker – Mean Old World
(Clip from 1945 03 08 BBC Ian Wilson Reports Americans Cross The Rhine)
(Clip from 1945 03 08 BBC Freddy Grisewood – Remagen Bridge Crossed)
(Clip from 1945 03 11 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 03 11 BBC Chester Wilmot Reports From Montgomerys HQ)
1:04:29 Anjos do Inferno – Bolinha De Papel
(Clips from 1945 03 08 – It’s That Man Again)
1:06:56 Cozy Cole – Strictly Drums
(Clips from 1945 03 15 CBS The March Of Time Report Of Vatican Policies)
(Clip from 1945 03 17 CBS Report To The Nation Wendy Barrie)
(Clip from 1945 03 22 CBS The March Of Time Black Marketeers In France)
1:11:21 Peggy Lee – Waitin’ For The Train To Come In
(Clip from 1945 03 18 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 03 21 BBC Richard Sharpe – General Slims 14 Army In Mandalay)
(Clip from 1945 03 22 CBS The March Of Time Black Marketeers In France)
(Clip from 1945 03 26 NBC World News Roundup)
1:15:34 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – The Blue Danube
(Clip from 1945 03 23 NBC Alka Seltzer News Of The World)
1:18:02 Richard Dimbleby – Reports on Glider Landing, 1945 03 24
(Clip from 1945 03 24 BBC W V Thomas Awaiting To Cross The Rhine)
(Clips from 1945 03 25 BBC Robert Barr Reports Winston Churchill Crosses The Rhine)
(Clip from 1945 03 25 CAN Stanley Maxted Recounts German Attack On Hamilcar)
(Clips from 1945 03 25 CBS World News Today)
1:25:46 Sammy Price – 133rd Street Boogie
(Clip from 1945 03 29 CBS The March Of Time The Kitchen Of Tomorrow)
(Clip from 1945 03 28 BBC Stuart McPherson Reports From Germany)
(Clip from 1945 03 31 BBC British Soldier Released From OFLAG 12B)
(Clip from 1945 03 31 BBC Wynford Vaughan Thomas Reports On The Spearhead)
(Clip from 1945 03 26 NBC World News Roundup)
April
(Clip from 1945 04 03 NBC War Report on the Battle of Okinawa Bud Foster)
1:30:29 The Rambler Trio feat. Arthur Smith – Guitar Boogie
(Clip from 1945 04 05 CBS The March of Time First Recorded Sounds of Mosquitos)
1:35:14 Ssekinomu – Wireless
(Clip from 1945 04 05 WBZ Yankee Yarns – Fishing Boat Sunk By U Boat)
1:36:19 Gene Krupa Orchestra – Boogie Blues
(Clip from 1945 04 08 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 04 08 BBC Richard Dimbleby Reports on German Civilian Reaction)
(Clip from 1945 04 08 CBS World News Today)
1:39:42 Lionel Hampton – Loose Wig
(Clip from 1945 04 12 News Death Of FDR CBS ABC)
(Clips from 1945 04 12 MBS Fulton Lewis Reports FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 12 NBCB Coverage Of FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 12 WNYC Fiorello La Guardia On FDR)
(Clips from 1945 04 12 CBS Don Fisher Coverage Following FDRs Death)
1:45:13 Christine Johnson, Jan Clayton and Chorus – You’ll Never Walk Alone
(Clip from 1945 04 12 CBS Bill Henry Reports On Order Of Succession)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 BBC News Dora Bateman Commentary On FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 NBC News)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 CBS Memorial Services For Franklin D Roosevelt)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 NBC Reports On FDRs Funeral Train)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 Undelivered FDR Speech Given by FDR Jr)
(Clip from 1945 04 15 NBC Our Hour Of National Sorrow)
(Clip from 1945 04 15 WMCA New World a Coming – 43 Memorial to Franklin D Roosevelt)
(Clip from 1945 04 16 President Truman Addesses Congress After FDRs Funeral)
(Clip from 1945 04 17 CBS This Is My Best I Will Not Go Back FDR)
(Clip from 1945 04 17 President Truman On The Death Of President Roosevelt)
1:56:18 Louisia Tounsia – Ala Bab Darek
