Blame It on My Youth (song)
Blame It on My Youth is a song composed in 1934 by the American composer Oscar Levant . The lyrics are from the American songwriter Edward Heyman . The song was first recorded in 1934 by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra. Since its debut, the song has been interpreted by numerous artists and has become a jazz standard.
background
Oscar Levant, the song's composer, composed numerous popular songs between 1929 and 1948. Blame It on My Youth was one of his most famous and successful songs. He has also written the music for more than twenty films. Levant was not only a composer, he has also made a name for himself as a concert pianist and actor.
Edward Heyman was a songwriter on Tin Pan Alley and a musical librettist for Broadway . Besides Blame It on My Youth , he was the songwriter for the songs Out of Nowhere (1931), Rain, Rain, Go Away (1932), I Cover the Waterfront (1933), I Wanna Be Loved (1933), Easy Come, Easy Go (1934), They Say (1938), Strange Love (1946) and When I Fall in Love (1952). He was also one of the songwriters of the famous jazz standard Body and Soul (1930).
Blame It on My Youth was first recorded on October 25th by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra and released as a single by Brunswick Records . The American Freddy Martin was a tenor saxophonist and one of the most successful band leaders of the dance band era. He had his breakthrough in the mid-1930s, not least through hits like Blame It on My Youth .
Development to the jazz standard
After its first release, the song was first covered by some other big bands, such as Jan Garber and His Orchestra (1934). In the mid-1950s, the interpretation of the song by jazz musicians took off. For example, recordings of the song by Ann Gilbert and the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra (1956), by Frank Sinatra (1957), by Nat King Cole (1957) and by Rosemary Clooney (1958) have appeared. The song has been a popular jazz standard since the early 1960s.
Versions of the song
Original version
The following version is shown as the original version at SecondHandSongs:
| Year of admission | Artist | Album / single |
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Freddy Martin and His Orchestra | single |
Selection of cover versions
A search for the song in the SecondHandSongs music database lists 128 versions of the song, Allmusic knows almost 350 versions and Discogs has almost 750 versions. A small selection of the available versions based on the music databases mentioned is shown in the following two tables:
vocal
| Year of admission | Artist | Album / single |
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Jan Garber and His Orchestra | single |
| 1935 | Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra | single |
| 1954 | Janet Brace | single |
| 1955 | Chris Connor | This is Chris |
| 1956 | Don Heller | Blame It on My Youth |
| 1956 | Ann Gilbert, Elliot Lawrence Orchestra | The Many Moods of Ann |
| 1956 | Mabel Mercer | Midnight at Mabel Mercer's |
| 1957 | Frank Sinatra , Nelson Riddle , The Hollywood String Quartet | Close to you |
| 1957 | Nat King Cole and His Trio | After midnight |
| 1958 | Rosemary Clooney | Young at Heart |
| 1958 | Connie Stevens | Conchetta |
| 1959 | Connie Francis | The Exciting Connie Francis |
| 1960 | Buddy Greco | Songs for Swinging Losers |
| 1960 | Jeri Southern | Jeri Southern at the Crescendo |
| 1961 | Sammy Davis Jr. | The Wham of Sam |
| 1961 | Ann-Margret | And Here She Is |
| 1962 | James Darren | Love Among the Young |
| 1962 | Vic Dana | Warm & Wild |
| 1962 | Julie London | Sophisticated lady |
| 1962 | Kevin Gavin, orchestra conducted by Mundell Lowe | Hey This is Kevin Gavin |
| 1964 | Keely Smith | The Intimate Keely Smith |
| 1964 | Carmen McRae | Second to None |
| 1965 | Gloria Lynne | Intimate moments |
| 1971 | Carmen McRae | Carmens's gold |
| 1977 | Max Kaminsky | When Summer Is Gone |
| 1978 | Meredith D'Ambrosio | Lost in His Arms |
| 1986 | Lucy Crane with Hank Jones , Marc Johnson , Grady Tate | This is always |
| 1986 | Michael Feinstein | Live at the Algonquin |
| 1988 | Bob Dorough - Special Guest Art Farmer | Songs of Love |
| 1989 | Chet Baker | Chet Baker Sings and Plays |
| 1990 | Margaret Whiting - Special Guest Gerry Mulligan | Then and Now |
| 1992 | Ian Shaw | Ghost songs |
| 1993 | Holly Cole Trio | Don't Smoke in Bed |
| 1993 | Martha Miyake | Sophisticated lady |
| 1994 | Mike Campbell | Loving Friends |
| 1995 | Karrin Allyson | Azure-Té |
| 1995 | Lisa Ekdahl - Peter Nordahl Trio | When Did You Leave Heaven |
| 1995 | Kenny Rankin | Professional dreamer |
| 1997 | Julie Budd | Pure imagination |
| 1997 | Paul Vornhagen | Parisian Protocol |
| 1998 | Donna Antonov | Out of Nowhere |
| 1999 | Jim Ferguson | Not just another pretty bass |
