At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the ten chapters in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1938
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Certainly the most famous episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Orson Wells’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) science fiction novel caused a scandal on broadcast when it allegedly caused panicked listeners to flee to the hills. The people actually fleeing or even complaining in vast numbers appear to have been an invention of some sort, certainly the main change when the dust settled was that Orson Wells was now well-known nationwide and able to pick up his first directing work, and I’m sure everyone knows what that is. From my POV the most interesting thing about War of the Worlds is the way it combines fantastic elements with an imitation of a standard radio programme with breaks for a live broadcast of light music. Here we have most of the first half of the drama, with the music swapped for more interesting lighter dance music from 1938, plenty of it from the UK, and at least some of it re-used later by Leyland Kirkby for his The Caretaker project.

00:00 Raymond Scott Quintette – The Happy Farmer
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
00:57 Russ Morgan – What Do You Know About Love
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
02:47 Leslie Hutchinson – It’s De Lovely
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
04:11 Geraldo – You’re As Pretty As A Picture
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
09:00 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Pray For The Lights To Go Out
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
12:17 Harry Roy – Highland Swing (Vocal – Ray Ellington)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
19:02 Unknown Mahafaly – Flute Solo (Ampanihy, Madagascar)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
21:05 Prof. Anukul Ch. Das – Piano Instrumental- Ramprasad Sen
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
25:20 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
33:37 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare
(Clips from Orson Welles Press Conference)

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3.5-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.

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Ten stories from 1938

Part One – The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert

1938 opens with perhaps the most famous Jazz concert of all time. Every five years it is my duty to report that “Jazz has gone mainstream” but this might really be it – never before has the genre been so accepted as a national music across spectra of race and class, and after a brief plateau, it’s all going to splinter and decline (commercially – certainly not artistically!) from this point on. The concert at Carnegie Hall January 16th was held by Benny Goodman – a clarinettist and band leader who looked, and dressed, like a befuddled office clerk in a Howard Hawks movie – and an all-star ensemble. Goodman had already been recording in a trio with drummer Gene Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson, and a quartet also featuring Lionel Hampton, and took the opportunity to massively expand on this with every other big name of the day. It’s hard to convey the novelty of a racially-integrated jazz act playing in public at all, let alone in Carnegie Hall. Such a thing would have been completely unthinkable even five years earlier.

Much like Paul Whiteman’s 1924 concert which introduced Rhapsody in Blue, the show began with a history of jazz – this time with a marginally more accurate starting point of the “dixieland” era of the early 20s. Then through the two hours the pace began to build with a number of special guests, including the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, until finally the Goodman Quartet blitzed through their hits. The program had been wisely planned, with muted reception for the first half an hour winding up to demands for several encores at the end. Three recordings were made, two acetates and one set of aluminium discs – this may seem like a minor detail, but it has been important to the making of this mix because the lower-fidelity acetates were the source for the 1950 LP of the concert, and the CD version currently available is a direct rip from the higher-fidelity aluminium master, which archivist Phil Schaap put together in the late 1990s, and which I find to be almost unlistenable because he apparently refused to do any kind of restoration work, resulting in scraping and hissing noises being present through most of the two CDs. For this mix, then, I have combined the two versions, adding extra fidelity to sections of the old record and doing mostly eq-based noise reduction on the CD version. It still isn’t perfect, but right now it’s the best sound you’re going to get.

Part Two – Countless Blues

The late thirties, after the death of Robert Johnson, is one of the least-heralded eras for the blues – but it really shouldn’t be. Half a decade before jazz artists started playing jump blues, here we are with electric guitars, boogie-woogie rhythms and dance arrangements. Call it one of the many births of rock & roll if you like – there’s certainly a great deal here which wouldn’t feel out of place in the fifties, Georgia slide blues from Tampa Red and Georgia White, Chicago blues from Washboard Sam, Piedmont blues from Blind Boy Fuller and proto-R&B from Big Bill Broonzy and Jazz Gillum.

Part Three – Mein Rhythmus

A European tour, starting in the music halls of England, then Finnish accordion, Romanian violin and German dance bands, before settling down into a five-track exploration of French singers. Charles Trenet gives us one last taste of optimism before the events of 1939, Edith Piaf on the other hand, has a military song. Rina Ketty, an Italian, sings “J’attendrai” (“I will wait”), a translation of an Italian song, which later became emblematic of World War II, summing up the anxious longing of women awaiting the safe return of their sons and husbands from the war. Deanna Durbin was another immigrant to France, though luckily for her she was still in Hollywood at this point – and there’s Marie-Jacques Renée “Jacotte” Perrier, aged only 13, performing with the Hot Club De France – we will be hearing more from them in time. We finish our European tour with Johnny & Jones, Jewish jazz-pop artists from Amsterdam, both of whom would sadly become some of the final victims of the Holocaust.

Part Four – Algiers

This selection of Middle-Eastern and African music begins in Bulgaria, before moving on to Turkey (including Turkish-Armenian oud virtuoso Udi Hrant) and Algerian singer Cheikh Zouzou. The 1938 movie Algiers (a remake of 1937 French film Pépé le Moko) depicted a fantasied version of the native quarter of Algiers known as the Casbah – while it is certainly guilty of exoticism, and possibly a lot worse, the film is notable for bringing Hedy Lamarr to the attention of American audiences. The African section features Africans in Brasil, recorded by Mário de Andrade, and East African and Nigerian recordings about which I can find very little information – please let me know if you have anything on these artists.

Part Five – Vitalogy

A tour around the Caribbean and elsewhere, we start with Carmen Miranda, perhaps the biggest star ever to come from Brasil’s Samba scene – she would move to the USA and begin her screen career the following year. Off then to Cuba, with “Guantanamera,” perhaps the best-known song from the island, with lyrics by the Cuban poet José Martí and music by Joseíto Fernández, and another adaptation of Son music by Xavier Cugat for the American public. We have a trio of recordings from Trinidad, where Portuguese music promotor Sa Gomes is doing his best to support, record and promote the genre – one track from Carnival’s Vagabonds is a tribute to the man himself – and a little Hawaiian music, now finally fading away from the popularity and influence it has had for the last two decades.

