At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first hour. For the full 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.

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“Even to mention the 1930s is to evoke the period when human civilisation entered its darkest, bloodiest chapter. No case needs to be argued; just to name the decade is enough. It is a byword for mass poverty, violent extremism and the gathering storm of world war. “The 1930s” is not so much a label for a period of time than it is rhetorical shorthand – a two-word warning from history.” – Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian

I am not a historian, but I have a clear enough understanding of what The Thirties means. It starts with the great depression and ends with the world going to war. Bad stuff all round. But sound recordings preserve little of the buildup of fascism in Europe or the struggles of the dustbowl and Hooverville. At this time, more than ever, music seems to be an escape.

In the USA Ella Fitzgerald is singing with Chick Webb’s band, Billie Holiday is performing with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman has made swing the universal music of American youth, Tommy Dorsey has turned jazz into mainstream entertainment. In France, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli are already recording in the Hot Club. In Hollywood, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers are performing in Top Hat, The Marx Brothers in A Night At The Opera, and “Gold Diggers of 1935” introduces the Lullaby of Broadway.

This was a hard mix to make, too much good material and none of it really standing out from the crowd. In the end I jammed it all in and let it spread out. The result is surprisingly varied throughout (it was easier not to front-load with such a varied selection available) and I think it works, but will let you be the judge of that.

Is this an accurate picture of the mid 1930s? I cannot say, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a world of darkness and despair.

