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New Worship Songs Added!
I'm throwing a lot of information and time-period music at you. As usual, read the highlighted areas, read my comments, listen to the music examples. Now you've experienced a quiz, so you know what to expect. Familiarize yourself with all the material presented here so that you will do well on the next quiz. Mostly though, I hope you enjoy taking a look at the past and it's music and entertainment. Remember, even if you don't particularly care for the styles of music, in every era there were brilliant, extremely talented musicians, singers and songwriters. I tried to pull some of the most popular songs of the time (1940-1945 Billboard #1 hits) from different genres. Enjoy!
1940 I'll Never Smile Again by Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey and his brother Jimmy, both had their "orchestras" and produced huge hits throughout the 1940's. The Big Band era of the 1930's transformed into musical groups with names like "Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra."
The jukebox in the 1940's and 1950's was their equivalent of you having an iTunes account. They both equal "music on demand." Put a nickel in the jukebox and choose whichever song you wanted. A mechanical device would grab the .45 rpm record of the song you chose and play it on the turntable.
1940 - We Three by The Ink Spots
The Ink Spots are given credit for being a prelude to Rhythm and Blues and even Rock and Roll. If you'll take a listen to the song, you'll hear verse three is spoken. So one could say they are even a very early precursor to rap. Laugh if you want, but I've been telling you all along that musical "movement," the transitioning from one style to another, is a slow, years-long, maybe even decades-long process. One could also say that music transition starting in the late forties, early fifties depended more on technological advances (electric guitar, and later electric keyboards in the sixties) than on any new music ideas.
1940 New San Antonio Rose by Bob Wills
Here's one for all you Country and Western fans. Bob Will and the Texas Playboys are given credit for starting the "Western Swing" genre. Even though it's country music style, you can hear the influence of the time period Big Bands and Orchestras. These days you won't hear horns being played in a C&W song. Also, there were no steel guitars yet, a staple of the style in current times. My dad loved this stuff so I got an ear full as a kid.
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I posted a video clip of Chattanooga Choo-Choo below. This is Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Popular orchestras like this are not what you think of when you think of an orchestra today. They were really still just Big Bands. They might have 12-15 members playing different instruments. Today, the Houston Symphony Orchestra has 88 full-time musicians.
1941 Chattanooga Choo-Choo by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
Here is a quote from ushistory.org
Over 127,000 United States citizens were imprisoned during World War II. Their crime? Being of Japanese ancestry.
Despite the lack of any concrete evidence, Japanese Americans were suspected of remaining loyal to their ancestral land. Anti-Japanese paranoia increased because of a large Japanese presence on the West Coast. In the event of a Japanese invasion of the American mainland, Japanese Americans were feared as a security risk.
Succumbing to bad advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942 ordering the relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to internment camps in the interior of the United States.
1942 Tangerine by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra
Despite the war and all it's tensions, popular music, much like during The Depression of the 1930's, was alive and well and provided a much-needed distraction. Between 1929 and 1945, the American people went through some of the worst life could throw at us...loss of fortunes, economic downturn, drought, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and finally a World War! It is no wonder people turned to God and church attendance was at an all-time high!
There are many different recordings of White Christmas. I chose, below, a movie version of Bing Crosby visiting a platoon of soldiers during WWII. Even though this is a movie, singers and entertainers actually did this a lot in real life to boost the moral of our soldiers on the battlefield. At the end of 1945 below, I uploaded the version from the movie Holiday Inn, a classic Christmas movie starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds.
1942 White Christmas by Bing Crosby
1942 A String of Pearls by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
1941 Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters
The war spawned it's own genre of music...War-Time music! This was the pinnacle, the apogee, the zenith from that era. (I could have just said "the best example," right?)
The Diary of Anne Frank
1944 I'll Walk Alone by Dinah Shore
Wow! What a first decision to have to make...one that changed the world forever.
My mother shared her memories with me more than once of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), May 8th, 1945. The war was declared officially over. In my mom's and dad's hometown, a little town just north of Abilene, Texas, they celebrated the same way that they did in countless towns across Texas and America. She said the city rang their tornado siren alarms and everyone in town gathers at the square in downtown. There were about 3,000 people living in the town. Every person was there, no exceptions. A mix of all denominations (Catholic, Baptist, Assembly of God, Methodist...all of them) prayed, sang praise songs and thanked God that they were alive and the war was over! In that moment, no one cared about denominational differences! Everyone loved everyone else...nothing but smiles and tears of joy! They had lived in fear for four years, poverty and depression for 16...now it was finally over.
1944 I Love You by Bing Crosby
A good example by the person who uploaded this video of America turning to God during the war.
As promised...the Holiday Inn version of White Christmas.
2nd half of the 1940's
2nd half of the 1940's
Your Chromebook now can hold more information than the first computer, which would fit nicely in our gym.
Found it interesting that a cloth shortage (or re-allocation) during the war affected styles, by law.
Oops!
Amazing...
1948 Why Don't You Do Right? by Peggy Lee
This is a superior example of early Jazz / Rhythm & Blues. Check out her guitarist and pianist as they perform their solos. This has a little bit of Big Band, Orchestra, Jazz, and Rhythm & Blues all rolled into one, a great example of how music develops slowly over time. I hope you are enjoying exploring how we got to the music we all enjoy today!
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