Part Six – Stepping Into Swing Society

The first of two overviews of Swing in 1938, this one begins with some gospel music and preaching (of course this is not swing, but bear with me) in order to introduce “Reverend Sachmo” who kicks off some of the hotter jazz selections from the year. Famous names here include Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Chick Webb and Tommy Dorsey – the only slightly more obscure name is that of Pee Wee Russell. The chapter concludes with a few novelty swing records, from two different groups of Hot Shots and the Raymond Scott Quintette.

Part Seven – War of The Worlds

Certainly the most famous episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Orson Welles’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) science fiction novel caused a scandal on broadcast when it allegedly caused panicked listeners to flee to the hills. The people actually fleeing or even complaining in vast numbers appear to have been an invention of some sort, certainly the main change when the dust settled was that Orson Welles was now well-known nationwide and able to pick up his first directing work, and I’m sure everyone knows what that is. From my POV the most interesting thing about War of the Worlds is the way it combines fantastic elements with an imitation of a standard radio programme with breaks for a live broadcast of light music. Here we have most of the first half of the drama, with the music swapped for more interesting lighter dance music from 1938, plenty of it from the UK, and at least some of it re-used later by Leyland Kirkby for his The Caretaker project.

Part Eight – Did You Ever Milk A Cow?

Folk and country music has had as hard a time as country blues over the course of the great depression, but it is also finding ways to adapt to the new world. Some, like the Hackberry Rambers are working with a niche market, Some, like the Dezurik Sisters, are making as an extreme an impression as possible to grab as much attention as they can (despite being a fairly traditional yodelling record, “Arizona Yodeler” is one of the most out there things in the entire mix.) For the most part, however, this is a run-through of the early days of “western swing” – essentially just swing made by white musicians in the former wild west, with the horns sometimes (but not always) switched for fiddles, and, as of this year, electric guitars.

Part Nine – When The Sun Sets Down South

Drawing towards our conclusion, this chapter covers some of the more relaxed and vocal swing records of the year, including some of the biggest hits. Ella Fitzgerald adapted A-Tisket, A-Tasket from a nursery rhyme, and Count Basie joined in the fun with his “Stop Beatin’ ’round The Mulberry Bush” – selections from Billie Holiday are also notably relaxed and reassuring in tone, especially when compared to her recordings from 1939. It isn’t all smooth classics here, though. Django Reinhardt provides one of his most curious recordings, Sugii Kōichi has more Spanish-tinged Japanese lounge jazz, and Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc play Big Noise From Winnetka, one of those records you’ve known all your life, but never knew the name.

Part Ten – Munich

Much of the time spent on this mix was dedicated to trying to judge the tone of this final section. I can’t promise that it has been done perfectly, but practice was needed, considering everything I will need to include on the next seven mixes. One of the worst crimes of the nostalgia business is to transform the worst traumas our civilization has suffered into light entertainment, and for this reason I didn’t feel it appropriate to mix coverage of Hitler’s rise with any sort of jazz. Instead, the events of late 1938 – the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Munich peace conference, the triumphant hubris of Neville Chamberlain and, it turns out, the British and international media – seem to fit better with the more sombre classical music recorded this year.

For all the creative energy released in 1938, it is ultimately a year remembered for its complacency, not just that of the British government, but from a western world which feels it is through the worst, while a “quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing” is not something worth worrying about. Next year we will see that focus being sharply pulled.

Tracklist

Part One – The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert

0:00:00 Carl Stalling – Warner Brothers Intro
0:00:20 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – China Boy
(Clip from Pygmalion)
0:04:10 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – Dizzy Spells
0:08:33 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)

Part Two – Countless Blues

(Clip from Review Of The Year)
0:13:02 Georgia White – The Blues Ain’t Nothin’ But…!!!
(Clip from Peg-Leg Pedro)
0:15:44 Big Bill Broonzy – Trucking Little Woman
(Clip from How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband)
0:17:10 Kansas City Six – Countless Blues
(Clip from The Shadow 38-02-13 The House Of Horror)
0:20:07 Bob Crosby – Honky Tonk Train Blues
(Clip from Andy Hardy)
0:22:01 Blind Boy Fuller – Step It Up And Go
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)
0:23:16 Tampa Red – Rock It In Rhythm
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
0:25:23 Jazz Gillum & His Jazz Boys – Reefer Head Woman
(Clip from How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband)
0:27:17 Washboard Sam – Don’t Leave Me Here
(Clip from La Bete Humaine)
(Clip from Four Daughters)
0:29:51 Blind Boy Fuller – Get Your Yas Yas Out
(Clip from Always Goodbye)
0:32:13 Hudson ‘Tampa Red’ Whittaker – Forgive Me Please

Part Three – Mein Rhythmus

(Clip from A Christmas Carol Trailer)
0:35:02 Tommy Trinder – I Don’t Do Things Like That
(Clip from Adele England – Chestnut Tree)
0:37:00 George Formby – In My Little Snapshot Album
(Clip from The King’s Speech)
0:38:56 Viola Turpeinen – Kahden Venheessä
(Clip from Kerensky interview)
0:40:14 Georges Boulanger – Tokay
(Clip from BBC Interview with Sigmund Freud)
0:42:14 Heinz Munsonius – Mein Rhythmus
0:43:30 Heinz Rühmann – Ich Brech Die Herzen Der Stolzesten Fraun
0:44:21 Charles Trenet – Boum!
0:46:13 Jacotte Perrier + Hot Club De France – Les Salades De L’ Oncle Francois
(Clip from La Femme du Boulanger)
0:48:25 Rina Ketty – J’ Attendrai
(Clip from Port of Shadows)
0:50:28 Edith Piaf – Le Fanion De La Legion
0:52:05 Deanna Durbin – Les Filles De Cadix
(Clip from Lou Bandy – Conference Vergeten)
0:53:18 Johnny & Jones – Lied Van Den Slangenbezweerder (Snake Charmer)