Track list

0:00:00 Centuries of Sound – 1935 Audio Collage Intro
(Clip of HMV Weather Effects – Wind)
(Clip from Hitler Youth Rally Speech from Triumph Of The Will)
(Clip from NBC Joe Louis vs Max Baer)
(MGM Lion Roar)
0:01:09 Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven – The Music Goes ‘Round And ‘Round
(Clip from Top Hat)
0:05:31 Fred Astaire – Isn’t This A Lovely Day
(Clip of Carl Sandburg)
0:08:39 Lydia Mendoza – Palida Luna
(Clip of Robert Benchley – David O. Selznick ‘Your New Producer’ Short Film)
0:11:24 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – St. Louis Blues
0:14:28 Boswell Sisters – St. Louis Blues
(Clip of Groucho Marx in A Night at the Opera)
0:15:21 Fats Waller – Truckin’
(Clip from No Ghosts)
0:18:13 Mills Blue Rhythm Band – Harlem Heat
(Clip from Stoopnagle and Budd – If We Supervised Radio)
0:21:51 Hoosier Hot Shots – I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones
(Clip from Review of 1935)
0:23:37 Kokomo Arnold – How Long How Long Blues
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Personal Liberty and the Modern State with Lawrence Dennis & Lena Madison Phillips)
0:26:07 Omolo Washiembu – N. Odera (Luo; Kenya)
(Clip from Review of 1935)
0:27:45 Benny Goodman Orchestra – Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
(Clip from Marihuana)
0:29:43 Memphis Minnie – Selling My Pork Chops
(Clip from Marihuana)
0:32:38 Leslie Hutchinson – Anything Goes
(Clip from NBC WEAF Let’s Dance – Benny Goodman)
0:34:15 Nat Gonella – Tiger Rag
0:36:32 Nakano Tadaharu & Columbia Rhythm Boys – Tiger Rag
(Shirley Temple Organ Grinder’s Swing Scene from The Littlest Rebel)
0:38:09 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – Down Home Rag
(Clip from Hollywood Extra Girl)
0:39:54 Chick Webb & His Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald – I’ll Chase The Blues Away
(Clip from Review of 1935)
(Clip from EIAR Benito Mussolini – Italy Invades Ethiopia)
0:42:34 Oum Kalthoum – Lehy Ya Zaman Kana Hawaya
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
0:44:22 Udi Hrant – Hicaz Taksim
(Clip from James Weldon Johnson – The Creation)
0:44:50 Georges Boulanger – Avant De Mourir (My Prayer)
(Clip from Carl Sandburg – The People, Yes)
0:47:52 Professor Wali Ullah Khan – Sitar Instrumental
(Clip from Mad Love trailer)
0:49:22 Wingy Manone & His Orchestra – Black Coffee
(Clip from A Night at the Opera)
0:51:55 Tiger – Marabella Wedding
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
0:53:23 Giorgos Batis – I Filakes Tu Oropu
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
0:54:44 Xavier Cugat – Mama Inez
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
0:57:02 Hildegarde – Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
0:59:35 Jean Sablon with Django Reinhardt – Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
(Clip from PTT Leon Degrelle Denonce Les Scandales En Belgique)
1:02:49 Josephine Baker – Reves
1:05:19 Maurice Chevalier – Les Mirlitons
(Clip from A Party On A California Isle Avalon, beside the bay)
1:07:26 Winnifred Shaw & Dick Powell – Lullaby Of Broadway
1:08:25 Boswell Sisters – Lullaby Of Broadway
1:09:10 Winnifred Shaw & Dick Powell – Lullaby Of Broadway
(Clip from Bing Crosby Studio Dialogue)
1:10:37 Bing Crosby – Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle
(Clip from Bing Crosby Studio Dialogue)
1:12:27 Stéphane Grappelli’s Hot Four – I Got Rhythm
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
(Clip from Screen Interview With Sheffield Wednesday)
(Clip from Cup Final 1935)
(Clip from Interview With Captains)
1:17:08 Egbert Moore – M.C.C. vs. West Indies
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
1:20:12 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra (Vocal Dan Donovan) – Mickey’s Son And Daughter
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
1:22:40 Western Brothers – We’re Frightfully BBC
(Clip from W.C. Fields in David Copperfield)
1:25:29 Noel Coward – Don’t Put Your Daughter On The Stage Mrs. Worthington
(Clip from David Copperfield)
1:27:25 George Formby – Fanlight Fanny
(Clip from The Three Stooges in Uncivil Warriors)
1:29:41 Goebble Reeves The Texas Drifter – The Cowboy’s Dizzy Sweetheart
(Clip from Chevrolet Ad)
1:32:35 The Ink Spots – Your Feet’s Too Big
(Clip from A Night at the Opera)
1:36:10 Lucille Bogan – Barbecue Bess
(Clip from Financing The American Family)
1:38:48 Bunny Berigan – Chicken And Waffles
(Clip from Billy Costello – I’m Popeye The Sailor Man)
1:41:00 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Osage Stomp
1:43:32 Fănică Luca – Tudorițo, Nene
(Clip from Métodos Infalíveis Para Acabar Com A Insônia)
1:45:51 Michel Warlop Et Son Orchestre – Strange Harmony
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Has the New Deal Promoted or Retarded Business Recovery)
1:48:20 Petit Mirsha – Vieni Vieni (+ Django Reinhardt)
1:50:18 3 Flutes & Vocal – Kuadinkro Bessueba
1:50:49 Lawrence Tibbett – Summertime
(Clip from Carl Sandburg – The People, Yes)
1:53:12 He Zemin & Huang Peiying – Big Idiot Buys A Pig
1:54:02 Ms. Taeng, Ms. Sam, Ms. Huch & The Ensemble Of Mr. Soi Sang Wan – Cha Pi
1:55:06 Jesse Stacy Piano Solo – In The Dark
(Clip from Amelia Earhart – A Womans Place in Science)
1:56:46 Billie Holiday – I’m Painting The Town Red
(Clip from Down the Gasoline Trail)
1:59:04 Big Joe Williams – 49 Highway Blues
(Clip from Chevrolet Ad)
2:00:57 Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang – Chinatown, My Chinatown
(Clip from ComiColor Balloon Land)
2:03:22 Benny Goodman – King Porter Stomp
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
2:05:35 Django Reinhardt & The Hot Club De France Quintet W Stéphane Grapelli – Djangology
(Clip from Flash Gordon 27/04/35 – On the Planet Mongo)
2:08:50 Jorgos Batis – O Buffedsis
(Clip from Gangster Puts Underworld On Spot For You)
2:10:44 Cripple Clarence Lofton – Strut That Thing
2:13:23 Elizabeth Austin – Sail Gal (Ring Game)
2:13:37 David Pryor – Roll ‘im On Down (Bahamian Launching Song)
2:14:32 Harry Roy – Temptation Rag (Piano Duet – Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye)
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
(Clip from Emperor Haile Selassie delivers speech on Italian invasion)
2:16:02 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 29 In B Flat Major Op 106 ‘hammerklavier’ Iv Largo – Allegro Risoluto
(Clip from Huey P Long Share the Wealth speech)
2:18:53 Leo Soileau’s Four Aces – La Valse De Gueydan
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
2:20:56 Giorgos Katsaros & Yorgos Katsaros – Mana Mou Ime
(Clip from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
2:24:10 The Carter Family – Can The Circle Be Unbroken (Bye And Bye)
2:25:39 The Lone Star Cowboys – Just Because
2:26:59 Milton Brown & His Brownies – Down By The O-Hi-O
(Clip from Huey P Long VFW Speech)
2:29:46 Meade Lux Lewis – Honky Tonk Train Blues
(Clip from Baldwin Speech – Himley Hall)
2:31:23 Duke Ellington – Showboat Shuffle
2:32:49 Duke Ellington & Billie Holiday – Symphony In Black; A Rhapsody of Negro Life
(Clip from Sylvia Scarlett)
2:36:05 Raymond Quecedo – Duke And Duchess Of Kent
(Clip from Hitler Youth Rally Speech from Triumph Of The Will)
(Clip from Jewish Demonstration Against Hitler in New York)
2:38:35 Samuel Malavsky – V’shomru
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
2:41:36 Big Bill Broonzy – Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down
(Clip from Como Dormir – Métodos Infalíveis Para Acabar Com A Insônia)
2:44:06 Leadbelly – Mr. Tom Hughes’ Town
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
2:45:11 Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra – Begin The Beguine
(Clip from Dangerous)
2:47:12 Septeto Machín – El Guateque
(Clip from Mad Love)
2:48:56 Len Fillis Hawaiians – Blue Hawaiian Sky
2:50:56 Adrian Rollini – Jazz O’ Jazz (Vocal – Jeanne Burns)
(Clip from Naughty Marietta)
2:52:59 Cleo Brown – Me And My Wonderful One
2:55:36 Teddy Wilson – What A Little Moonlight Can Do (Billie Holiday + Benny Goodman & Ben Webster)
(Clip from Henry Hathaway)
2:57:37 Louis Armstrong – You Are My Lucky Star
(Clip from British Pathé – Ten Stone Baby…Teased With Chocolate)
3:01:18 Coleman Hawkins & Ramblers – I Only Have Eyes For You
(Clip of White House Christmas Tree Lighting)
3:03:13 Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb and His Orchestra – Rhythm And Romance
(Clip from Les Miserables)
3:06:12 Wingy Manone – House Rent Party Day
(Clip of Groucho and Chico Marx in A Night at the Opera)
3:09:33 Willie ‘ The Lion ‘ Smith – Swing Brother Swing
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
(Clip from Gangster Puts Underworld On Spot For You)
3:12:23 Fats Waller – Lulu’s Back In Town
(Clip from Roberta)
3:15:06 Ray Noble Orchestra – Top Hat
3:17:38 Fred Astaire – Cheek To Cheek
(Clip from Picnic Panic)
3:19:32 Frank Froeba & His Swing Band – The Music Goes Round And Round
(Clip from KNX Radio Revival Hour (12-29-1935) Charles Fuller)

