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This is the fourth wartime mix, but it’s the first without an often jarring disconnect between music and history. The USA’s entry into the war at the close of 1941 may not have had an immediate impact upon the course of the conflict, but the impact on popular culture — and particularly on recorded music — is unmistakable. It isn’t just the rough-hewn comedy of Spike Jones and Carson Robinson, or the rapidly produced propaganda films, it seems to be knitted into the fabric of American culture. Characters in songs are either heading off to war or waiting for their man to return, radio serials are awash with Nazi spies, and variety shows now function primarily as drives for war bonds.
At the cinema — still of course the gold standard for culture — this is equally evident. ‘Casablanca,’ as timeless as it may seem, sits very snugly in this particular moment. The city itself was taken by the Allies as part of Operation Torch in November 1942, just around the time the film was first premiered, so when it went on general release in 1943 the setting was already an historical one. Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur’ is ostensibly a domestic spy drama along the lines of ‘The 39 Steps’ and ‘North By Northwest,’ but with the added context of the war this is shifted into a battle between tyranny and democracy, with speeches written by Dorothy Parker and a climactic final battle on the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The top-grossing film of the year was Mrs Miniver, a subdued yet powerful drama about the effects of the war on a rural English housewife, which once again presented a moral of freedom under threat.
The main business of Centuries of Sound is music, of course, and the effect of these shifts on music is profound, and not always in a particularly positive way. In 1941 we heard the first stirrings of rhythm & blues and bebop, in 1942 the former has a few very notable examples (Louis Jordan and Nat King Cole) but is nevertheless diminished, the latter has disappeared almost entirely. Was this a result of wartime censorship, or of conscription of musicians? A greater cause may be the strike by The American Federation of Musicians, which began on August 1st, after a summer of negotiations around royalty payments broke down. This left almost half the year with hardly any professional musicians — and certainly no big bands — recording anywhere in the USA. As we get into 1943 we will hear how musicians managed to circumvent rules to continue performing, and how this changed the course of popular music.
So these four-and-a-bit hours of sound are a little different to the last few mixes, more integrated in feel, but with more in the way of sound collage and re-appropriated radio (the many hours of recordings I trawled for these clips may partially explain the delay in getting this one out.) It also includes nine minutes of a John Cage radio play, a ten-minute ‘Casablanca’ montage, the best-selling single of all time (possibly) and a load of other things which I am already forgetting. It has been something of a monster to make, but I think it all fits together.
TRACK LIST
0:00:00 Wilhelm Furtwängler And The Berlin Philharmonic – Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Excerpt)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
(Clip from Went The Day Well)
(Clip from Woman of the Year)
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
(Clip from Went The Day Well)
0:01:37 Carl Stalling – Orchestra Gag (From ‘Hobby Horse Laffs’)
(Clip from The Major and The Minor)
0:02:10 Gene Krupa – Let Me Off Uptown
(Clip from To Be Or Not To Be)
0:05:22 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Der Fuehrer`s Face
(Clip from Wake Island)
0:08:08 Southern Sons – Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
(Clip from 1942 News Review)
0:11:33 Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – Five Guys Named Moe
(Clip from 1942 News Review)
0:14:44 Raymond Scott & His Orchestra – Carrier Pigeon
(Clip from The Bing Crosby Show)
0:16:58 Jọo Da Bahiana E Janir Martins РCaboclo Do Mato
0:18:22 Z̩ Da Zilda E Janir Martins РSeu Man̩ Luiz
(Clip from Sex Hygiene)
(Clip from The Man Who Came To Dinner)
0:20:59 Glenn Miller – American Patrol
(Clips from CBS News Of The World)
(Clip from Casablanca)
0:24:52 Dooley Wilson – As Time Goes By
(Clip from Casablanca)
0:28:17 Paul Whiteman Orchestra (Vocal – Billie Holiday) – I Cried For You
(Clip from Casablanca)
0:31:59 Benny Goodman Orchestra (Vocal – Peggy Lee) – Why Don’t You Do Right?