(Clip from 1945 04 17 CBC Canadian Army Repels Desperate Germans)
(Clip from 1945 04 18 CBS Ernie Pyle Killed In Action)
(Clip from 1945 04 20 CBC Allied POWs Free At Last RCAF Warren Wilkes)
(Clip from 1945 04 21 BBC Red Army Set To Enter Berlin)
(Clip from 1945 04 22 CBC Hollland Famine Peter Peter Stursberg)
(Clip from 1945 04 22 NBCB WWII News Walter Winchell)
(Clip from 1945 04 22 NBC WWII News Drew Pearson)
2:02:32 Big Joe Turner – S. K. Blues Part 1
(Clips from 1945 04 24 BBC Wynford Vaughan Thomas Reports On B
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full nearly four-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
Here's what stuck me as I put this mix together: In late 1944 the disconnect between music and everything happening in the world is, from different perspectives, both narrower and wider than it has been before. Narrower because the wartime spirit is no longer enough of a novelty to even be notable - almost nobody is writing music about the war, it has just become a background presence in the way any change in culture does. American troops are in Europe now, and that's already just a fact of life. Wider because, in the earlier days of the war, there was a real, visceral sense of the horrors of the conflict, of an existential threat. This dread hasn't just faded into the background as the allies start to look like victory is inevitable, the dread is missing entirely. They know they can't celebrate just yet, but they are keen to start.
In terms of music, we are jammed in the middle of two eras. The big bands are clearly on their way out, broken by the war, the strike, the inability to tour due to fuel rationing - but also because there are much more interesting sounds out there. The individual musicians in these bands have mostly moved on too, to rhythm & blues, to be bop, or to both. Still at this point they probably have a day job playing big band music, but it's already a heritage industry.
The birth of be bop has been underway for a little while already, we can make a case for it existing as early as 1941, but it's only really now that we can feel it emerging into the record. Next year it will fully emerge, to the extent of being recorded in studios, so best leave it until then.
Rhythm & blues is at full levels of excitement this year - unsurprisingly it sounds like people wanted to have a party. Louis Jordan in particular is producing so many absolute classics that it's a wonder he doesn't get more credit for anything more than being a progenitor of rock & roll - a genre only subtley different to Jordan's "jump blues" but one which he nonetheless had no time for. Just imagine dancing at a live performance by Jodan, Lucky Millinder or Cootie Williams, really who needs rock & roll to happen?
One other aspect I've noticed here is the groove - whether it's Arsenio Rodríguez, J.J. Johnson, Boyd Raeburn, Lester Young or Orquesta Casino De La Playa, there is more music than ever before spreading out and allowing itself to build up slowly. We are still a good few years away from the introduction of the LP, so expect only more of this to come.
Finally, let's not forget that we are still in the early days of the Allied invasion of Europe, and consequently there are many journalists on the continent producing a vast amount of interesting content. I've included plenty of this, while trying not to let it interfere too much with the music. If the news footage isn't much to your taste, please be assured that there will be much less in the post-war year mixes. If that's what you're mainly here for then, well, you're in for a treat today.