Part Four – Algiers

0:54:51 Vulkana Stoyanova – Dimo Na Rada
0:56:55 Udi Hrant – Kurdili Hicazkar Taksim
(Clip from “The Speech Of Ancient Egypt, 18th Dynasty”)
0:58:00 Cheikh Zouzou – Gheniet Ben Soussan, Pt. 7
(Clip from Algiers)
1:00:37 Kemani Haydar Tatliyay – Arap Oyun Havasi
1:02:09 Mário De Andrade – Instrumentos Do ‘Caboclinho Índios Africanos’
1:02:23 J.P. Nyangira – Hongo Owiti
1:04:28 Godwin Scotland – Adelebo Ilu Eko
(Clip from Algiers)

Part Five – Vitalogy

1:05:37 Carmen Miranda – Boneca De Pixe
(Clip from The Citadel)
1:07:05 Cuarteto Caney – Guajira Guantanamera
1:09:53 Xavier Cugat – La Paloma
(Clip from The Adventures of Robin Hood)
1:13:35 The Caresser – Clear The Way When The Bamboo Play
1:15:23 The Lion – Vitalogy
1:15:45 Carnival’s Vagabonds – We Want Sa Gomes
(Clip from Jezebel)
1:16:34 Mannie Klein’s Swing-A-Hula’s – Hoolihi Oe Ke Ike Mai

Part Six – Stepping Into Swing Society

(Clip from Angels With Dirty Faces)
1:20:17 Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – John The Revelator
1:21:22 Rev. Benny Campbell – You Must Be Born Again
1:22:43 Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra – When The Saints Go Marching In
(Clip from American Air Record – Interview With Pilot)
1:24:20 Pee Wee Russell – I’ve Found A New Baby
(Clip from Alexander’s Ragtime Band)
1:25:45 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Downhome Jump
(Clip from The Sisters)
1:28:20 Duke Ellington – Stepping Into Swing Society
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:31:17 Tommy Dorsey – Boogie Woogie
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:33:21 Count Basie – Jumpin’ At The Woodside
(Clip from Mr Moto’s Gamble)
1:36:28 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – Harlem Congo
1:39:38 Joe Daniels Hot Shots – Limehouse Blues
(Clip from Too Hot To Handle – Trailer)
1:42:44 Hoosier Hot Shots – The Girl Friend Of The Whirling Dervish
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:45:04 Raymond Scott Quintette – The Happy Farmer

Part Seven – War of The Worlds

(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:48:03 Russ Morgan – What Do You Know About Love
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:49:53 Leslie Hutchinson – It’s De Lovely
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:51:18 Geraldo – You’re As Pretty As A Picture
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:56:06 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Pray For The Lights To Go Out
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:59:24 Harry Roy – Highland Swing (Vocal – Ray Ellington)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:06:08 Unknown Mahafaly – Flute Solo (Ampanihy, Madagascar)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:08:11 Prof. Anukul Ch. Das – Piano Instrumental- Ramprasad Sen
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:12:26 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:20:42 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare
(Clips from Orson Welles Press Conference)

Part Eight – Did You Ever Milk A Cow?

(Clip from The Adventures of Robin Hood)
2:24:24 Hackberry Ramblers – Fais Pas Ca
(Clip from Adele England – Chestnut Tree)
2:26:06 Coon Creek Girls – Old Uncle Dudy (Keep Fiddling On)
(Clip from Merrily We Live)
2:28:30 The Monroe Brothers – Have A Feast Here Tonight
(Clip from Boys Town)
2:29:30 Dezurik Sisters – Arizona Yodeler
2:31:52 Cliff Bruner – When You’re Smiling
2:33:31 Light Crust Doughboys – Pussy Pussy Pussy
(Clip from Test Pilot)
2:37:05 Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans – Wabash Cannonball
(Clip from Holiday)
2:38:40 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Liza, Pull Down The Shades
(Clip from Mind The Doors)
2:41:12 Judy Garland – Cry Baby Cry

Part Nine – When The Sun Sets Down South

2:43:42 Count Basie – Stop Beatin’ ’round The Mulberry Bush
(Clip from AT&T – Operator)
2:45:38 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – A-Tisket, A-Tasket
2:48:10 Sidney Bechet & Noble Sissle’s Swingsters – Blackstick
(Clip from Kerensky interview)
2:50:56 Duke Ellington – Pyramid (Part 2)
(Clip from Four Daughters)
2:54:09 Andy Kirk & Mary Lou Williams – Twinklin’
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)
2:56:40 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Any Time At All
(Clip from CBS WBBM World Series Game 2 NY Yankees vs Chicago Cubs)
2:58:13 Django Reinhardt – Improvisation No. 2
(Clip from CBS WBBM World Series Game 2 NY Yankees vs Chicago Cubs)
(Clip from The Lady Vanishes)
3:00:18 Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc – Big Noise From Winnetka
3:02:59 Sugii Kōichi – Kusatsu-bushi
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Is an Economic Plan for World Peace Available?)
3:05:21 Fats Waller – Waterboy
3:05:34 Django Reinhardt – Appel Indirect (Appel Direct)
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)
3:08:30 Noble Sissle’s Swingsters – When The Sun Sets Down South
3:11:33 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – When You’re Smiling
3:14:21 Hot Lips Page – Rock It For Me
3:17:10 Billie Holiday – You Go To My Head
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)