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first hour. For the full 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.

MP3 preview download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | RSS

Away with dull care, the day is set fair,
A wireless set near, to bring us good cheer
Olden days had different ways,
Their pleasures then were fewer;
Modern days will get my praise,
Our wireless ways are newer.
A sterling time, a whirling time,
A record time, or Father Time,
The daily times that Big Ben chimes
Are radio times.

Once upon a time they played that
But that was long ago
Then they started singin’ that
But they got tired of that, you know
Now here’s a little tune that’s goin’ ’round
You can hear it all over town
They’re singin’.

Hear this fat boy blowing his horn?
He’s been a bug since the day he was born
His favorite jittersauce is rye
We’ll drink it till the day he dies
Toot your whistle and ring your bell
Ol butchy wutchy time or tell
Dont you worry you just mug
You’ll always be a jitterbug.

I went down to the landing
To see if any boats were there
And the fareman told me
Could not find the boats nowhere
The big boat ease up the river
Are turnin’ ’round an ’round
Lord, I’m ‘on get me a good girl
Or jump overboard an drown

And you’ll find while you’re dancing
That there’s a rhythm in your heart and soul
A certain rhythm that you can’t control
And you will do the continental all the time
Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm
Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm.

Tracks

0:00:00 Percussion Ensemble Cond. By Nicolas Slonimsky – Ionisation
0:00:22 Malinke Musicans, Mali – War Song, Harp with Drums
0:01:15 Sukru Tunar – Huzzam Taksim
0:02:04 Dorothy Melton – I Want Jesus To Walk With Me
0:03:22 Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini
(Excerpt from WABC Twenty Crowded Years A Radio Review of the Years 1914-1934)
0:05:37 Hot Club De France – Tiger Rag
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:08:19 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra (Vocal – Dan Donovan) – Radio Times
(Excerpt from It Happened One Night)
0:10:27 Sexteto Pellin – A Goya Le Dio La Gripe
(Excerpt from Viva Villa!)
0:13:11 Trio Armonico – Ausencia
(Excerpt from Viva Villa!)
0:16:25 Big Bill Broonzy – Mississippi River Blues
(Excerpt from commentary on Yankees vs Tigers at Navin Field)
0:18:52 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Solitude
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:22:10 The Delmore Brothers – Brown’s Ferry Blues
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:24:59 Lucille Bogan – Shave ’em Dry
(Excerpt from Tarzan and His Mate)
0:26:44 Jimmy Durante – Inka Dinka Doo
(Excerpt from Alpha the Robot)
0:30:01 Blanche Calloway – Growlin’ Dan
0:32:46 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – Jitter Bug
0:35:05 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – What A Shuffle
0:37:55 Gertrude Stein- If I Had Told Him; A Completed Portrait of Picasso
0:39:09 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 21 In C Major, Op 53 ‘waldstein’ I Allegro Con Brio
0:40:47 Robert Frost – Birches
0:43:47 Avro Kinderkoor Jacob Hamel – Kleppermarsch
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:45:19 Billy Merrin’s Commanders – We’ll Make Hay While The Sun Shines (Vocal – Sam Browne)
0:47:23 Jack Buchanan and Geraldo – Brewster’s Millions Medley
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
0:49:44 Django Reinhardt – Dinah
(Excerpt from Discours De Gaston Doumergue)
0:52:23 Maurice Jaubert – Underwater Dance from L’atalante
(Excerpt from Leopold III Roi Des Belges Prete Serment)
0:53:50 Hot Club De France – I Saw Stars
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
0:54:52 Tuareg Musicans, Mali – Marriage Song
0:55:14 Bambara Kora Musican, Mali – Song for Chief
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:56:34 The Lion – Wanga
0:58:08 Wilmoth Houdini – Blow Wind Blow
(Excerpt from Kid Millions)
1:00:25 Bert Ambrose – Let’s Make Love
(Excerpt from Of Human Bondage)
1:02:09 Carroll Gibbons – Let’s Fall In Love
(Excerpt from Of Human Bondage)
1:05:46 Márkos Vamvakáris – Koroido
(Excerpt from H. H. The Aga Khan)
1:08:26 Stellakis Papazoglou – I Lachanades
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
1:09:49 D. Góngos Or Bayiadéras – Hash Smoking Chicks
1:11:08 Márkos Vamvakáris – Kápote Ímouna Ki Egó
(Excerpt from 4th Herald Tribune Womens Forum on Current Issues)
1:12:46 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Wild Ride
(Excerpt from Newsreel of Krishnamurti in Sydney)
1:15:07 Pandit Omkarnath Prakur – Garawa Mayi Sang Lage Pt 1
(Excerpt from Newsreel of Krishnamurti in Sydney)
1:17:47 Udi Hrant – Cifte Telli
1:19:23 Munir Nurettin Selcuk And Sadettin Kaynak – Cikar Yuclerden
1:20:34 Mahmut Celalettin – Neva Hicaz Gazel
(Excerpt from Bright Eyes)
1:21:35 Ko Bok-Soo – Tahyangsal-i
(Excerpt from The Scarlet Pimpernel)
1:24:08 Kouta Katsutaro – Sakura Ondo
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
(Excerpt from Dictators Meet Newsreel)
1:25:58 Joe Mccoy – Evil Devil Woman Blues
(Excerpt from The Black Cat)
1:27:17 Lucille Bogan – Pig Iron Sally
(Excerpt from It Happened One Night)
1:29:08 Papa Charlie Jackson – Scoodle Um Skoo
(Excerpt from Disney’s The Grasshopper and the Ants)
1:30:40 Memphis Jug Band – Gator Wobble
(Excerpt from The Barretts of Wimpole Street)
1:32:58 Benny Goodman – Cokey
(Excerpt from George Gershwin Radio Broadcast)
1:34:19 Boswell Sisters – Alexander’s Ragtime Band
(Excerpt from WWJ Ty Tyson NY Yankees vs Detroit Tigers)
1:36:48 Lew Stone And His Band – Canadian Capers
(Excerpt from George Gershwin Radio Broadcast)
1:38:14 Bing Crosby – I’m Hummin’ I’m Whistlin’ I’m Singin’
(Excerpt from Kid Millions)
1:40:19 Jimmy Grier – Goofus
(Excerpt from Disney’s The Grasshopper and the Ants)
1:42:34 Gid Tanner And His Skillet Lickers – Hawkins Rag
1:44:30 Edgar Lee Masters – Lucinda Matlock
1:45:20 Amedie Ardoin – Aimez-Moi Ce Soir
(Excerpt from Here Comes the Navy)
1:47:44 Benny Goodman & His Music Hall Orchestra – Bugle Call Rag
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
1:51:00 Fats Waller – African Ripples
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
1:54:27 Austin Coleman With Joe Washington – Good Lord (Run Old Jeremiah)
1:56:46 Sin Killer Griffin – The Man Of Calvary (Easter Service)
1:56:55 Leadbelly – Irene
1:58:05 Lightnin’ Washington – Black Gal
(Excerpt from Imitation of Life)
1:59:06 Sam McGee – Railroad Blues
(Excerpt from Twentieth Century)
2:00:58 Chick Webb’s Savoy Orchestra – Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Excerpt from The Thin Man)
2:02:48 Adrian Rollini (Vocal – Clay Bryson) – Got The Jitters
2:04:43 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – The Continental
(Excerpt from L’Atalante)
2:06:15 Ray Noble (Vocal – Al Bowlly) – You Ought To Be In Pictures
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:10:02 Al Bowlly Accompanied By Small Orchestra – That’s Me Without You
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie At The Licence Office)
2:11:40 George Formby – Believe It Or Not
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie Goes Carolling)
2:13:26 Leslie Sarony – What Can You Give A Nudist On Her Birthday?
(Excerpt from Odor In The Court)
2:15:36 Michel Warlop – Presentation Stomp (Orchestre + Django Reinhardt)
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:17:50 Luperce Miranda – Naquele Tempo
2:19:58 Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
2:20:58 Joe Venuti’s Blue Four – Satan’s Holiday
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:22:55 Boswell Sisters – Object Of My Affection
(Excerpt from The Scarlet Empress)
2:25:30 Fletcher Henderson – Hotter Than ‘ell
2:28:24 Edgar Lee Masters – Emily Sparks
2:29:07 Coleman Hawkins (Piano – Buck Washington) – On The Sunny Side Of The Street
(Excerpt from One Night of Love)
2:30:49 Elsie Carlisle – Show Is Over
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie At The Licence Office)
2:32:10 Malinke Musicans, Mali – War Song, Harp with Drums
2:32:53 Percussion Ensemble Cond. By Nicolas Slonimsky – Ionisation
(Excerpt from Sadie McKee)

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first hour. For the full three-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.

MP3 preview download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | RSS

One of the most successful theatrical productions of the 1890s was a touring spectacle called “The South Before The War.” Here is how it was originally advertised.

Those of use who knew the “Souf befo’ the Wah,” as the children of Ham put it, and who know what plantation life really was [like] before our great internecine struggle, and such of us as have not had our opinions colored by the Harriet Beecher Stowe class of literature, but can recall the happy days and pleasant nights spent by the darkies in the cotton fields and cane brakes, will have an opportunity of seeing and living over again those happy times at—theatre by witnessing the inimitable performance given by Whallen and Martell’s big South before the War company.