| 1999 | Lemuel West | In Good Comany - The New York Sessions |
| 2001 | Jane Monheit | Come Dream with Me |
| 2001 | Solveig Slettahjell | Slow Motion Orchestra |
| 2001 | Viktoria Tolstoy | Blame It on My Youth |
| 2003 | Jamie Cullum | Twentysomething |
| 2003 | Aaron Neville | Nature Boy: The Standards Album |
| 2004 | Eden Atwood | This Is Always - The Ballad Session |
| 2004 | Nancy Wilson with George Shearing | RSVP - Rare Songs, Very Personal |
| 2005 | Barbara Rosene | All my life |
| 2005 | Fay Claassen | Fay Claassen Sings Two Portraits of Chet Baker |
| 2005 | John B. Williams, Llew Matthews, Roy McCurdy | Gratitude |
| 2006 | Julie Christensen | Something familiar |
| 2006 | Paulien van Schaik & Hein Van de Geyn with strings | Musing |
| 2006 | Barbara Lea with the Loren Schoenberg Big Band | Black Butterfly |
| 2008 | Betty Buckley with Kenny Werner | Quintessence |
| 2008 | Matt Belsante | Blame It on My Youth |
| 2009 | Cheryl Fisher | Moments Like This |
| 2010 | Hanne Boel featuring Carsten Dahl | I think it's going to rain |
| 2011 | Carol Vasquez | I have dreamed |
| 2011 | Jacqui Dankworth | It happens quietly |
| 2012 | Arlene Bardelle | Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow |
| 2012 | Cyrus Chestnut / Maddy Winer | Heart to Heart |
| 2013 | Lola Hague | Here I Go Again ... |
| 2013 | Kathleen Grace | No place to fall |
| 2014 | Nick Ziobro | A Lot of Livin 'to Do |
| 2014 | Jackie Allen | My Favorite Color |
Instrumental
| Year of admission | Artist | Album / single |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | The Piano Magic of Andre Previn combined with The Lush Strings of David Rose | Secret Songs for Young Lovers |
| 1958 | The George Shearing Quintet | Burnished Brass |
| 1959 | The Eddie Bonnemere Trio | Piano Bon Bons by Bonnemere |
| 1960 | Hank Garland | Velvet Guitar |
| 1975 | Charlie Byrd | Top hat |
| 1976 | Bob Wilber - Guest Artist Charlie Byrd | New Clarinet in Town |
| 1979 | The Super Jazz Trio with Art Farmer | Something Tasty |
| 1979 | Tommy Flanagan & Kenny Barron | Together |
| 1981 | Gary Burton Quartet | Easy as pie |
| 1982 | Barry Kiener | Live at Strathallan |
| 1983 | Art Farmer with Tommy Flanagan | Something Tasty |
| 1983 | Keith Jarrett Trio | Standards Vol. 2 |
| 1984 | Bucky & John Pizzarelli | Swinging Sevens |
| 1988 | Ken Peplowski | Double exposure |
| 1988 | The Art Farmer Quartet | Blame It on My Youth |
| 1989 | Howard Alden / Jack Lesberg | No Amps Allowed |
| 1990 | Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers | One for all |
| 1991 | Keith Jarrett , Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette | The Cure |
| 1993 | Ulf Wakenius Group | First step |
| 1993 | Larry Gray | Solo + Quartet |
| 1994 | Eugene Maslov with Ben Street and George Schuller | Autumn in New York |
| 1996 | Bob Barnard | Bob Barnard in Sweden - Cornet Chop Suey |
| 1997 | Brad Mehldau | The Art of the Trio - Volume One |
| 1997 | Frank Strazzeri | Nobody Else but Me |
| 1998 | Tom Talbert Orchestra | This Is Living! |
| 1999 | Keith Jarrett | The Melody at Night, with You |
| 2001 | The Carsten Dahl Trio | Minor meeting |
| 2001 | NajPonk | Just about love |
| 2001 | Michiel Borstlap | Gramercy Park |
| 2001 | Ross Tompkins | Younger Than Springtime - Arbors Piano Series, Volume 9 |
| 2001 | Kenny Drew, Jr. Trio and Wallace Roney | Remembrance |
| 2002 | Eddie Higgins Trio | Dear Old Stockholm |
| 2003 | Terell Stafford | New Beginnings |
| 2004 | John Hart Trio | Indivisible |
| 2005 | The New Sound Quartet ( Joe Locke , Geoffrey Keezer ) | Summertime |
| 2011 | Wayne Hawkins, Karyn Quinn, Todd Strait | Great Days |
| 2012 | Nat Reeves | State of Emergency |
| 2013 | Paolo Fresu Devil Quartet | Desertico |
| 2014 | Steve Davis , Jay Oliver , William Lenihan | A moment in time |
Use in film and television
The song was the soundtrack in the following films:
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999, played by Brad Mehldau)
- The Carol Burnett Show - Episode # 7.20 (1974, played by Bernadette Peters)
- Let's Get Lost (1988, played by Chet Baker)
- Let it be me (1995, sung by Frank Sinatra)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Blame It on My Youth at www.jazzstandards.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Blame It on My Youth at www.azlyrics.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e Blame It on My Youth at secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ^ Edward Heyman at www.allmusic.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Blame It on My Youth at www.allmusic.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Blame It on My Youth at www.discogs.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Blame It on My Youth as soundtrack at www.imdb.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .