LETS FALL IN LOVE-SINATRA IN AN UPBEAT MOOD

" Let's Fall In Love"--Sinatra in an upbeat mood.  The 1933 film was also called Let's Fall in Love, a song Arlen and Ted Koehler created for Columbia Pictures. They actually wrote it while the on the train going to Hollywood. 
It has a very catchy verse which manages to rhyme" mental, sentimental and incidental " and concludes with " "Why go on stalling ? I am falling , love is calling, why be shy ?"
The bridge or middle section is a logical continuation of the main theme whereas most bridges introduce a distinctly different melodic approach before returning to the introductory or main theme.
Sinatra actually starts with a section of the bridge before returning to the verse then followed by the main theme.
The bouncy, Big Band  arrangement is by Johnny Mandel, a noted film composer in his own right and who began professionally in Big Band ensembles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=061kkZU8gPY

SINATRA & JUDY GARLAND SING HAROLD ARLEN'S OWN FAVORITE SONG-LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

Sinatra & Judy Garland sing Harold Arlen's  favorite song-Last Night When We Were Young

In 1932, Arlen composed a piece that was more complex and could  almost be called a concert song. When Arlen played it for George Gershwin and Jerome Kern, they both thought it could never become a popular song because it strayed beyond the normal expectations of the standard 32 bar format of most popular songs of the day.
However, when E.Y.Harburg wrote those deeply emotional lyrics, it immediately became Judy Garland's favorite song. In the 1950's Frank Sinatra recorded a stunning version. When I first heard it a a teenager, I still recall the impact it made on me despite any personal experience of such heart-breaking circumstances.
  It was 60 years ago when I first listened to this song on a 35 dollar plastic portable radio. It was featured on station CHML in Hamilton, Ontario. The program was called " What's On Tapp" whose host was Gordie Tapp who later became very well known on the TV show Hee Haw.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

SINATRA VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rUMiCmYWao

GARLAND VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m7ArfG-6_g

" COME RAIN OR COME SHINE"-SINATRA AND A SUPERB STRING ARRANGEMENT

" Come Rain or Come Shine"-Sinatra and a superb string arrangement. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer combined on the 1946 musical St. Louis Woman. In addition to Rain or Come Shine, the musical contained a number of other songs which will be showcased in future posts on this blog..
Sinatra provides an intense and heartfelt promise of never-ending fidelity. It's made more emphatic by the use of repeated notes to build tension and  supported by Mercer's lyrics that conclude that " I'm with you always , I'm with you rain or come shine !"

The  superb string arrangements were provided by Don Costa on an album called Sinatra and Strings. Unlike the more robust and declarative arranging styles of Nelson Riddle and Billy May, Costa adopts a more classical style of string arranging similar to that was prominent in Axel Stordahl's earlier arrangements for Sinatra, especially in the last work he did for Sinatra in the album entitled Point Of No Return.
This is as romantic a song, performance and arrangement as any in American popular song. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEhnbzReC3g 

"BLUES IN THE NIGHT' SINATRA STYLE & A CURRENT FEMALE VERSION

" Blues in the Night"-- Sinatra style & a current female version . Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer combined on a now classic blue number for a film that used , as its title, the name of the song itself. The film tells the story of an itinerant band of jazz musicians who land in jail. They hear a black inmate singing a mournful song explaining why he has the blues in the night. When the film was released, it became big hit and remains today as a favorite of jazz musicians, folk and pop singers.
Frank Sinatra sings it in a more restrained fashion than normally heard. It can be done as a wailing, angry lament as demonstrated in an alternative to  Sinatra's sad lament.
Katie Melua, a young. contemporary singer proves that song like Blues in the Night can be popular almost 70 years after it was written. Her version features a rocking rhythm and a soulful harmonica , an instrument closely associated with the blues tradition. I'm sure both Arlen and Mercer would have liked her version.
The song is versatile because it can make either a woman or a man the cause of the singer's sadness and anger depending on the gender of who does the singing.

SINATRA VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFtfpyVHpsc

KATIE MELUA VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GInlcSrvpL8

SINATRA SINGS " I GOTTA RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES"

Sinatra sings " I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues ."  For the 1932 version of Earl Carroll's Vanities, Arlen and  Ted Koehler wrote I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues.  Although it is not in the form of a traditional 12 bar blues format, it conveys again a nostalgic sadness where the lyric states that" Soon the deep , blue sea, will soon be calling me" threatens eventual suicide.
Sinatra sings it in more breezy style minimizing the impact of the somber lyrics.

Sinatra version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXqmQ-N0JxI

Billie Holiday, on the other hand, invests the song with the real deep down sadness of the blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hphLVYa80qI

SINATRA SWINGS ARLEN'S GET HAPPY

Sinatra swings Arlen's  GET HAPPY.  Arlen left Buffalo to go to New York as a singer even though he had been a pianist and arranger of small jazz combos. He landed a role in a musical developed by established songwriter Vincent Youmans. That project fell through. He then worked as a rehearsal pianist for a show where he would use a little two-bar vamp to signal the dancers with a 'pick-up."  Harry Warren, another established songwriter asked Arlen about his little musical sequence. Arlen replied " Nothing I was just playing around with the pickup."  Warren thought the tune needed words and then suggested that he knew someone who could create the words for that tune.
That is when lyricist Ted Koehler entered Arlen's life and helped launch a major songwriting career.
Get Happy was Arlen's first professional song and as a kind of a spiritual "picker-upper" it led to more successful collaborations with Koehler as they wrote a number of famous songs for the legendary Cotton Club Reviews.