Introduction
0:00:00 Victor Young - Excerpt from Ministry of Fear
(Clip from A Canterbury Tale)
(Clip from Tokyo Rose broadcast)
0:00:30 MGM Studio Orchestra - The Most Horrible One
(Clip from WOR Year In Review)
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show - Special Guest Alan Ladd)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
0:01:14 Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
0:05:11 Boyd Raeburn - Little Boyd Blue (Blows His Top)
(Clip from "Cross Country Reaction to D-Day")
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:07:55 Artists Unknown - Jitterbug Instructional Film
(Clip from CBC Radio Canada)
July
(Clip of CAN - Herbert on the bombing of Caen)
0:15:22 Dinah Washington - Homeward Bound
(Clips from BBC - Frank Gillard & Chester reports from near Caen)
0:19:24 Wally Bastiansz - Suranganaviye
(Clip from MBS - Frank Singiser and The News)
(Clip from Mutual War News)
0:23:01 J.J. Johnson, Illinois Jacquet, Jack Mcvea, Nat King Cole, Les Paul, Johnny Miller, Lee Young - Blues
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show - Special Guest Harold Peary)
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:30:12 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra - Artistry In Rhythm
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:35:41 Phil Harris - That's What I Like About The South
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:39:59 Arsenio Rodríguez & Su Conjunto - Yo 'Ta Namora
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:44:05 Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land
(Clip from Fibber McGee & Molly - D-Day Broadcast)
0:46:26 Tino Rossi - Mon Ile d' Amour
(Clip from RL Radio Paris - Attentat Contre Hitler)
(Clip from RRG Adolf Hitler - On July 20th Assassination Attempt)
0:49:10 Sergei Provokiev - Except from Ivan The Terrible, Part I
August
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
0:52:03 Duke Ellington - Transblucency (A Blue Fog That You Can Almost See Through)
(Clips from Memphis Belle)
0:58:18 Mary Lou Williams - St. Louis Blues
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from MBS News - 1944 in Review)
(Clip from Judge Roland Freisler Shouts At Coup Defendant Ervin von Witzleben)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from RRG Heinrich Himmler - Vor Offizieren Von Volksgrenadier)
1:02:06 Lead Belly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
(Clips from NHK The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne Iva Toguri)
(clip from Ministry of Fear)
(Clip of Tokyo Rose)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:05:05 Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra & Wynonie Harris - Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?
(Clip from BBC Ed Murrow Counts Parachutes in Holland)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:09:35 Cecil Gant - I Wonder (Alternate Take 4)
(Clips from BBC Richard Wessel On The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from CAN The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from RL Radio Paris - Le G)
1:14:13 Coleman Hawkins - Woody'n You
(Clips from BBC Robert Reid On DeGaulle Assassination Attempt)
(Clip from CBC Matthew Halton The Liberation Of Paris)
1:19:03 Tampa Red - Lula Mae
(Clips from CBC Matthew Halton The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:23:09 Charles Wolcott And His Orchestra (Nestor Amaral, Vocal) - Os Quindins De Yayá
September
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from BBC Chester Wilmot On Road Outside Brussels)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:27:36 Bing Crosby - Swinging On A Star
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:30:33 Nat 'King' Cole - Straighten Up & Fly Right
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:33:30 Walter Houston - September Song
(Clip from I'll Be Seeing You)
(Clip from CBC Kate Aitken - Homefront Fashion Tips)
1:36:47 Mary Lou And Her Chosen Five - Yesterday's Kisses
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clips from Private SNAFU in Censored)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NHK The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne Iva Toguri)
1:40:51 Artie Shaw & His Orchestra - Summit Ridge Drive
(Clip from BBC Montgomery Addresses His Troops)
(Clip from BBC John Snagge Invasion of Holland)
(Clip from CBS Edward Murrow Counts Parachutes In Holland)
1:45:09 Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five - G.I. Jive
(Clips from BBC Stanley Maxted Cut Off With Airborn)
(Clip from CAN Stanley Maxted Reports As Supplies Drop Over Hartenstein)
(Clip from BBC Robert Robbertson Reports On Arnhem)
1:50:49 Spike Jones - Cocktails For Two
(Clips from FDR Teamsters Union Address)
1:54:28 Julia Lee - Come On Over To My House
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:58:45 Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from BBC Montgomery Addresses His Troops)
October
2:02:35 Rev Utah Smith - God's Mighty Hand
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:07:02 Duke Elligton and his Orchestra - I'm Beginning to See the Light
(Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker)
(Clip from Murder, My Sweet)
(Clip from Laura)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
2:10:09 Harry James and His Orchestra - I'm Beginning to See the Light
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
(Clip from Gaslight)
2:13:00 Josh White - John Henry
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from MBS News - 1944 in Review)
2:17:26 Ernest Tubb - Tomorrow Never Comes
(Clip from MBS News - 1944 in Review)
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:21:26 Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra - East of the Sun
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:24:15 Edmond Hall - Tishomingo Blues
(Clip from To Have and To Have Not)
(Clip from Hail The Conquering Hero)
2:28:59 Carmen Miranda - I Like To Be Loved By You
November
(Clip from BBC Winston Churchill - The Fruits Of 1944)
(Clip from BBC Audrey Russell Interviews Bomb Victim)
2:33:11 Ink Spots with Ella Fitzgerald - Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
2:36:20 Judy Garland & Chorus - You Gotta Get Out and Vote
(Clips from CBS Democratic National Committee Program)
(Clip from MBS News - 1944 in Review)
(Clips from NBC FDR Returns To Washington)
2:44:11 Meade Lux Lewis - Chicago Flyer
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NBC FDR Returns To Washington)
2:48:20 Andrews Sisters - Rum And Coca Cola
(Clips from It's That Man Again)
2:51:44 Zohrabai Ambalewali And Chorus - Rum Jhum Barse Baadarwa
(Clips from AFRS Thanksgiving Show - Lionel Barrymore - Dinah Shore)
(Clips from BBC Winston Churchill - Americas Thanksgiving Day)
2:57:35 Sons Of The Pioneers - What Are We Gonna Do Then?
