Word: tune
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...Always," 1925. In 1924 Berlin fell in love with socialite-journalist Ellin Mackay; as a wedding gift he assigned her the rights to this perennial. It transcends its waltz-schmaltz mood with a bridge that almost jumps off itself in ascending keys but manages to sound inevitable. The tune spawned two #1's (for Vincent Lopez and George Olsen) in its first incarnation. There were four more hit versions in 1944-45. In 1959 smooth Sammy Turner took the song to #2 on the R&B chart (#19 pop). Finally it became Patsy Cline's post-mortem anthem; the Virginia...
...jazzy, plenty-perky number earned a #1 for Ben Selvin and registered five other hits in 1927; the same year it was the first song performed in the first talkie, Jolson?s "The Jazz Singer." In 1946, the year the Berlin oldies musical "Blue Skies" was released, the title tune returned to the pop charts, twice: #8 with Count Basie and #9 with Benny Goodman. Finally, Willie Nelson made the song a #1 country hit in 1978 - 52 years after it was written...
...give it to Astaire, instead of handing it Dick Powell for the 1937 "On the Avenue"? Anyway, the song was a hit, with four top-12 versions (including Billie Holiday?s). It cuddled up and went to sleep for a dozen years; and then, when Les Brown revived the tune, it woke...
...Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter (he?d already written "Easter Parade"), Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The framing song was "Happy Holiday," which has since been appropriated as an all-purpose year-end carol. At first, few liked Berlin's tune about sunbelt nostalgia for a snowbelt youth (the verse places the singer in "Beverly Hills, L.A."). A journalist friend told the composer that "White Christmas" wouldn?t be a hit because it was "too schmaltzy," and Berlin himself thought the movie's big hit would be the Valentine ballad "Be Careful...
...America" had the elements that would eventually make it compelling and enduring. Its long notes virtually force the singer to sing it loud. The powerful bass hand declares that this song is less a toe-tapper than a foot-stomper, suitable for marching in place. It's a short tune divided into four different, attractive musical phrases, none of them repeated; to hear each phrase again, you have to sing the whole thing over. "God Bless America" is thus a recruiting poster, not just for patriotism, but for itself...