From our lofty vantage point it’s easy to be appalled by this description. With our 130 years’ worth of hindsight, the debate is no longer about whether this show was right or wrong, but about exactly what mix of self-delusion and cynical self-interest went into it. In truth, the main difference between then and now is that we have learned not to say the quiet part loud. Nostalgia has its claws in us more than ever, from strictly-playlisted hits radio stations, to the obsessive sequeling and rebooting of movies and TV series, to politicians telling us they will make our countries “great again” – a phrase which is itself recycled from recentish history

Nostalgia is, almost by definition, a warm, comfortable thing. Life can be very stressful, and if people want to escape that by diving into a nostalgic pool filled with their best memories, then who can really blame them? It would seem pretty churlish to insist on shocking them out of their reverie with a difficult truth, they are surely in no mood to be lectured. The problem comes when this occasional retreat becomes an addiction, when it spills out of our personal lives into the world in general, and taints the way we see not just the past, but the present.

So far these mixes have concerned years which are generally beyond all living memory, and in 1933 this seems to have shifted profoundly. From a modern vantage point we are now in the lead-up to the Second World War, a time which still looms very large in British culture, and it is becoming difficult to find any kind of popular history which covers the time from any other perspective. In the real USA of 1933, the nostalgia industry is creating itself. These may be the darkest days of the great depression, but they are also the heady heights of the golden age of Hollywood. According to the artefacts I’ve gathered here, this was a nation as addicted to escapism as any other. The style and glamour of films and music this year are so sparklingly positive that at a glance there is no depression, no looming war, but a world in the full bloom of peace and prosperity.

Under the surface, though, there is a certain sadness lurking. This hedonistic escapism leaves open the question of – from what exactly are they escaping? Fred & Ginger’s relationship to music is an all-in, devotional ritual. Tex Ritter sings a tribute to whisky, Bessie Smith prefers a pigfoot and a bottle of beer. Al Bowlly compares his love to a decadent, unhealthy indulgence. For Ethel Waters, her disappointing love-life presents itself as stormy weather to be endured. Everywhere people are jumping head-first into pleasures and obsessions, and it’s left to a handful of country and blues singers to deal with the troubles of the world as it is now. Jimmy Rodgers is in the depths of despair, and Lightnin’ Washington is, literally, a prisoner working on a chain gang in Texas, during the dust bowl.

So here’s a year-long chunk of the past, then, a place which seems dead-set on creating its own nostalgia of the present, with little in the way of soul-searching or truth. It’s basically harmless, but let’s not pretend this is a real picture of how people were feeling in 1933, “how they wanted to feel” will just have to do.