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
3:00:55 Wee Bea Booze - So Good
December
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(
Another adventure back into the early days of recorded sound with James Errington, this time joined by Cambridge 105 Radio’s Maciek Pawlikowski to listen to some of the sounds of 1913, the year of the short-lived hot dance ragtime craze, led by the first all-black orchestra and the couple who brought the foxtrot to prominence.
Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
The D-Day landings of the 6th of June 1944 are much too big a story to be covered in the middle of a mix. New recording technology, a wider variety of coverage, and the hoarding and preservation instincts of generations of historians, amateur and professional, have resulted in an unprecedented amount of material being available, around sixty hours all together. From this I've edited for you a tight 82 minute sound collage, taking you from pre-D-Day messages, through the landings, the first reports and dispatches from the field, to the reactions and repercussions the following few days.
Here's what you can hear.
0:00:00 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:00:15 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast
The Buildup
0:00:33 1944-06-05 BBC European Service With Resistance Messages
0:01:37 1944-06-04 Frank Gillard - Build for D-Day
0:02:20 1944-06-05 FDR Fireside Chat
0:02:33 1944-06-05 Eisenhower's Pre D-Day Announcement to Troops
0:04:13 1944-06-05 BBC Field Marshall Montgomery Address On Eve Of D-Day
The Journey
0:05:08 1944-06-03 BBC Robin Duff On Sealed Ship
0:05:50 1944-06-06 BBC Robin Duff Mid Channel To Normandy
0:06:16 1944-06-08 BBC Allied Troops Prayer Before Invasion
0:06:45 1944-06-08 CAN Travelling With D-Day Convoy
0:07:10 1944-06-06 D-Day Ship Attack
The Assault Begins
0:09:21 1944-06-06 BBC Colin Wills Lands With Infantry
0:09:57 1944-06-08 BBC Robin Duff Five Minutes Before H-Hour
0:10:20 1944-06-08 BBC Robin Duff At Signal For Landing
0:10:45 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review
0:11:22 1944-06-08 BBC British Tank Crew Describes Beach Landing
0:11:48 1944-06-08 BBC UK Soldier Landing Near Coastal Mines
0:12:10 1944-06-08 CAN Recounting The Landing
0:12:41 1944-06-08 CAN The Scene On The Beach (3 Clips)
0:13:32 1944-06-08 CAN US Soldier On The Beach (2 Clips)
0:13:58 1944-06-08 CAN A Handful Of French Sand
The First Reports
0:14:45 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:14:49 1944-06-06 0300 CBS News Unconfirmed Reports Of Invasion (3 Clips)
0:16:27 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:16:45 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
The Paratroopers Land
0:17:26 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot In Glider
0:18:11 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot Sees Gliders
0:18:36 1944-06-06 CAN Glider Formations Flying Over The Beaches
0:19:45 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot Reports From Inside British Glider
0:20:09 1944-06-06 BBC Guy Byam Parachutes Into France
0:20:43 1944-06-06 BBC Alan Melville Sees Paratroops
0:21:03 1944-06-08 BBC The 13th Man To Land In France
0:21:15 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review
The Announcement
0:22:29 1944-06-06 D-Day Announcement - BBC Newsflash
0:23:28 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast (3 Clips)
0:25:31 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review
0:26:59 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast
4am to 5am EST
0:27:23 1944-06-06 0415 CBS D-Day Broadcast (4 Clips)
0:28:51 1944-06-06 0400 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:28:58 1944-06-06 0415 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:29:45 1944-06-06 0415 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:30:00 1944-06-06 D-Day Message To Free French Troops
5am to 9am EST
0:30:19 1944-06-06 BBC John Snagge D-Day Has Come
0:30:56 1944-06-06 0500 CBS D-Day Broadcast (11 Clips)
0:34:12 1944-06-06 0540 CBS D-Day Broadcast (4 Clips)
