September song
September Song is a song that Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (text) wrote in 1938 for the musical Knickerbocker Holiday . The song became an evergreen and a jazz standard ; it is considered part of the Great American Songbook .
History of origin
While working on the musical Knickerbocker Holiday , one of the stars of the show, Walter Huston , asked if a song would not be written that could musically highlight him in his role as the aging Peter Stuyvesant . Unknown to Weill Huston, he sent a telegram to ask him what his tone of voice was ; Huston replied very honestly: “I have no pitch at all.” Weill then listened to a radio show in which Huston appeared, and in a few hours he wrote a simple, lyrical song with a range of just over an octave . Huston performed the song in the musical that premiered on October 19, 1938 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.
The song
The September song is almost entirely in C major and in the song form A1 - A1 - B - A2. The A sections are characterized by ascending arpeggios and jumps; in the B part the melody falls alternately in seconds and thirds . Weill used material from his operetta "Der Kuhhandel" (1935) for the composition.
The text idea is based on a classic metaphor in which people's lives are depicted in a year. It is a long way from May to December, but from September it is quite short. Unlike the beloved (younger) person, the older singer doesn't have much time to lose and therefore asks to forego "games of waiting".
Impact history
Despite good reviews, Knickerbocker Holidays was only moderately successful and was canceled after 168 performances. Huston's recording of the September song , however, hit the charts in January 1939, where it moved up to number twelve.
Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1943. He was followed by Frank Sinatra , who had a hit with the piece and later recorded it several times. In addition to his version, the following cover versions made the American charts:
- Frank Sinatra (1946, # 8)
- Dardanelle Trio (1946, # 11)
- Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (1951, # 17, with vocal ensemble The Four Freshmen )
- Liberace (1952, # 27)
Sarah Vaughan had the September song in her program since 1946, as did Don Byas . Artie Shaw recorded the song in 1947, as did The Ravens and Django Reinhardt in Paris . Art Tatum , Billy Eckstine and Nat King Cole recorded the song in the early 1950s. The song became increasingly popular with jazz musicians. In 1954 a version by Vaughan with Clifford Brown and the flautist Herbie Mann followed , and Chet Baker in 1959 . Rolf Kühn presented the song at the German Jazz Festival in the mid-1950s . In 1960 Ella Fitzgerald followed , then also Rosemary Clooney , June Christy , Dee Dee Bridgewater , Peter Fessler and Anirathak . Lotte Lenya recorded an exemplary classical interpretation of the song.
There are also instrumental versions by Sidney Bechet , Red Norvo , George Shearing , Dave Brubeck , Erroll Garner , Harry James , Earl Bostic , Art Pepper , Charles Mingus , Biréli Lagrène and Gary Burton . In 1995, Tethered Moon ( Masabumi Kikuchi , Gary Peacock , Paul Motian ) developed "a wonderful game of hide-and-seek in the sound garden."
Lou Reed interpreted the song for Hal Willner's tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. Pascal Comelade recorded the song with Robert Wyatt ; Versions by Bryan Ferry ( As Time Goes By 1994) or Rod McKuen ( Kurt Weill - The Centennial 2001) should also be mentioned. Jean Sablon presented a French version of J'ai peur de l'automne in 2009. Also Patricia Kaas has, like the song The Young Gods or Peter, Paul & Mary interpreted.
Use in film and television
The September song was used in the 1950 film September Affair . In 1960 Maurice Chevalier sang it in the film Pepe . Woody Allen included the song in his 1987 film Radio Days and mentioned that September Song might be the best American pop song ever written. In the film Texasville (1990) Willie Nelson interpreted the September song . The song was also used in the British television series May to December (1989-1994) on BBC One . Anjelica Huston , the granddaughter of the first artist, sang the song on an episode of NBC Smash .
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e H.J. Schaal jazz standards. Das Lexikon , S, 422f.
- ↑ Tim Lisle (Ed.): Lives of the great songs . Penguin books, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-024957-5 , p. 54.
- ↑ a b c jazzstandards.com
- ↑ Stig Bjorkman (Ed.) Woody Allen on Woody Allen . London: Faber and Faber, 1995, Revised Edition 2004, p. 160.