Track list

0:00:30 Maurice Jaubert – If The Kids Are United (Zéro De Conduite)
(Clip from Employees Entrance)
0:01:18 Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra – Toby
0:04:36 Mae West & Cary Grant – Clip from “She Done Him Wrong”
0:05:01 Estrellas Hababeras – Buey Viejo
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
0:08:20 Art Tatum – Tiger Rag
0:10:33 Lightnin’ Washington – Long John
(Clip from Design For Living)
0:13:21 Ethel Waters – Stormy Weather
0:16:14 Comedian Harmonists – Ohne Dich (Stormy Weather)
(Clip from The Little Rascals – Mush & Milk)
0:17:46 Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire – Music Makes Me
(Clip from 42nd Street)
0:20:02 Casa Loma Orchestra – White Jazz
(Clip from newsreel announcing the end of prohibition)
0:23:27 Tex Ritter – Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey
(Clip from Footlight Parade)
0:24:56 Bessie Smith – Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer
(Clip from Baby Face)
0:28:05 Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster – Bay Rum Blues Roots
(Clip from Duck Soup)
0:32:18 Groucho Marx & Margaret Dumont – The Laws Of My Administration
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
0:34:04 Billy Cotton – Skirts
(Clip from 42nd Street)
0:36:10 Sol Hoopii’s Novelty Quartette – Hula Girl
0:39:11 Kanui & Lula – Tomi Tomi
0:41:19 Noi Lane – Hawaiian Ripple
0:42:57 Carmen Miranda – Alvorada (Samba)
(Clip from Murders In The Zoo)
0:45:19 Enrique Bryon Y Su Orquesta – Las Maracas De Cuba
0:48:20 Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra – High Society / Dusky Stevedore
(clip from Bombshell)
0:52:02 Ray Noble – It’s Bad For Me (Vocal – Al Bowlly)
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
0:53:47 Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra – Sophisticated Lady
0:57:21 Art Tatum – Sophisticated Lady
(Clip from Universal Newsreel about Cecil H. Dill doing hand-farts)
0:58:48 Rudi Schneider – Trance-Breathing
0:58:53 Maboudana & Badolo – Chant Dâ´invitation A La Danse
0:59:23 Kurt Engel – Xylophonismus
1:00:38 Miss Columbia – 19 No Haru
1:01:14 Ichimaru – Tenryuu Kudareba
1:03:40 Kouta Katsutaro – Tokyo Ondo
(Clip from Gabriel Over the White House)
1:05:03 Marianne Oswald – Complainte De Kesoubah
(Clip from Gabriel Over the White House)
1:07:10 Hoagy Carmichael – Cosmics
1:07:33 Robert Frost – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
1:08:28 Georg Kulenkampff – Tambourin Chinois (Kreisler)
(Clip from The Invisible Man)
1:09:59 Fletcher Henderson – King Porter Stomp
(Clip from I’m No Angel)
1:11:53 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra with Billie Holiday – Your Mother’s Son-In-Law
1:13:32 Joe Robechaux – Jig Music
(Clip from Duck Soup)
1:17:15 Henry Hall B.B.C. Dance Orchestra – The Wedding Of Mr. Mickey Mouse
(Clip from Walt Disney’s Three Little Pigs)
1:20:25 Mae Questal & Cab Calloway – You Gotta Hi De Ho
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
1:22:15 Boswell Sisters – Shuffle Off To Buffalo
1:24:19 Bing Crosby – Someone Stole Gabriel’s Horn
(Clip of Fiorello H. La Guardia Attacks Tammany Hall)
1:25:54 James ‘Iron Head’ Baker – Black Betty
1:26:29 Ashley & Foster – The Rising Sun Blues
(Clip of Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugural address)
1:27:44 Big Bill Broonzy – How You Want It Done?
(Clip from Franklin Roosevelt – Fireside Chat #1, On the Banking Crisis)
1:29:50 Salty Dog Sam – Lonesome Road Blues
1:30:47 Josh White – Blood Red River
1:32:40 Fernando Vilches – Flor De Petenera
(Clip of nazis burning books)
1:35:47 Paul Robeson – Swing Low Sweet Chariot
(Clip from Einstein Speech at the Royal Albert Hall London)
1:37:42 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 22 In F Major, Op 54 Ii Allegretto
(Clip from Morning Glory)
1:39:25 Ethel Waters – Don’t Blame Me
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
1:42:41 Al Bowlly Acc. By Orchestra Directed By Carroll Gibbons – Night And Day
1:44:18 Ambrose & His Orchestra – Night And Day
(Clip from Calvacade)
1:45:32 Harry Roy – Bugle Call Rag (Piano Duet – Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye)
1:48:09 Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra – Moten Swing
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)
1:50:14 The Lone Star Cowboys – Just Because
1:51:28 Prairie Ramblers – Shady Grove
(Clip from The Private Life of Henry VIII)
1:53:02 Ashley & Foster – East Virginia Blues
(Clip from Calvacade)
1:54:53 Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band – Cold Iron Bed Dark
1:57:57 Rudyard Kipling – France
1:58:16 Guerino Et Son Orchestre Musette & Django Reinhardt – Brise Napolitaine
(Clip from Zéro De Conduite)
2:00:53 Eddie South – Nagasaki
2:02:43 Midge Williams – Lazy Bones
(Clip from The Bitter Tea of General Yen)
2:05:59 The Mills Brothers with Bing Crosby – My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms
(Clip from International House)
2:07:45 Dorsey Brothers – By Heck
(Clip from Duck Soup)
2:11:07 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – Zah Zuh Zah
2:13:03 Spike Hughes And His Orchestra – How Come You Do Me Like You Do?
2:16:05 Wilmouth Houdini and his Humming Bird – Trinidad Hurricane
2:18:26 Lionel Belasco – The Treasury Fire
(Clip from The Mayor of Hell)
2:20:05 Blind Willie Mctell – Savannah Mama
(Clip from King Kong)
2:21:29 Jimmie Rodgers – Gambling Bar Room Blues
2:23:27 Cliff Carlisle – Mouse’s Ear Blues
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
2:25:06 Carter Family – Gold Watch And Chain
2:26:32 Bradley Kincaid – Dog And Gun (An Old English Ballad)
(Clip from Calvacade)
2:28:52 Joseph Schmidt – Jetzt Spielen Hull Dich In Tand Nur (Pagliacci)
(Clip from The Testament of Dr Mabuse)
2:31:01 Wanda Landowska, Harpsichord – Variation 17
2:32:51 The Three Ginx – On A Steamer Coming Over
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)
2:34:44 Eddie Condon – Madame Dynamite
2:36:35 Joe Robechaux – Ring Dem Bells
2:38:20 Joe Venuti & His Blue Six – The Jazz Me Blues
2:39:33 Benny Carter Orchestra – Swing It
(Clip from Laurel & Hardy – Sons of the Desert)
2:41:18 Cliff Edwards – It’s Only A Paper Moon
(Clip from Queen Christina)
2:43:22 Marta Eggerth – Ave Maria (Schubert)
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)

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Half a decade ago the United States was in the midst of an explosion in recorded music on a scale not heard before or since. The inception of that revolution – a change in recording technology allowing studios and record labels to spring up everywhere and anywhere – took a couple of years to filter through. In the same way, the death of that same revolution, the collapse of the recording industry at the start of the great depression and the closure of those studios and labels, also took a couple of years to fully filter through. Now we have arrived at 1932 and it’s all over. The wide variety of roots music, whether labelled country, blues or folk, is no longer being recorded, with the exception of a few of the biggest stars. Likewise, recorded jazz is now the preserve of the biggest bandleaders, or as backing groups for the resurgent movie business.