0:36:45 1944-06-06 BBC Eisenhower to Western Europe
0:37:14 1944-06-06 0540 CBS D-Day Broadcast
9am to 12pm EST
0:38:00 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:39:10 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:39:42 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:40:20 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:40:34 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:41:00 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:41:33 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:42:16 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:43:13 1944-06-08 CAN Reports From The Beachhead
0:43:31 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
0:44:10 1944-06-06 US D-Day Bulletin On Landing Success
0:44:23 1944-06-06 1015 CBS Light Of The World
12pm to 4:30pm EST
0:45:33 1944-06-06 Eisenhower's D-Day Broadcast to Western Europe
0:46:16 1944-06-06 1200 CBS Kate Smith Speaks - Prayer For Our Troops
0:46:33 1944-06-06 Crisco News D-Day
0:47:42 1944-06-06 1300 NBC News Reports From London
0:48:01 1944-06-06 1245 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
0:48:36 1944-06-06 1300 NBC News Reports From London
4:30pm to 8pm EST
0:50:04 1944-06-06 1630
0:51:05 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:51:35 1944-06-06 1630
0:52:44 1944-06-06 1830 NBCR Fibber McGee and Molly D-Day Broadcast
0:52:57 1944-06-06 1630 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:53:49 1944-06-06 1830 NBC News Lowell Thomas Reporting
0:54:40 1944-06-06 1800 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:55:04 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:55:34 1944-06-06 1800 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:56:42 1944-06-06 Cross Country Reaction to D-Day
0:56:58 1944-06-06 1830 NBCR Fibber McGee and Molly D-Day Broadcast
0:57:49 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:57:57 1944-06-06 1630
8pm to Midnight EST
0:58:15 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
0:58:38 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:59:00 1944-06-08 CAN Nighttime Convoy Anti-Aircraft Attack
0:59:40 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:00:08 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:01:10 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:03:20 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:04:00 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:04:27 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:05:40 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:06:28 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:06:53 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
1:08:15 1944-06-06 NBC Poem and Prayer for Invading Army
1:10:59 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:11:39 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
1:12:48 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:13:06 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:13:42 1944-06-06 2200 NBCR Bob Hope Show
1:14:10 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
The Next Day And Later
1:14:34 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:14:53 1944-06-07 NBCB George Hicks From The Deck Of USS Ancon
1:16:04 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:16:19 1944-06-07 CBS Kate Smith Speaks
1:16:59 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:17:17 1944-06-17 BBC Frank Gillard Takes Cover
1:17:45 1944-06-12 BBC Richard Dimbleby Reports Flying Over Normandy
1:19:33 1944-06-08 CBC Matthew Halton Welcomed By French Civilians
1:20:12 1944-06-08 BBC Michael Standing On French Civilians
1:20:42 1944-06-14 BBC Alan Melville Hermanville - Church Bells
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. Please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
More time-travel to the early days of recorded sound with James Errington. This time we find out about the interminable history of musical snobbery, hear some immensely beautiful, surprisingly thick Edison diamond discs and hear what Al Jolson and Billy Murray are up to.
Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
1944 is a big year. It looms large. This isn't just a recent development either. Listen to these few hours of music and speech and one thing I think you'll pick up is that everyone is very much stuck in the present. There's little in the way of nostalgia, there's hardly any dreaming, everyone seems to be living for the here and the now. Only a couple of years prior "the war" was this imposition on popular culture - now it seems to be the wellspring from which everything goes. Do we need a song about a GI when we've got Cecil Gant the G.I. Sing-Sation? There's this fateful abandon underpinning everything, like they're saying "here we are, we may get through this, we may not, but for now we're going to enjoy every moment" and it's infectious.
You may have also noticed that this mix is called "Part One" - this is perhaps a temporary solution for how sprawling these mixes have become. It's been increasingly difficult to contain all I would like in a single mix, the materials available are getting altogether too much, but more importantly I have discovered vast radio archives for these years, and have spent much too long digging through them for gems. I must have listened to over a hundred hours of 1944 radio broadcasts. So this time we will have three mixes, and as I prepare myself for 1945 I promise I will try to find a new strategy.
January
(Clip from 1944-03-xx NRK News Of Norway)
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:00:00 Lester Young et al. - Jammin' the Blues (Excerpt 1)
(Clip of V1 Bomb)
(Clips from 1944-12-31 - WOR Year In Review)
0:02:03 Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
(Clip from Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive (rejected take))
(Clip from Phantom Lady)
0:04:50 Boyd Raeburn - Hep Boyd
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
0:05:54 Boyd Raeburn - March Of The Boyds
(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:07:37 Lead Belly - Mr. Hitler (Hitler Song)
(Clips from 1944-01-04 CBC Matthew Halton The Fall Of Ortona)
0:10:28 Mary Lou Williams - Blue Skies
(Clips from 1944-01-09 CBS World News Today)
0:13:00 Lata Mangeshkar - Barsaat Mein Humse Mile Tum
(Clips from 1944-01-13 - It's That Man Again Navy Show)
0:16:07 Billie Holiday - That Ole Devil Called Love
(Clips from 1944-01-16 CBS World News Today)
0:19:13 Dinah Washington - Evil Gal Blues
(Clip from 1944-01-26 BBC Wynford Vaughn Thomas In Anzio)
0:22:21 Lester Young et al. - Jammin' the Blues (Excerpt 2)
February
(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
(Clip from Know Your Ally - Britain)
0:26:50 Arsenio Rodríguez & Su Conjunto - El Pirulero No Vuelve Mas
(Clip from 1944-02-01 Fibber Mcgee - diamond ring at cut rate price)
(Clip from Laura)
0:30:11 Cootie Williams and His Orchestra - 'Round Midnight
0:30:30 Cootie Williams and His Orchestra - Seven Eleven
(Clip from 1944-02-05 CAN MacArthur At Flag Raising Ceremony On Manila)
0:34:19 Anjos do Inferno - Acontece Que Eu Sou Baiano
(Clip from 1944-02-06 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1944-02-05 NBC Skelly News Of The World)
0:36:16 Gene Autry - Don't Fence Me In
(Clips from 1944-02-06 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Hare Ribbin)
0:39:10 Louis Jordan - Mop! Mop!