Part Ten – Munich

3:20:02 The Lord Executor – Poppy Day
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
3:21:26 Pablo Casals – No. 1 In G – I- Prelude (Moderato)
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
3:22:44 Pablo Casals – Dvorak Cello Concerto In B 03 Allegro Moderato
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
(Clip from 1938-02-03 NBC ATMOTA – What Does Democracy Mean?)
3:24:53 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from Hitler In Vienna – British Pathé)
(Clip from German Propaganda Film)
(Clip from Winston Churchill – ‘We Must Arm’ Speech)
3:27:38 Herbert Von Karajan – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ouvertüre Zu ‘die Zauberflöte’ (Excerpt 1)
(Clip from Review Of The Year)
(Clip from Peace Four Power Conference)
(Clip from Neville Chamberlain – Speech On His Return From The Munich Conference)
(Clip from Peace Four Power Conference)
3:30:17 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Adagio For Strings Op.11
(Clip from Adolf Hitler – on the occasion of the german occupation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia)
(Clip from 1938-12-01 NBC ATMOTA – Is an Economic Plan for World Peace Available?)
(Clip from 1938-12-08 NBC ATMOTA – How Should the Democracies Deal With the Dictatorships?)
3:35:03 Herbert Von Karajan – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ouvertüre Zu ‘die Zauberflöte’ (Excerpt 2)
(Clip from Review Of The Year)
3:36:00 Flanagan & Allen – Umbrella Man
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)
3:38:36 Ella Logan – Adios Muchachos
3:40:12 Carl Stalling – Warner Brothers Outro
(Clip from Angels with Dirty Faces)

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3.5-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

Recorded music has a centre of gravity, and it’s usually New York. Now and again, though, we have seen it temporarily shift – to New Orleans and to Chicago, and now, in one of the peak years of swing, we find ourselves in Paris, near to the closing moments of the Third Republic, with two Belgian-Romani guitarists, a French-Italian violin player, a French double-bass player and a French guitarist. This group of musicians recorded under a variety of names (and with a host of other musicians) but are best-remembered as Quintette du Hot Club de France.

The most well-known of this Quintette is almost certainly Django Reinhardt. Born to Romani-Belgian parents, Django played the guitar (initially a banjo-guitar) from the age of 12, but otherwise had little in the way of education. He was almost-completely illiterate until late into his life, and managed to spend a year in New York despite speaking no English. If that were not enough disadvantages to be dealing with, in 1928 he suffered severe burns after his caravan caught fire, and ended up spending 18 months in hospital, losing two of the fingers on his left hand. With only three fingers left to form chords, Django had to devise for himself an entirely new way to play the guitar. Inspired by Eddie Lang, the father of jazz guitar (sadly the two never played together as Lang died during a routine tonsillectomy in 1933) he was soon traveling throughout France, playing in any bar or club that could pay him. It was in one of these that he first met jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

I remember seeing Stéphane Grappelli on TV when I was very young, and was impressed enough to ask for an LP, which I did not really listen to. Nevertheless, it was my first introduction to jazz. Grapelli’s French mother died when he was five, and his Italian father was drafted into the army when he was six. He was passed first to Isadora Duncan’s dance school, then to a Dickensian orphanage, and only rescued when his father returned at the end of the war. Like Reinhardt, Grapelli had an instrument bought for him at the age of 12 – a violin bought by his father after pawning a suit – and while he did attend the the Conservatoire de Paris for a time, he was mostly self-taught. Aside from a short spell where he bafflingly shifted to piano, Grapelli’s life from the age of 15 was spent mostly playing violin professionally, first in a silent movie theatre, and after a few years in concerts put on by a student organisation for the promotion of jazz in France, the “Hot Club de France”

Reinhardt and Grapelli’s playing is still, 85 years later, without equal. Their antecedents are, naturally, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, but while that pair made some beautiful records, the way the Hot Club stretch this simple combination of instruments into such a vast array of styles, displaying such effortless virtuosity, well, it’s just breathtaking. Reinhard combines the melodies of Lang with the faster rhythms of Romani music, turning this formerly decorative, textual instument into the lead, the centre of the sound. At times his playing is dizzyingly avant-garde, but often also distinctly melodic in a very late-20th-century sort of way. Grapelli, meanwhile, grabs anything Reinhard throws at him, his improvisation described by Yehudi Menuhin as “like one of those jugglers who send 10 plates into the air and recovers them all.”

Well, I still haven’t written anything about Michel Warlop, or Josephine Baker, or Charles Trenet, or Rina Ketty, all recording in Paris this year, and yes, of course there was still a great deal going on elsewhere, and, well, you’ll just have to listen to find out.

January

0:00:00 Maurice Jaubert – Dream Sequence from Un Carnet De Bal
(Clip of Elizabeth Lomax)
(Clip from Double Wedding)
(Clip from On The Air)
0:00:52 Benny Goodman & his Orchestra – Sing, Sing, Sing
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
0:04:22 The Raymond Scott Quintette – Powerhouse
(Clip from 1937-01-05 NBC Opening Day of 75th Congress)
0:06:52 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Mystery Pacific
(Clip of NBC chimes)
0:08:52 The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – Found A Wonderful Savior
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:11:20 Xavier Cugat – Bim Bam Bum
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:13:26 Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra – China Stomp (Chinatown, My Chinatown)
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:16:15 Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye – Polly & Nola
(Clip of 1937-01-27 WFBR Xmitting WSM – Flood Coverage)

February

0:19:11 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Caravan
(Clip from Orson Welles Screen test)
0:21:52 Django Reinhardt – Improvisation / Sweet Georgia Brown
(Clip from 1937-02-06 MBS Kay Kyser Live from the Trianon Ballroom Chicago)
0:26:56 Jimmie Lunceford – For Dancers Only
(Clip from On The Air)
0:28:40 Udi Hrant – Huzzam Taksim
(Clip from On The Air)
0:29:51 Vulkana Stoyanova – Dimo Na Rada
(Clip from 1937-02-27 Seabiscuit – Santa Anita)
0:32:04 Jimmie Revard & His Oklahoma Boys – Fox And Hounds
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)

March

0:34:53 Atilla The Hun – Roosevelt In Trinidad
(Clip from 1937-03-04 FDR Second Inaugural Address)
0:37:43 Benny Goodman Quartet – Bei Mir Bist Du Schon – Part 2
0:38:33 Andrews Sisters – Bei Mir Bist Du Schon
(Clip from 1937-03-18 MBS Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club)
0:42:02 Cootie Williams (Ellington) – Pigeons And Peppers
(Clip from 1937-03-18 MBS Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club)
0:45:26 Billie Holiday – My Man
(Clip from The Shadow – Circle Of Death)
0:48:41 Robert Johnson – Me And The Devil Blues (Take 2)
(Clip from Marked Woman)
0:51:11 Artie Shaw – Blues Part 1
(Clip from A Day At The Races)

April

0:53:07 Peetie Wheatstraw – Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp
(Clip from The Cinnamon Bear)
0:55:40 Count Basie – Exactly Like You
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
0:58:33 Ciro Rimac – Yo Me Ba
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
1:01:40 Kucuk Nezihe Hanim And Sukru Tunar – Agladim Aci Cektim
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
1:03:29 Michel Warlop – Taj Mahal (Orchestre + Django Reinhardt)
(Clip from 1937-04-19 PTT General Franco Cree La Phalange Espagnole a Salamanque)
1:07:02 Secco’s Gitano’s – Hora
(Clip from A Day At The Races)
1:09:10 Hoosier Hot Shots – Goofus

May

(Clip from Maytime)
1:11:57 Vanvakaris Markos – Taksimi Zeimpekiko
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
(Clip from 1937-05-06 WLS Hindenberg Disaster Herbert Morrison)
1:15:31 Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith & Leigh Harline – Magic Mirror
(Clip from 1937-05 RRG Cpt Hans von Schiller – Lakehurst Memorial Service)
1:16:36 Marlene Dietrich – Lili Marlene
(Clip of Charles Laughton)
1:18:19 The Caresser – Edward The VII
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:20:18 Executor – Reign Of The Georges
(Clip of Charles Laughton)
1:21:51 Fats Waller – Tea For Two
(Clip of 1937-05-20 Tommy Woodrooffe on a Royal Navy Fleet Review)
1:25:15 Django Reinhardt – Swing Guitars

June

1:26:19 Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith & Leigh Harline – I’m Wishing
1:27:34 Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers – Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
(Clip from Pathe Gazette Presents The Derby 1937)
1:30:08 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Right Or Wrong
(Clip from Saratoga)
1:33:07 Harlem Hamfats – Root Hog Or Die
(Clip from Meet the Girl who Became a Man, Australian Cinesound newsreel)
1:35:17 Sosyete Boumba, Marileanne Joseph – Ezili Si Ou Mande Manje, Map Bayou Li
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:36:38 Septeto Anacaona – Oh! Marambé Maramba
(Clip from Angel)
1:37:26 Peter Kreuder – Shall We Dance (Solisten)

July

(Clip from On The Air)
1:39:02 Rex Stewart And His 52nd Street Stompers – Back Room Romp
(Clip from Easy Living)
1:41:58 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – Sun Showers
(Clip from 1937-07-09 Red Barber – Joe Dimaggio Radio Call)
1:45:19 Ink Spots – Swing High, Swing Low
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:46:56 T. V. Ramaswami Sastrigal, Vikatam Vidwan, Thiruvisalur – Sky Lark Squirrel Country Oil Mill Red Bird
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:47:18 Elsie Carlisle – So Many Memories
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:48:41 Loumé Fréice Of The Sosyete Viyolon – En Avant Simple
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:49:14 Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Boléro

August

(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:52:16 Akasaka Koume – Asama No Kemuri
(Clip from Song at Midnight)
1:53:50 Zhou Xuan – When Will You Return?
(Clip From 1937-08-27 NBC KGU Interviews With Refugees From China Sino-Japanese War)
1:55:40 Koichi Sugii – Setsu Kagoshima Ohara
1:58:39 Amaunalik K’âvigak’ – Song In A Fable
1:58:48 Raymond Scott – War Dance For Wooden Indians
(Clip from The Shadow 37-11-28 Circle Of Death)
(Clip from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs)
2:01:51 Count Basie – Boogie Woogie
(Clip from Dead End)
2:04:57 Jones-Smith Incorporated – Shoe Shine Boy

September

(Clip from Dime a Dance)
2:08:02 Nadezhda Zlateva – Slushai Malka Mome
2:09:59 Maurice Jaubert – Dream Sequence from Un Carnet De Bal
2:12:53 Charles Trenet – Je Chante
2:15:23 Josephine Baker – Toc Toc Partout (+ Rogers)
2:17:30 Lou Bandy – Conference Vakantie
2:17:49 Rina Ketty – Le Clocher D’ Amour
(Clip from Pepe le Moko)
2:19:07 Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Mabel

October

2:23:13 William Butler Yeats – The Lake Isle of Innisfree
2:24:20 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 4, E Flat Major, Op 7 Largo, Con Gran Espressione
2:26:24 Virginia Woolf – The Recorded Voice Of Virginia Woolf
2:26:45 Carroll Gibbons – There’s A Lull In My Life (Vocal – Anne Lenner)
(Clip from 1937-10-12 NBC Fireside Address FDR)
2:29:42 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Chicago
(Clip from 1937-10-13 CBS Benny Goodman Live from the Hotel Pennsylvania)
2:33:24 Benny Goodman Quartet – Avalon
(Clip from Dime a Dance)
2:36:10 Rof Acuff – Steel Guitar Blues
(Clip from 1937-10-22 NBC Ben Davis Jr)
2:39:36 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – When I Get Low I Get High
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
(Clip of Amelia Earhart On The Future Of Women In Flying)
(Clip from Krazy’s Race of Time)
2:42:34 The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – Golden Gate Gospel Train