So why then is this mix one of the longest so far? The answer comes down more to the process of putting the thing together than the qualities of the year itself. With less to choose from in the USA, my attentions shifted to the rest of the world, and it turned out that there was plenty out there.
We start out on our trip in the Caribbean, where Calypso and other forms of music are now being recorded professionally and regularly for the first time, thanks to people like record-shop owner and entrepreneur Eduardo Sa Gomes in Trinidad.

Then we have a few tangos, first of course from South America, but then also from Eastern Europe, where artists like Jean Moscopol were blending this new music with traditional local flavours like klezmer and rembetika.

The UK has a greater representation in this mix than in any since 1907 (or maybe even 1888) – while the economic situation was nearly as bad here as in the USA, a couple of powerful record companies as well as the BBC ensured that music recording was actually experiencing something of a boom. The UK records here – including the marvelously sinister version of “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic” and Noel Coward’s “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” – are easily a match for anything made in the 20s.

All of this also seems to be the case for France, for whom 1932 seems to be a key year on compilations. Next we explore Arabic music, from Tunisia to Iraq, and India, where truly otherworldly traditional musics are being properly recorded for the first time.

It’s always been my intention to show the whole world in these mixes, but this last half-decade the music from the USA has understandably overwhelmed in its quality and variety. Let’s take this brief lull to appreciate that there was a whole world out there, much of it telling stories about the 1930s which are lost in the great narratives of the depression and the buildup to the next war.

