Lulu's Back in Town

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lulu's Back in Town is a pop song written by Al Dubin (lyrics) and Harry Warren (music) and released in 1935. It is also considered a jazz standard .

History of origin

The song Lulu's Back in Town was used in the 1935 musical film Broadway Gondolier , where it was sung by Dick Powell and the Mills Brothers , and as the theme song for the Warner Brothers short animated film Buddy the Gee Man .

Features of the song

The riff- based melody, written by Harry Warren, borrows from the song Sweet Georgia Brown at the beginning of the verse . Similar to other Dubin-Warren songs such as About a Quarter to Nine (1935) applies Lulu's Back in Town "lively and energetic" as ( active and energetic ):

Fats Waller 1938
Gotta get my old tuxedo pressed,
Gotta sew a button on my vest,
'Cause tonight I've gotta look my best,
Lulu's back in town .

Lulu's Back in Town contains the line

You can tell all my pets, all my Harlem coquettes,
Mister Otis regrets, that he won't be aroun '

which can be understood as an homage to the macabre Cole Porter song Miss Otis Regrets from 1934.

Reception history

The song Lulu's Back in Town became popular in the United States primarily through the version by Fats Waller (Victor 25063), which the pianist recorded for Victor Records on May 8, 1935 and reached position 8 on the US charts. The song recorded by Dick Powell on June 21, 1935 appeared on Brunswick Records under the film title Lonely Gondolier (Brunswick 7468); also at Brunswick the song was published in the version of the Mills Brothers (Brunswick 9892). In 1935 the song was also recorded by Wingy Manone , Chick Bullock , Bob Howard / Teddy Hill , Bert Ambrose , Ted Fiorito and Art Tatum .

From the 1940s, Lulu's Back in Town developed numerous cover versions in jazz and swing , making the song a popular jazz standard ; the discographer Tom Lord lists 223 versions of the song. He took u. a. Frank Sinatra (1945), Leon Redbone , Bobby Troup , The Four Freshmen and The Hi-Lo’s , as well as instrumental versions a. a. by Ruby Braff , Dave Brubeck , Les Brown , the Dutch Swing College Band , Don Ewell , Erroll Garner , Benny Goodman , Jim Hall , Earl Hines , Johnny Mercer , Jimmy Rowles , Pete Rugolo , Pee Wee Russell , George Shearing , Jimmy Smith and Ralph Sutton . The pianist Thelonious Monk recorded Lulu's Back in Town several times, as a soloist and most recently on his European tours in 1966/67 as a quartet. Mel Tormé was successful with the song in 1956 with Marty Paich and the re-formed Mel-Tones . In 1981, Marian McPartland and Dick Wellstood played him in a duo on the NPR program Radio Jazz ; in later years the standard was reinterpreted by pianists Dave McKenna (1992), Jessica Williams (2003) and Aki Takase (with Rudi Mahall , 2008).

The song was also sung by the character Tony in early episodes of Sesame Street ( Lulu is back ). The song was used as film music. a. also in the comedy film Abgedannt (2008).

Lulu's Back in Town was also the title of a BBC music show named after British singer Lulu .

Web links

  • Inclusion in the catalog of the German National Library: DNB 359415210

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information at Jazzstandards.com
  2. ↑ Directed by Lloyd Bacon , EY Harburg was one of the scriptwriters . In addition to Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Adolphe Menjou appeared in the leading roles. See. Broadway Gondolier in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  3. ↑ This version was arranged by George Roumanis; See Swing! Here and Now: 3rd Trumpet , 2001, p. 8
  4. ↑ a b Information on the film version (1935) in Jazz Lives
  5. ^ Philip Furia: American Song Lyricists, 1920-1960 , 2002, p. 120
  6. ↑ The B-side of the 78s contained the Dubin-Warren song Sweet and Slow .
  7. ↑ a b Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed December 2, 2013)
  8. ^ Gerhard Klußmeier : Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner notes and booklet for the 100 CD edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4
  9. ^ Scott Yanow : Jazz on Record: The First Sixty Years , p. 515
  10. ↑ The song appeared on the album Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-tette (1956)
  11. ↑ MUPPET WIKI: Lulu's Back in Town
  12. ↑ Information in Allmusic
  13. ↑ Lulu's Back in Town on wunschliste.de, accessed on May 8, 2019.