November

2:45:03 Robert Johnson – Love In Vain Blues (Take 1)
(Clip from Angel)
2:47:32 Kemani Nubar – Bahriye Cifte Telli
(Clip from 1937-11-20 NBCB Believe it or Not Colonel Stoopnagle)
2:49:20 Markos Vamvakaris – Oli I Rembetes Tu Dunia
(Clip from One Hundred Men and a Girl)
2:51:42 Patsy Montana – I Wanna Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart
(Clip from Lost Horizon)
2:53;34 Group Of Haitian Men And Women, Saul Polinice, Louis Marseille, Ciceron Marseille – Papa Legba Ouvri Baryè-A
2:54:16 W.M. Stepp – Bonaparte’s Retreat
(Clip from Around The Corner – How Differential Steering Works)
2:56:00 Big Joe Williams – Rooting Ground Hog
(Clip from Way Out West)
(Clip from A Star Is Born)
(Clip from Stage Door)
(Clip from Marked Woman)
(Clip from Easy Living)
(Clip from Young & Innocent)
(Clip from Nothing Sacred)
(Clip from A Damsel In Distress)
(Clip from You Only Live Once)
(Clip from A Day At The Races)
(Clip from The Hurriicane)
(Clip from The Good Earth)
3:00:31 Yenz’ Inqab’ Intombi (Zulu; South Africa) – Evening Birds

December

(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:01:57 Roy Rogers – Cowboy Night Herd Song
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:03:40 George Formby – Hi Tiddley Hi Ti Island
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:05:29 Bing Crosby – Sweet Lelani
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:08:10 Teddy Weatherford – Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Piano Solo)
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:10:20 A Jam Session At Victor – Honeysuckle Rose
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:13:25 Willie ‘ The Lion ‘ Smith – I’m All Out Of Breath
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:16:08 Michel Warlop – Christmas Swing (+ Django Reinhardt & Louis Vola)
(Clip of NBC chimes)

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for February and March. For the full 3.5-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

As we journey through the 20th century, another parallel progression is taking place. In the now little remembered days of, 1901, this project involved collecting whatever meagre heavily-mediated artefacts survived and trying to knit them together into a narrative which felt like it made sense. For the long-forgotten years of the Edwardian era, this made sense, but as the devastation of the First World War started, the inadequacy of the sources available became suddenly stark. Who were these dance bands playing hot ragtime, and why were they so completely oblivious to the events going on in Europe? There was a forced myopia, and we just had to put up with it.

But then we had jazz, blues, country, electrical recordings, sound films, radio, newsreels; all expanding the pool of available sounds, cross-fertilizing, widening the pallet. As you know, of course, another war is now approaching. Perhaps it would be hyperbole to say the distant rumbles can be felt throughout these recordings, perhaps this is all in my interpretation and in yours, but this mix does feel to me like a picture of a year, not just a picture of a year’s music.

This, naturally, adds complications. I know very little of the lives of the musicians featured so far. Their contribution has been the joy their music can bring, and at this distant a perspective everything else about their lives – though likely very interesting – is not relevant to the project. This mix, on the other hand, includes the voices of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. To leave them out entirely would be to paint a sanitised picture of the year, but it is vital not to let them set the agenda. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to present them each briefly, with appropriate mournfulness or mockery. I can’t promise that I’ve always achieved this as well as I would like, but I promise I have tried.

This tracklisting has been divided up month-by month in order to be more easily digestible.

January – Swing Is Here

0:00:00 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clips from 1936-01-03 Opening Day of 74th Congress)
0:00:34 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from My Man Godfrey)
(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)
0:02:21 Gene Krupa – Swing Is Here (+ Benny Goodman)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:05:16 Ink Spots – Stompin’ At The Savoy
0:06:17 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
0:08:28 Memphis Minnie – New Orleans Stop Time
0:11:21 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Steel Guitar Rag
0:14:08 Ciro Rimacs Rumba-Orchester – Maxixe-Carioca

February – Nightmail

(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
0:15:58 Lion – Four Mills Brothers
(Clip from Le Vrai Jeu)
0:18:41 Charles Trenet – Tout Est Au Duc
(Clip from Anthony Adverse)
0:20:56 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Limehouse Blues
0:23:38 W. H. Auden – On This Island
0:24:27 Benjamin Britten, Stuart Legg and John Grierson – Nightmail
0:27:35 The Benny Goodman Quartet – Tiger Rag (Take 1)
(Clip from Cain & Mabel)
0:30:37 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:32:24 Jones-Smith Incorporated – Lady Be Good
0:35:29 Slim & Slam – The Flat Foot Floogie

March – There May Be Trouble Ahead

0:38:15 Robert Johnson – Cross Road Blues (Take 2)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:41:18 Fred Astaire – Let’s Face The Music And Dance (Soundtrack)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:43:27 Barney Bigard And His Jazzopaters – Caravan
(Clip from 1936-03-07 PTT Albert Sarrault Proteste Contre Loccupation De La Rhenanie)
0:44:27 Josephine Baker – Mayari
0:46:20 Sukru Tunar – Suzinak Taksim
0:47:05 Sukru Tunar – Karslama
(Clip from 1936-03-xx Winston Churchill – The Loaded Pause)
0:49:09 Ramadan Lolov – Orientalski Kyuchek
(Clip from 1936-03-19 NBC ATMOTA – The Supreme Court and the Constitution)
0:50:49 Milton Brown – Somebody’s Been Using That Thing
(Clip from Pathe Review of 1936)

April – Will the Machine Dominate Man?

0:52:37 Phil Green – Nobody’s Sweetheart (Ballyhooligans)
(Clip from 1936-04-02 NBC ATMOTA – Will Unionization Promote Industrial Recovery)
0:54:31 Kōichi Sugii – Kiso Takashi
0:57:15 Walter De La Mare – Nod
0:58:15 Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseeans – Great Speckled Bird
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:00:14 Lonnie Glosson – Arkansas Hard Luck Blues
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:03:11 Harlem Hamfats – Weed Smoker’s Dream
(Clip from 1936-04-17 PTT Maurice Thorez)
1:06:31 Edith Piaf – Je Suis Mordue
(Clip from John Wayne in The Lawless Nineties)
1:08:10 Sri Ma Keow & Chai Wat – Courting The Woman From Chiang Mai

May – Play Faster!