Tracklist

0:00:30 The Philadelphia Orchestra, Conducted By Leopold Stokowski – Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder (Excerpt)
0:03:34 The Three Keys – Jig Time
William Butler Yeats – Introduction (Excerpt)
0:05:52 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – Reefer Man
Jewel Robbery (Excerpt)
0:08:50 The Mills Brothers – Old Man Of The Mountain
John Barrymore – Clip from A Bill of Divorcement
0:10:38 Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra – It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
0:12:28 The Boswell Sisters – It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
The Most Dangerous Game (Excerpt 1)
0:14:51 Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers – Shag
Trouble in Paradise (Excerpt)
0:18:10 Lew Stone with Al Bowlly – My Woman
0:21:18 Groucho Marx – I’m Against It
0:24:32 Fred Astaire with The Leo Reisman Orchestra – Night And Day
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (Excerpt 1)
0:27:31 Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra – Hobo, You Can’t Ride This Train
0:30:24 Jimmie Rodgers – Hobo’s Meditation
Amelia Earhart Radio Broadcast (Excerpt)
0:32:35 Mike Hanapi & The Ilima Islanders – Hilo Hula
0:34:37 Leona Gabriel – Liva
Scarface (Excerpt 1)
0:37:28 Lionel Belasco and His Orchestra – Depression (Pasillo)
0:38:46 L’orchestre Typique Martiniquais – Eugenie
0:40:44 Orchestre Typique Martiniquais Charlery-Delouche – Ti Roro
0:42:31 Orchestre Creole Delvi – Edamyso
0:45:11 Silvio Caldas – E Ela Não Jurou
The Most Dangerous Game (Excerpt 2)
0:46:16 Las Cuatro Huasas – La Papa Araucana
Tarzan the Ape Man (Excerpt)
0:48:35 Xavier Cugat – Carmen De Cabaret
Intimate Interviews – Bela Lugosi (Excerpt 1)
0:49:51 Jean Moscopol – Mai Spune-Mi Inca-Odata
Intimate Interviews – Bela Lugosi (Excerpt 2)
0:51:37 Aleksandr Vertinskiy – Klassicheskiye Rozy
Intimate Interviews – Bela Lugosi (Excerpt 3)
0:53:40 Carl Theodor Dreyer – Excerpts from “Vampyr”
Intimate Interviews – Bela Lugosi (Excerpt 4)
0:55:50 London Symphony Orchestra With Yehudi Menuhin, Conducted By Edward Elgar – Elgar Violin Concerto (Excerpt)
0:57:26 Ríta Abadzí – At Tsambíkous Teké
0:58:41 Giórgos Michalópoulos – Olympus And Kissavos
0:59:59 Ioannis Chalkias – Minore Tou Teke
1:00:55 William Butler Yeats – The Lake Isle of Innisfree
1:01:50 Arthur Schnabel – Beethoven Sonata No 31 In A Flat Major, Op 110 Moderato Cantabile Molto Espressivo
King George V The first ever Royal Christmas Message (Written by Rudyard Kipling) (Excerpt 1)
1:03:22 Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra – The Clouds Will Soon Roll By
David Lloyd George speech (Excerpt 1)
1:05:15 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Teddy Bear’s Picnic
King George V The first ever Royal Christmas Message (Written by Rudyard Kipling) (Excerpt 2)
1:06:54 Noel Coward – Mad Dogs And Englishmen
Hilaire Belloc – Tarantella (Excerpt)
1:08:44 George Formby – Old Kitchen Kettle / I Told My Baby With The Ukulele / Let’s All Go To Reno
1:11:43 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Here Comes The Bogey Man
A Farewell To Arms (Excerpt)
1:13:39 Ray Noble And His New Mayfair Orchestra, Vocal Al Bowlly – Love Is The Sweetest Thing
A Bill of Divorcement (Excerpt 1)
1:15:29 Josephine Baker – Ram Pam Pam
Boudu sauvé des eaux (Excerpt)
1:17:05 Damia – La Veuve
1:18:05 Madame Maiotte Almaby Et Orchestre Des Waddy’s Boys – Coeur Moin Dans Piment
1:20:39 Guerino Et Son Orchestre Musette & Django Reinhardt – Gallito
1:22:09 Medard Ferrero – Mazurka Fantasie
1:23:10 Mireille et Jean Sablon – Les Pieds Dans L’eau
1:24:33 Pills et Tabet – C’est Un Jardinier Qui Boîte
1:26:56 Lys Gauty – L’amour Qui Passe
A Bill of Divorcement (Excerpt 2)
1:29:35 Yehudi Menuhin – Paganini Kreisler Caprice No. 24
1:30:04 Cheikha Tetma – Ach Hal Men Ijarra
1:33:01 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen, Algerie – Musaddar
1:35:11 Musique Savante De Bagdad, Irak – Abûdhiyya
1:36:33 Musique Citadine De Tunis, Tunisie – Danse De La Ghayta
1:38:43 William Butler Yeats – The Fiddler of Dooney
1:39:17 Gajananrao Joshi Of Aundh – Violin Instrumental- Bihag
1:41:08 Mr. Musiri Subramania Iyer – Nagumomu Ganaleni (Part 1)
1:43:09 Desamangalam Subramania Iyer – Veena Instrumental- Sankarabharanam Part 1- Ragam
1:44:07 B.S. Krishnamurthi Sastrigal – Gottuvadyam Instrumental- Pullikalabamayeil Kavad I Chinthu
Shanghai Express (Excerpt)
1:48:00 Kouta Katsutaro – Shima No Musume
The Clairvoyant Record (Excerpt)
1:49:54 Joe Sanders – Southology
Herbert Hoover – Nomination Speech (Excerpt)
1:51:20 Mildred Bailey – Georgia On My Mind
Frankin D Roosevelt – Nomination Speech (Excerpt)
1:53:32 Rudy Vallee – Brother Can You Spare A Dime
Frankin D Roosevelt – Campaign Speech (Excerpt)
1:55:54 Paul Robeson – Ol’ Man River (+ Victor Young Orchestra)
Frankin D Roosevelt – Acceptance Speech (Excerpt)
1:59:05 Charlie Kunz Solo Medley – Lovely To Look At, Etc.
The Marx Brothers – Excerpts from Horse Feathers
2:02:33 Roger Wolfe Kahn – Fit As A Fiddle
The Marx Brothers – Excerpts from Horse Feathers
2:06:21 James & Martha Carson – I’ll Fly Away
Island of Lost Souls (Excerpt)
2:08:42 The Carter Family – Little Moses
Freaks (Excerpt)
2:10:43 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – How Big Can You Get?
Love Me Tonight (Excerpt)
2:15:00 Glen Gray & His Casa Loma Orchestra – Black Jazz
2:17:33 Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra – Lot O’ Fingers (Fast And Furious)
Laurel & Oliver Hardy – Towed in a Hole (Excerpt 1)
2:19:43 Big Bill Broonzy – How You Want It Done?
Laurel & Oliver Hardy – Towed in a Hole (Excerpt 2)
2:22:59 Tommie Bradley – Nobody’s Business If I Do
2:24:35 Ruby Glaze & Hot Shot Willie – Searching The Dessert For The Blues
2:26:30 Pinetop And Lindberg – I Believe I’ll Make A Change
2:29:28 Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell – Gone Mother Blues
Oldest Recording of ABC Radio – 1932 Melbourne Cup (Excerpt 1)
2:31:23 Mississippi Sheiks – New Stop And Listen
Oldest Recording of ABC Radio – 1932 Melbourne Cup (Excerpt 2)
2:33:29 Don Redman & His Orchestra – I Got Rhythm
Red Dust (Excerpts)
2:35:50 Sidney Bechet And His New Orleans Feetwarmers – Maple Leaf Rag
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (Excerpt 2)
2:38:57 Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra – Take Me Away From The River
Scarface (Excerpt 2)
2:42:13 Earl Hines & His Orchestra – I Love You Because I Love You
Mae West – Night After Night (Excerpt)
2:45:10 Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra – The New Tiger Rag
If I Had a Million (Excerpt)
2:48:38 The Boswell Sisters – Everybody Loves My Baby
2:50:57 The Mills Brothers with Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra – Diga Diga Doo
2:53:23 The Mills Brothers – Goodbye Blues (Radio Broadcast)
The Old Dark House (Excerpt)
Intimate Interviews – Bela Lugosi (Excerpt 5)
British Pathe – Adolf Hitler’s presidential campaign (Excerpt)
British Pathe – Amidst A Nation’s Rejoicing (Excerpt)
The Mummy (Excerpt)
2:56:40 Joe Venuti – Beale Street Blues (+ Eddie Lang & Vocal – Jack Teagarden)
Grand Hotel (Excerpt)
2:59:55 Noel Coward – The Party’s Over Now / Let’s Say Goodbye
3:01:53 Bing Crosby – Let’s Put Out The Lights And Go To Sleep