Chicago (That Toddling Town)
Chicago (That Toddling Town) is a song of American popular music in the genre of Tin Pan Alley , which Fred Fisher from Cologne, who emigrated to the USA, composed and wrote in 1922. The title was composed in 1922 by Fisher as a 32-bar piece of music and registered for US copyright through his own music publisher with ASCAP . The song is also considered the jazz standard today .
History of origin
The title Chicago (That Toddling Town) initially - viewed in isolation - does not provide any information about whether the text is a homage or a criticism of the city of Chicago. The term "toddling town" (Engl. Toddle = fluctuate, stagger, waddle) has been and is linguistically not used in the context of a city, and Fisher never contributed to the whitening. Presumably “toddling” is supposed to represent an alliteration on “town”. Looking at the title in isolation, the up-and-coming Chicago can on the one hand be understood as wavering or on the other hand as the ups and downs of a rapidly growing metropolis. At the time the song was written, prohibition prevailed , and the gangs of Al Capone and John Dillinger also dominated the cityscape. Billy Sunday mentioned in the lyrics is an evangelist preacher who praised the infamous Mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson for enforcing the Sunday rest. The song text tells the preacher Billy Sunday that even he could not shut down the city ("Billy Sunday could not shut down"), and only the mayor was able to enforce the closure of the restaurants with his formal power. The alcoholic Thompson first closed the saloons on Sundays in October 1915 and was praised for his courage by Evangelist Billy Sunday. In addition to the large dance halls, the illegal “ speakeasy ” whispered bars increasingly dominated the cityscape, where the illegally imported or illegally produced “ bootleg ” alcohol was served. The text reveals in partially coded form the honor that Fisher gives to his first adopted home. Here you lose your sadness for the first time, there are things on State Street that you do n't know on Broadway in New York, and all visitors want to stay here permanently.
Original recording
It is not certain who recorded the original version of Chicago (That Toddling Town) . The majority of the literature is based on Ben Selvin , who recorded the title in New York in July 1922 as the Ray Collins Orchestra (published November 1922, banner # 1104). With a 5th place on the pop hit parade , it was also the highest ranking of the title of all time. However, the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra's recording for Vocalion (# 14412) was also made in July 1922; it reached number 13 (B-side of Ji Ji Bo ) on the charts.
Cover versions
The song reached print runs in the millions as a sheet of music. A large number of cover versions were recorded as early as the year 1922 . These included versions of Bailey's Lucky Seven (Gennett # 4933; recorded August 17, 1922), the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (recorded August 23, 1922), the original Memphis Five (August 28, 1922), the Jazzbo's Carolina Serenaders (Cameo # 284; October 1922), The Syncopating Seven (Gennett; November 22, 1922) or the Georgians (Columbia # 37751; December 1922). The title made its way to Europe for the first time in April 1923 through the London Original Capitol Orchestra .
In Berlin, the Marek Weber orchestra played the title on August 15, 1923 with Parlophon (P.1534-I, Matr. 2-6413), and Dajos Béla's orchestra on November 1, 1923 with Odeon (AA 79 635, Matr. XxBo 7973, 30 cm) and there and on the same day as “Kapelle Sándor Jozsi” (A 76 273, mat. XBe 3919, 25 cm) on the gramophone record.
Muggsy Spanier recorded another version with his orchestra (Decca # 4168) on January 2, 1942. In 1954, American accordionist John Serry senior arranged the song for accordion quartet and recorded it for RCA Records (RCA Thesaurus, 1954). The many early versions make it clear that Chicago was part of the standard repertoire of the Roaring Twenties , also in Europe.
The song was distributed worldwide by Frank Sinatra , who recorded it on August 13, 1957 in Hollywood (Capitol Tower, Studio A) with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle . It was used as the B-side of All The Way (Capitol # 3193) and reached number 83 on the pop charts on its own. This version of Chicago was used in the movie The Joker Is Wild , which was released on September 26, 1957. Sinatra sang the song very often on his tours, in particular he achieved great success in Chicago itself. On June 6, 1993 Frank Sinatra gave his last European concert in Cologne - Fisher's hometown - as part of his "Diamond Jubilee Tour" on Roncalliplatz which he initiated with Fishers Chicago .
Book and film publishing and statistics
Since the successful Tin Pan Alley song about Chicago, “Toddling Town” has been colloquially associated with Chicago (the official nickname is Windy City ). In 1951, Chicago-born Hugh M. Hefner published That toddlin 'town: A rowdy burlesque of Chicago manners and morals , a cartoon about Chicago as tourists imagine it to be. Charles A. Sengstock used the title That Toddlin 'Town: Chicago's White Dance Bands And Orchestras, 1900-1950 for his 2004 book about the white dance orchestras, theater orchestras and studio bands at the Chicago Jazz and Blues Center. The song was first used in Henry Codman Potter's film The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle , which released in theaters on March 29, 1939. For Fred Fisher, over 180 titles are copyright registered with ASCAP. The Coverinfo database lists 28 versions of the song.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fisher owned since 1907 his own music publisher Fred Fisher Music Publishing Company , through which he had all his own compositions registered.
- ↑ Jazz standards
- ↑ Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, I Got Rhythm - 40 Jazz Evergreens and Their History , 1990, p. 112
- ↑ Gerald Canvas, Mackerals in the Moonlight: Four Corrupt American Mayors , 2004, p. 29 ff.
- ↑ a b Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, I Got Rhythm - 40 Jazz Evergreens and Their History , 1990, p. 117
- ^ The Main Event: Frank Sinatra
- ^ Joel Whitburn, Pop Memories 1890-1954 , 1986, p. 380
- ↑ Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, I Got Rhythm - 40 Jazz Evergreens and Their History , 1990, p. 120
- ↑ Data from Christian Zwarg: PARLOPHON Matrix Numbers - 30173 to 34999: German. PDF on line at phonomuseum.at , p. 131 and ODEON Matrix Numbers - Bo / xxBo 6130 - 9999 (Berlin). PDF on line at phonomuseum.at , p. 83 u. ODEON Matrix Numbers - xBe 250 - 9999 (Berlin), PDF on line at phonomuseum.at , p. 227
- ^ Who Is Who in Music International 1958 . Publisher: Who Is Who In Music International, Chicago, Il, USA, Biographical Files # B11719. Current publisher: International Biographical Center, Cambridgeshire, UK (English)
- ^ John Frayn Turner, Frank Sinatra , 2004, p. 194 f.
- ^ American Libraries: E-Book by Hugh Hefner
- ^ ASCAP entry for Fred Fisher