(Gennett Sound Effects – Rainfall and Thunder)
(Clip from 1936-05-01 Adolf Hitler Speech at Krupp Factory in Germany)
1:09:18 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Benito Mussolini – Vincere)
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Reports End Of Ethiopian War)
1:10:03 Pablo Casals – Excerpt from Suite No. 2 In D Minor
(Clip of Spencer Tracy in Fury)
1:10:59 Anestis Delias – Sura Ke Mastura
(Clip of Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl)
1:13:00 Septeto Anacaona – Despúes Que Sufras
(Clip from Dodsworth)
1:16:02 Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis – Celeste Blues
(Clip from Camile)
1:18:03 Mary Lou Williams – Corny Rhythm
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
1:21:15 Albert Ammons – Nagasaki
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)
1:23:05 Little Brother Montgomery – Farish Street Jive
1:24:23 W. H. Auden – May

June – Red Hot

1:25:17 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – Pennies From Heaven
(Clip from After The Thin Man)
1:28:35 Georgia White – Get ’em From The Peanut Man (Hot Nuts)
(Clip from 1936-06-12 Alfred M Landon Speech)
1:30:25 Fats Waller & His Rhythm – It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:34:54 Louis Armstrong – Mahogany Hall Stomp
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:13:16 Bo Carter – Cigarette Blues
1:39:34 Robert Johnson – They’re Red Hot
(Clip from Rembrandt)
1:41:07 Lil Johnson – Sam The Hot Dog Man
(Clip from Tarzan Escapes)
1:43:12 Lead Belly – Pig Meat Papa
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)

July – Now You’re Singing With A Swing

1:44:34 Jesse James – Southern Casey Jones
(Clip from Green Pastures)
1:46:41 Hall Negro Quartet – I’ve Heard Of A City Called Heaven
1:47:30 Elder Otis Jones – O Lord I’m Your Child
1:49:30 Mahmut Celalettin And Udi Marko – Yuzu Pembe
(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)
1:50:44 Cuarteto Marcano – Sucedio Lo Que Tenia Que Suceder
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
1:52:39 Billie Holiday – Summertime
(Clip from 1936-06-30 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia – Addresses League of Nations)
(Clip from Ten Year Old Boy Pilot)
1:55:50 Benny Goodman – Bugle Call Rag
(Clip from Mr Deeds Goes to Town)
1:58:48 Louis Prima And His New Orleans Gang – Sing, Sing, Sing
2:00:40 RCA – First Television Broadcast July 7, 1936

August – Quite Beyond the Reach of Young Women

2:04:28 Benny Goodman Trio – Tiger Rag
(Clip from 1936-07-28 DRF Jessie Owens Interview)
2:06:54 Johnny Rodríguez Y Su Orchestra – Mulatica
(Clip from 1936-07-31 RRG Radio – Olympic Fire Handed Over At The Czech-German Border)
2:10:01 Karlo – Vladaisko Horo
(Clip from 1936-08-16 Olympic Sports In Berlin)
2:11:59 Stuff Smith Onyx Club Boys – I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music
(Clip from 1936-08-16 Olympic Sports In Berlin)
(Clip fom 1936-xx-xx RRG Edgar Stahff – The Olympic Games And Foreign Germans)
2:14:50 Andy Kirk & his Twelve Clouds – Lotta Sax Appeal
(Clip from Sabotage)
2:18:08 King Radio – Texilia
(Clip from The World’s Tallest Man Robert Wadlow)
2:19:39 George Formby – When I’m Cleaning Windows
2:21:18 George Formby – Quickfire Medley
(Clip from Winterset)

September – My Hours Are Slumberless

2:21:42 Teddy Wilson – Blues In C Sharp
(Clip from 1936-08-30 Franklin D. Roosevelt – I Hate War Speech)
2:25:03 Hal Kemp – Gloomy Sunday
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx Leon Trotsky – On Stalins Moscow Trials)
2:27:36 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – On Germany)
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – Will Do His Duty)
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – Workers Paradise)
2:28:42 Walter De La Mare – Song Of Shadows
2:29:15 Barney Bigard (Duke Ellington) – Clouds In My Heart
(Clip from Pathe Review of 1936)
2:31:16 Stellio Et Son Orchestre Creole – Encore Cinq Minutes Veux-Tu!
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx BBC Chamberlain On Tax Hikes For Armaments)
2:32:47 Ink Spots – Christopher Columbus
2:34:28 Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers – The Gypsy

October – Vote For Mr Rhythm

(Clip from 1936-10-01 FDR Speech DNC Pittsburgh)
2:38:02 Chick Webb And His Orchestra – Vote For Mr. Rhythm
(Clip from 1936-10-02 WCFL City Series Game 2 Chicago Cubs vs Chicago White Sox)
2:40:41 Riki Miyagawa – Yume Miru Kokoro
(Clip from 1936-10-03 NBC World Series Game 3 NY Giants vs NY Yankees)
2:42:46 The Spirits Of Rhythm – My Old Man
2:44:28 Putney Dandridge – Skeleton In The Closet
(Clip from Hra Bublinek)
2:45:48 Márkos Vamvakáris – Mávra Mátia Mávra Frýdia
(Clip from Mon Père avait raison)
2:47:04 Charles Trenet – Vous Oubliez Votre Cheval
(Clip from 1936-10-28 FDR Fiftieth Anniversary Of Statue Of Liberty)
2:48:46 Georges Boulanger – La Trioletta7
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
2:50:20 Lew Childre – It Don’t Do Nothing But Rain
(Clip from 1936-10-31 Franklin D. Roosevelt – I Welcome Their Hatred)

November – Isn’t Jazz Just A Lot Of Noise?

