My Shining Hour
My Shining Hour is a song written by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and released in 1943.
Background and usage of the song
Arlen and Mercer wrote the song for the musical The Sky's the Limit , in which Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie played the lead roles. In the film, the song was presented by Sally Sweetland , who dubbed the vocals for Joan Leslie, accompanied by the Freddie Slack Orchestra.
The song in the song form A-A'-BA had the character of a ballad , and the text was kept in hymn form in the chorus . It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Song category, which Harry Warren and Mack Gordon finally received in 1944 for the song You'll Never Know .
The title of the song is said to be in connection with a speech that Winston Churchill gave to the British Parliament on June 18, 1940 and which was subsequently recorded by the BBC ; there he spoke of a " finest hour " (" ... last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour. "). Walter Rimler notes in his book Not Fade Away (1984) that the songwriter duo Arlen / Mercer wrote "some very good songs for a few very bad films" in their careers, such as " Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive " (for Here Come the Waves , 1944) and “My Shining Hour” and “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” for The Sky's the Limit . It was Harold Arlen's only work for a Fred Astaire film.
Cover versions
In 1943 the song was covered by Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra (with the vocals of Eugenie Baird ); its version (Decca 18567) came into the US hit parades in December, where it stayed for seven weeks and came in at number 4.
In the 1940s and 1950s, numerous recordings of the song followed, including a. by Jan Garber , André Previn , Ruth Price , Mel Tormé , Stan Kenton , Chris Connor , Diahann Carroll and Tommy Dorsey , which made the song a popular jazz standard . 1959 interpreted John Coltrane ( Coltrane Jazz ), in later years a. a. also Howard Alden , Duane Eubanks , Roy Haynes , Åke Johansson , Greetje Kauffeld , Brian Lemon , Larry McKenna , Michael Moore , Warren Vaché , Tim Warfield and Gail Wynters . Tom Lord lists 322 cover versions of the title.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Song portrait at jazzstandards.com
- ^ John Mueller: Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films . London: Hamish Hamilton. 1986 p. 229. ISBN 0-241-11749-6 .
- ^ A b Marvin E. Paymer, Don E. Post: Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs , p. 447
- ^ Churchill's Famous Quotations and Stories
- ↑ http://www.streamica.com/#hour%20arlen
- ↑ Walter Rimler: Not Fade Away: A Comparison of Jazz Age With rock Era Pop , 1984
- ^ Stanley Green, Burt Goldblatt : Starring Fred Astaire , 1973, p. 258
- ^ 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
- ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 4, 2014)