(Clip from Casablanca)
(Clips from 1942 News Review)
0:37:01 Bernard Herrmann – Fantasia
(Clip from CBS News of The World)
(Clip from ‘News From Singapore’)
(Clip from 1942 News Review)
(Clip from ‘Japanese Relocation’)
0:40:17 Kouta Katsutaro – Asu Ha Otachika
(Clip from Superman Showdown)
0:42:28 Disney Studio Chorus – Little April Shower
(Clip from Bambi)
0:45:38 Rizeli Sadık – Erkek Kadın Oyun Havası
0:47:34 John Cage & Kenneth Patchen – The City Wears A Slouch Hat (Excerpts)
0:56:55 Southern Sons – I’m Free At Last
0:59:37 Wilhelm Furtwängler And The Berlin Philharmonic – Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Excerpt)
(Clips from CBS Mobil Gas News Service)
(Clip from Saboteur)
1:03:38 Ella Mae Morse & Freddie Slack – The Thrill Is Gone
(Clip from The Bing Crosby Show)
1:06:11 Duke Ellington – Main Stem
(Clips from Let’s Pretend)
1:08:52 Xavier Cugat – Chiu Chiu
(Clip from To Be Or Not To Be)
1:11:42 Nat King Cole – Hit That Jive, Jack
1:14:32 Abbott & Costello – Sketch from The Edgar Bergen Show
1:16:47 Gene Autry – Deep In The Heart Of Texas
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
1:19:24 Roy Acuff – Low & Lonely
(Clip from Hemp For Victory)
1:22:03 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Home In San Antone
(Clip from Tortilla Flat)
1:23:40 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Belleville
1:26:02 Jan Mol Electro Kwartet – Meditatie
1:28:21 Festival Swing – Festival Swing 1942, Part 2
(Clip from The Major & The Minor)
1:32:06 Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy – Take It And Git
(Clip from To Be Or Not To Be)
1:35:22 Anne Shelton with Ambrose and His Orchestra – Nightingale
(Clips from 1942 News Review)
1:39:01 The Andrews Sisters – Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree
(Clips from Jack Benny – (1942-05-03) – Cast Visits Jack At Warner Brothers)
1:42:46 Arthur Askey – It’s Spring Again
(Clip from Henry Wallace’s Four Freedoms Speech)
1:44:56 Kenneth Spencer Hall Johnson Negro Choir – Old Ship Of Zion
1:48:00 J. H. Terrell – Missionary Sermon
1:49:05 Ademilde Fonseca – Tico-Tico No Fubá
(Clips from 1942 News Review)
1:51:07 Haeda Katsuhiko – Shinsetsu
(Clips from Flying Tigers Battle of Midway)
1:53:53 Carson Robinson – Mussolini’s Letter To Hitler
(Clip of Hitler Speaking Normally)
1:56:18 Charlie And His Orchestra (Vocal – Carl Schwedler) – Little Sir Echo
(Clip from Winston Churchill ‘Now We Are Masters Of Our Fate’ Speech)
(Clip from 1942 News Review)
(Clip from Mrs Miniver)
(Clip from This Above All)
1:59:29 Mills Brothers – Paper Doll
(Clip from Reap The Wild Wind)
2:02:15 Hutch – Jealousy
(Clip of Hop Harrigan – The Nazi Bribe)
2:03:55 Concha Piquer – Sevillanes Del Espartero
(Clip from Yankee Doodle Dandy)
2:06:32 Glenn Miller – Juke Box Saturday Night
(Clip from Superman Showdown)
2:10:24 Muggsy Spanier – Two O’clock Jump
(Clip from Bing Crosby Show)
(Clip from To Be Or Not To Be)
2:13:27 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Yankee Doodler
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Marines In The Making)
2:16:30 Carl Stalling – Stalling: The War Years (Medley)
(Clips from Marines In The Making)
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
(Clip from The Ducktators)
2:19:48 Ted Daffan’s Texans – Born To Lose
(Clip from Went The Day Well?)