In this version, Franks swings Get Happy with a fine Nelson Riddle arrangement. Sinatra had every reason to be happy because his record contract with Capitol records revived his career and his partnership with Nelson Riddle led to so many fine recordings.
Unfortunately, the verse is not performed by Sinatra . An Ella Fitzgerald version does use the verse which does serve to set the mood and theme for the main chorus and verse.

SiNATRA  VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OawAwugtA4

ELLA FITZGERALD VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rcgHdMZN0U

SINATRA SINGS OVER THE RAINBOW AS DOES OPERA STAR RENEE FLEMING

Sinatra sings Over The Rainbow as does opera star Renee Fleming:This iconic song written by Arlen and E.Y Harburg for The Wizard was voted Best song of The Twentieth Century. It is always associated with Judy Garland  and her performance in the film and is also the favorite of many female singers,

A younger Frank Sinatra sings it in a traditional straight-ahead manner just as the song appears in the sheet music.
In contrast, the opera diva Renee Fleming sings it as an art song accompanied by a huge symphony orchestra in Beijing in a sumptuous, harmonically rich arrangement. Fleming even adds a dazzling cadenza of her own invention at the end of the song.They are so different in their approaches but both versions are authentic and memorable

Sinatra version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwDO0O3vYP8

Renee Fleming version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY30HTziUA4

Like so many of Arlen's songs, they are capable of many different styles and approaches. The richness of the melodies and the coherent lyrics appeal to many singers and musicians.

SINATRA PROVES THAT HE'S GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING

Sinatra proves he's Got The World On A String. For the 1933 Cotton Club Parade, Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote the up beat number called " I've Got The World On A String". It's proof positive that Arlen could write more than his well known blues and emotionally charged love songs. In the bridge or middle section, the singer proudly shouts " Life is a beautiful thing, As long as you hold the string ."

That's actually sound advice because life is ultimately what one makes of it.
In this live performance, Sinatra shows his charismatic live performance persona and he positively brims with energy and a positive frame of mind- a stark contrast with the morose, spurned lover crying Over The Gal That Got Away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41cl-TrbAlo

SINATRA & ARLEN'S BLUES IN THE NIGHT

Sinatra and Arlen's  Blues in the Night.  The  1942 film used the song title as the title for the movie. The film featured a group of jazz musicians trying to find work. The song was sung by a black prisoner lamenting the fact that " A  woman's worrisome thing, Who'll leave you to sing, The Blues in the Night."
The song became an instant hit and is still very popular song for anyone wanting to capture the musical and lyrical spirit of the blues. Arlen defined the Blues as a "' Melancholy longing" whereas " One For My Baby" was a torch song, " a ballad of unrequited love."  The song is 58 bars long, almost twice the length of  the typical 32 bar popular song format. It even calls for the singer to whistle a few notes before returning to the words so effectively created by Johnny Mercer.
Unlike other versions which are more angry or defiant, Sinatra's approach is more rueful and restrained, Nelson Riddle also provides a moody and understated accompaniment that matches the sadness conveyed by Sinatra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFtfpyVHpsc

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

SINATRA & HAROLD ARLEN SONGBOOK

Sinatra & Harold Arlen Songbook:   Frank Sinatra was always fastidious about the kinds of songs he chose to perform and he tended to favor composers like Cole Porter. Rodgers & Hart, Jimmy Van Heusen and Harold Arlen. I will be posting a number of the Sinatra/Arlen collaborations and the first being "One For My Baby." with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the film " The Sky's The Limit" and Sinatra would always introduce it as a perfect saloon song.
Sinatra's acting ability is at its finest as he portrays a slightly drunk patron of a lonely bar as he pours out his lament concerning this " Torch that I've Found    Must Be Drowned or it soon might explode   Make it one for my baby and one more for the road   That Long, long road."     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_zhVeZphwE

TONY BENNETT WITH HAROLD ARLEN CONDUCTING " SO LONG BIG TIME"

Tony Bennett and Harold Arlen conducting " So Long Big Time"

In 1963, CBS produced a one hour tribute to Harold Arlen. It was a program called The Twentieth  Century , hosted by Walter Cronkite.  It was focused more on Arlen's approach to songwriting , a serious attempt to explore the musical philosophy and craftsmanship of this under appreciated American songwriter.

There were interviews with Lena Horne who had made Arlen's Stormy Weather an essential part of her repertoire and a filmed segment with Tony Bennett singing So Long Big Time. This was a recent collaboration with lyricist Dory Langdon, then married to Andre Previn. Previn had been a longtime admirer of Arlen who stated that " I am aware of the sophistication of his harmonies and, as a composer, I marvel at his melodies and at his unorthodox constructions."  Praise from such a major musical figure is praise indeed.

Bennett has also added his admiration and respect for Arlen when he sated that " Besides him being the greatest professional man I ever met, he was the most beautiful human being I ever met."

In the film, Arlen's spirited conducting of Bennett generated a wonderful performance of So Long Big Time. Its features a slow introduction, then an upbeat middle section only to return to the original opening theme. It is an actual example of how Arlen frequently rejected the standard 32 bar popular AABA popular song structure in favor of more extended and innovative compositions. George Gershwin, who Arlen idolized did say that " Arlen was the most original of us all ! "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkCqYADxNhY

" IT'S A NEW WORLD" LESSER KNOWN BALLAD- FROM A STAR IS BORN

" It's A New World"  Lesser known ballad from " A Star Is Born."