Me and My Shadow
Me and My Shadow is a song written by Al Jolson , Dave Dreyer (music) and Billy Rose (lyrics) and released in 1927.
background
The actual authors of the song were Dave Dreyer and Billy Rose, who wrote Me and My Shadow for the revue Delmar's Revels . This had its premiere on November 28, 1927 at the Shubert Theater in New York ; the song was presented by Frank Fay. The song is written in E major in the form AA'BA as a moderate foxtrot; the chorus begins with a full and two half notes. The song begins with the singer and his shadow walking down the street:
Me and my shadow -
strollin 'down the avenue
Me and my shadow,
Not a soul to tell one's troubles to.
And when it's twelve o'clock ...
All alone and feeling blue.
Singer Ted Lewis made the song known in Vaudeville along with his musical partner Eddie Chester , who acted as the "shadow" of Lewis.
First recordings and later cover versions
Whispering Jack Smith (Victor 20626) had a number one hit in the United States in 1927. Other musicians who covered the song from 1927 included Nat Shilkret (Victor 20675), Johnny Marvin (Columbia), Sam Lanin ( Cameo ), the Savoy Orpheans and Dunk Rendleman ( Gennett ), in Berlin in January 1928 Arthur Briggs . The discographer Tom Lord lists a total of 41 (as of 2015) cover versions in the field of jazz , including a. by Cliff Edwards , Ziggy Elman , Rose Murphy , Dave Brubeck , Pearl Bailey / Don Redman , Jackie Gleason , Linda Lawson / Marty Paich , Buddy Rich , Pete Fountain , Dodo Marmarosa , Lou Rawls , Marion Montgomery , Peggy Lee , Charlie Wood , Vic Dickenson , Michele Hendricks , Dave McKenna , Randy Sandke and Lew Tabackin .
Me and My Shadow became best known in the post-war period through the duo version by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis junior ; the Mills Brothers (1958), Nelson Riddle and Nelson Riddle (1965) also interpreted the song. The song was also used in various films; Ted Lewis sang him in Abbott and Costello 's Hold That Ghost (1941, directed by Arthur Lubin ), Donald O'Connor in Feudin ', Fussin' and A-Fightin ' (1948, directed by George Sherman ) and James Caan in Funny Lady ( 1975). The song was voted # 289 in the 2001 Songs of the Century list by the Recording Industry Association of America in the version by Whispering Jack Smith .
Notes and individual references
- ^ A b c Marvin E. Paymer, Don E. Post: Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs . 1999, p. 115 f.
- ↑ Dave Dreyer in the Songwriters Hall of Fame ( Memento from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Joan Lingard: Me and My Shadow . 2001
- ^ Don Tyler: Hit Songs, 1900-1955. : American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era . 2007, page 151
- ↑ Tom Lord: Jazz discography