(Clips from 1944-02-17 - It's That Man Again RAF edition)
0:42:22 Duke Ellington - Johnny Come Lately
(Clips from 1944-02-20 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo)
0:45:51 Andrews Sisters - Straighten Up And Fly Right
(Clips from 1944-02-27 CBS World News Today)
0:49:44 Miguel Caló - Sans Souci
(Clip from 1944-02-29 Crisco Radio News)
(Clip from Supervising Women Workers)
0:53:09 Coleman Hawkins - Rainbow Mist
March
(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:57:00 Lionel Hampton - Hamp's Boogie Woogie
(Clips from 1944-03-02 Abbott and Costello Show - Special Guests Blondie & Dagwood)
1:00:31 Roy Eldridge, Pete Brown, Willie Smith, Flip Phillips, Les Paul, Hank Jones, Benny Fonville, Alvin Stoller - Blues
(Clips from 1944-03-05 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1944-03-12 CBS World News Today)
1:06:10 Jussi Björling - Nessun Dorma
(Clips from 1944-03-19 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
1:09:24 Trummy Young and his Lucky Seven - Hollywood
(Clip from Double Indemnity)
(Clips from 1944-03-24 MBS Special A Night In A Foxhole)
1:13:12 Halim El-Dabh - Wire Recorder Piece
(Clips from 1944-03-26 BBC Winston Churchill - On Allied Victories)
1:15:41 Noel Coward - Don't Let's Be Beastly To The Germans
1:18:47 Laurence Olivier - Speech from Henry V
1:20:20 Walter 'Foots' Thomas All-Stars - Out To Lunch
1:23:09 Wynford Vaughn-Thomas - BBC News Report
1:25:05 Harry The Hipster Gibson - 4-F Ferdinand
(Clip from 1944-03-xx NRK News Of Norway)
April
(Clip from 1944-04-02 CBS World News Today)
1:28:24 Olavi Virta - Ennen Kuolemaa
(Clips from 1944-04-02 World News Today)
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
1:30:44 Sonny Boy Williamson - Win The War Blues
(Clip from 1944-04-17 RSH Germany Calling - We Are Waiting for You)
(Clip from Lifeboat)
1:35:00 The Mills Brothers - You Always Hurt The One You Love
1:38:16 Wynford Vaughan Thomas - Springtime At Anzio
1:39:02 Andres Segovia - Minuetto
(Clip from Ministry of Fear)
1:40:54 The Nat 'King' Cole Trio - I Realize Now
(Clip from To Have And To Have Not)
1:44:22 Cozy Cole - Just One More Chance
(Clips from Double Indemnity)
1:48:08 Oscar Alemán - Polvo De Estrellas
(Clip from 1944-04-13 - It's That Man Again Army Edition)
1:50:10 Tiny Grimes Quintet - Red Cross
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show - Special Guest Dorothy Lamour)
1:53:18 Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra & Margaret Whiting - Moonlight In Vermont
May
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
1:57:07 Josh White - House of the Rising Sun
(Clip from 1944-05-05 BBC Richard Dimbleby Watches Airborne Troops)
2:01:04 Charlie Barnet - Skyliner
(Clip from 1944-05-13 NBC Skelly News Of The World)
2:04:24 Spike Jones - Leave The Dishes In The Sink, Ma
(Clips from 1944-05-17 BBC Godfrey Talbot in Monte Cassino)
2:07:50 Atahualpa Yupanqui - El Arriero
(Clip from 1944-05-25 RRG Heinrich Himmler - Vor Der Waffen SS)
2:11:09 Red Foley - Smoke On The Water
(Clips from Know Your Ally - Britain)
2:15:00 Cecil Gant - Cecil Boogie
(Clips from 1944-05-18 - Suspense Theater - Donovans Brain)
2:19:08 Ethel Smith - Tico Tico
(Clips from 1944-05-15 - Sherlock Holmes - Adventure of the Missing Bloodstains)
2:22:14 Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra - Opus No. 1
(Clip from Since You Went Away)
2:25:25 Billie Holiday - No More
June
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
2:28:25 Al Trace Silly Symphonists - Mairzy Doats And Dozy Doats
2:31:25 Judy Garland - The Trolley Song
(Clip from Cover Girl)
2:34:35 Louis Prima - Oh Marie
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show - Special Guest Alan Ladd)
2:37:38 Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Strange Things Happening Every Day
(Clip from Going My Way)
2:42:04 Sister Ernestine Washington - If I Could Just Make It In
2:44:39 Dylan Thomas - Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines
2:47:02 Erroll Garner All Stars - Gaslight
(Clip from Double Indemnity)
2:49:22 Betty Hutton - It Had To Be You
(Clip from The Woman In The Window)
2:52:50 Thyagaraja Bhagavatar & Manmatha Leelaya - Haridas
(Clip from Gaslight)
2:54:16 The Nat 'King' Cole Trio - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
(Clip from 1944-02-20 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1944-02-27 CBS World News Today)
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