2:52:23 J.E. Mainer’s Mountaineers – John Henry Was A Little Boy
(Clip from 1936-10-31 Houdinis Final Seance)
2:54:09 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Rusty And Dusty
(Clip from 1936-11-02 The First BBC Programme)
2:56:03 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Basin Street Blues
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA)
(Clip from 1936-11-16 Winston Churchill – The Causes of War)
3:00:10 Hackberry Ramblers – J’ai Pas Bien Fey
(Clip from 1936-11-30 British Pathe – Crystal Palace Fire Aka Great Fire Destroys Crystal Palace)
3:01:46 Marian Anderson – Heav’n, Heav’n
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:02:43 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:06:18 Duke Ellington – In A Sentimental Mood
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:07:56 Mahmut Celalettin – Neva Ussak Gazel
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)

December – No Regrets

3:09:45 Orchestre Del’s Jazz Biguine – Nain Cochon
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:12:45 Mildred Bailey – Long About Midnight
(Clip from 1936-12-11 King Edward VIII – Abdication Speech)
3:16:30 Blind Boy Fuller – I’m A Rattlesnakin’ Daddy
(Clip from Alastair Cooke on Katherine Hepburn)
3:18:13 Tino Rossi – Le Mur De Ton Jardin
3:21:10 W. H. Auden – A Bride in the 30’s
3:23:06 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from 1936-12-29 MBS First Coast To Coast Broadcast)
3:24:42 Futaba Akiko & Columbia Rhythm Boys – Biroudo No Tsuki
(Clip from The Petrified Forest)
3:27:07 Billie Holiday – No Regrets

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is a sample of the mix for 1936, and includes the section for January only. To hear the rest of the mix, come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound, where I will be releasing the mix in two parts for $5 and above patrons, or come to centuriesofsound.com, where the entire mix will be streamable from the 14th of June 2021. Thanks to all of my patrons who have so far kept this show going, ad-free, through the first 75 years of sound recording.

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

January

0:00:00 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clips from 1936-01-03 Opening Day of 74th Congress)
0:00:34 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from My Man Godfrey)
(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)
0:02:21 Gene Krupa – Swing Is Here (+ Benny Goodman)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:05:16 Ink Spots – Stompin’ At The Savoy
0:06:17 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
0:08:28 Memphis Minnie – New Orleans Stop Time
0:11:21 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Steel Guitar Rag
0:14:08 Ciro Rimacs Rumba-Orchester – Maxixe-Carioca

February

(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
0:15:58 Lion – Four Mills Brothers
(Clip from Le Vrai Jeu)
0:18:41 Charles Trenet – Tout Est Au Duc
(Clip from Anthony Adverse)
0:20:56 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Limehouse Blues
0:23:38 W. H. Auden – On This Island
0:24:27 Benjamin Britten, Stuart Legg and John Grierson – Nightmail
0:27:35 The Benny Goodman Quartet – Tiger Rag (Take 1)
(Clip from Cain & Mabel)
0:30:37 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:32:24 Jones-Smith Incorporated – Lady Be Good
0:35:29 Slim & Slam – The Flat Foot Floogie

March

0:38:15 Robert Johnson – Cross Road Blues (Take 2)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:41:18 Fred Astaire – Let’s Face The Music And Dance (Soundtrack)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:43:27 Barney Bigard And His Jazzopaters – Caravan
(Clip from 1936-03-07 PTT Albert Sarrault Proteste Contre Loccupation De La Rhenanie)
0:44:27 Josephine Baker – Mayari
0:46:20 Sukru Tunar – Suzinak Taksim
0:47:05 Sukru Tunar – Karslama
(Clip from 1936-03-xx Winston Churchill – The Loaded Pause)
0:49:09 Ramadan Lolov – Orientalski Kyuchek
(Clip from 1936-03-19 NBC ATMOTA – The Supreme Court and the Constitution)
0:50:49 Milton Brown – Somebody’s Been Using That Thing
(Clip from Pathe Review of 1936)

April

0:52:37 Phil Green – Nobody’s Sweetheart (Ballyhooligans)
(Clip from 1936-04-02 NBC ATMOTA – Will Unionization Promote Industrial Recovery)
0:54:31 Kōichi Sugii – Kiso Takashi
0:57:15 Walter De La Mare – Nod
0:58:15 Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseeans – Great Speckled Bird
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:00:14 Lonnie Glosson – Arkansas Hard Luck Blues
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:03:11 Harlem Hamfats – Weed Smoker’s Dream
(Clip from 1936-04-17 PTT Maurice Thorez)
1:06:31 Edith Piaf – Je Suis Mordue
(Clip from John Wayne in The Lawless Nineties)
1:08:10 Sri Ma Keow & Chai Wat – Courting The Woman From Chiang Mai

May

(Gennett Sound Effects – Rainfall and Thunder)
(Clip from 1936-05-01 Adolf Hitler Speech at Krupp Factory in Germany)
1:09:18 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Benito Mussolini – Vincere)
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Reports End Of Ethiopian War)
1:10:03 Pablo Casals – Excerpt from Suite No. 2 In D Minor
(Clip of Spencer Tracy in Fury)
1:10:59 Anestis Delias – Sura Ke Mastura
(Clip of Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl)
1:13:00 Septeto Anacaona – Despúes Que Sufras
(Clip from Dodsworth)
1:16:02 Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis – Celeste Blues
(Clip from Camile)
1:18:03 Mary Lou Williams – Corny Rhythm
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
1:21:15 Albert Ammons – Nagasaki
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)
1:23:05 Little Brother Montgomery – Farish Street Jive
1:24:23 W. H. Auden – May

June

1:25:17 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – Pennies From Heaven
(Clip from After The Thin Man)
1:28:35 Georgia White – Get ’em From The Peanut Man (Hot Nuts)
(Clip from 1936-06-12 Alfred M Landon Speech)
1:30:25 Fats Waller & His Rhythm – It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:34:54 Louis Armstrong – Mahogany Hall Stomp
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:13:16 Bo Carter – Cigarette Blues
1:39:34 Robert Johnson – They’re Red Hot
(Clip from Rembrandt)
1:41:07 Lil Johnson – Sam The Hot Dog Man
(Clip from Tarzan Escapes)
1:43:12 Lead Belly – Pig Meat Papa
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)

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

“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.

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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)