2:21:42 Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra & Jimmy Mitchelle – Don’t Cry Baby
(Clip from 1942 News Review)
(Clip from News Parade of The Year)
2:25:16 G-Zha Beshovishka – Nado Nadke
(Clip from Now, Voyager)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
2:29:35 Tampa Red – She Want To Sell My Monkey
(Clip from The Wild Wind)
2:31:22 Lonnie Johnson – He’s A Jelly Roll Baker
(Clip from Tortilla Flat)
2:32:28 Zé Espinguela E Grupo Do Pai Alufá – Macumba De Oxóssi
2:34:39 Carmen Miranda, Nestor Amaral & Bando Da Lua – Aquarela Do Brasil (Film Soundtrack)
(Clip from The Man Who Came To Dinner)
2:37:38 Dooley Wilson – Knock On Wood
(Clip from I Married A Witch)
2:38:58 Hoagy Carmichael – Stardust
2:41:16 Lester Young Trio – Body and Soul
2:43:20 Billie Holiday With Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra – Trav’lin’ Light
2:44:58 Harry James – Sleepy Lagoon
(Clip from London 1942)
2:47:50 Flanagan & Allen – Rose O’Day
(Clip from London 1942)
2:48:57 George Formby – Homeguard Blues
(Clip from London 1942)
(Clip from Bomber Crew Gives Interview)
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
(Clip from I Married A Witch)
2:52:20 Raymond Scott & His Orchestra – Pan American Hot Spot
(Clip from Pride of The Yankees)
2:53:50 Xavier Cugat – Jesusita
2:56:37 John W. Bubbles with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Shine from Cabin in the Sky OST
(Clip from To Be Or Not To Be)
2:59:30 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – It’s All Your Fault
(Clip from This Gun For Hire)
(Clip from Gentleman Jim)
3:02:32 Harry James – Trumpet Blues And Cantabile
(Clips from 1942 News Review)
3:06:47 Lionel Hampton – In The Bag
(Clips from Sex Hygiene)
3:10:19 Tampa Red – Let Me Play With Your Poodle
3:12:54 Leadbelly – Rock Island Line
3:14:55 The Ink Spots – Who Wouldn’t Love You?
(Clip from In Which We Serve)
3:17:09 Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – The Chicks I Pick Are Slender, Tender And Tall
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
3:19:42 Fats Waller – Jitterbug Waltz
(Clips from Cat People)
(Clip from Bambi)
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
3:24:54 Disney Studio Orchestra – Gallop Of The Stags,The Great Prince Of The Forest, Man
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from The Great Offensive)
(Clip from Wehrmacht Stalingrad Radio Broadcast, Christmas 1942)
3:31:12 Groupo De Totoko Francois – Bololo O Kolilo
3:32:28 Lester Young Trio – Indiana
(Clip of Groucho Marx on The Bing Crosby Show)
3:33:58 The Merry Macs – Jingle Jangle Jingle
3:35:14 Roy Acuff – Night Train To Memphis
3:37:59 Ernest Tubb – Walking The Floor Over You
(Clip from Chichi Ariki)
3:40:43 David Rose And His Orchestra – Holiday For Strings
(Clip from Let’s Pretend)
3:43:35 Charles Trenet – Que Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours!
3:46:44 Duke Ellington – Perdido
3:49:50 Ramblers – Ping Pong
3:52:26 Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra – Well, Git It!
(Clips from Hop Harrigan – The Nazi Bribe)
3:53:54 Ed Plumb – Wintery Winds
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from RRGO Robert Best Against US Action)
(Clip from Hitler Speech on Stalingrad)
3:56:08 Bernard Herrmann – Snow Ride
(Clip from The Man Who Came To Dinner)
(Clip from The Talk of The Town)
(Clips from Mayor Of The Town – A Christmas Carol)
(Clip from Amos & Andy Annual Christmas Show)
(Clip from Christmas With The 8th Army)
(Clip from Holiday Inn)
4:00:07 Bing Crosby – White Christmas
(Clip from Fibber McGee and Molly – Listening to Christmas Carols)
(Clip from Bing Crosby Christmas Show)
4:04:19 Vera Lynn – The White Cliffs Of Dover
(Clip of Bob Burns speech from war concert)
4:07:14 Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra – When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World))
(Clip from The Talk Of The Town)
(Clip from The Hitchhiker)
(Clip from 1942 News Review)