Music of 1939

Sharing the sounds of the classic big bands

Music of 1939

The Big Band Era


A Monthly Online Journal Discussing America's Most popular Music from 1935 - 1945
Illustrated With Classic Big Band MP3s

Vol VII July 2008 No. 3
In the big band field the year 1939 belonged to Glenn Miller who, beginning in June of that year, had six of the year's twenty-two Number One Charted records. Glenn Miller is represented on others of these pages, so the music of 1939 will be devoted to other bands and personalities who made the year memorable, such as Cab Calloway, Similarly, the big news in 1939 was the outbreak of World War II; however, we will look elsewhere, at some of the year's happier events.

Song Number ONE: On April 30 "The World of Tomorrow" debuted in the New York World's Fair. That month Hal Kemp, who led one of the most popular and the most musical sweet bands of the era, had a hit with this tune, words by Ted Koehler and music by Rube Bloom. The song which had been introduced by Cab Calloway in the World's Fair edition of the Revue: Cotton Club Parade is heard here as sung by Bob Allen. "Don't Worry 'Bout Me."

Song Number TWO: On July 10 the Yankee Clipper landed in London completing the first scheduled passenger flight over the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Cab Calloway leading a band featuring the likes of Chu Berry on tenor and Cozy Cole on drums had his own popular success singing with band accompaniment a song he composed along with Fred Froeba and Jack Palmer." Not a number One Chart hit in 1939, the record never-the-less went on to become a million seller for Cab. "(Hep-Hep) The Jumpin' Jive."

Song Number THREE:, In September, while the World plunged into war, the Bob Crosby band, renowned for it's dixieland sound, had a Number One Chart recording with a ballad sung by former Benny Goodman star vocalist Helen Ward to lyrics by Johnny Mercer and a tune by Rube Bloom. In Philadelphia, Australia defeated the United States to win the tennis' Davis Cup, while in London, perhaps overwhelmed by a world gone mad, the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, succumbed at age 83. "Day In - Day Out."

Song Number FOUR: Shortly after Christmas 1939 Jack Teagarden's contract with Paul Whiteman ran out. The renowned jazz trombonist was ready to begin a band leading career as his lesser known contemporary Glenn Miller had done. This recording with vocal by "Tea" and Meredith Blake is one of the more successful products of that failed effort. Charted in June 1939, the tenth of that month found the King and Queen of England visiting the New York Worlds' Fair. Introduced in 1922 during the hey day of the original Sheik, Rudolph Valentino, this song with words by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler to music by Ted Snyder was popularized by the Club Royal Orchestra. "Sheik Of Araby."

Song Number FIVE: On December 15 the film Gone With The Wind opened to public and critical acclaim winning a record ten Academy Awards. By Christmas, Tommy Dorsey and Vocalist Jack Leonard had a Number One Chart Record with this song which was written in 1919 by Victor Herbert for piano and titled "An American Idyll." Al Dubin added the lyric 20 years later, paying homage to the romance of "Indian Summer."

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