Sometimes I'm happy
Sometimes I'm Happy (Sometimes I'm Blue) is a song written by Irving Caesar (and initially Clifford Gray ) (lyrics) and Vincent Youmans (music) and first published in 1925.
History of the song
Youmans initially wrote the song at a faster pace for another text, namely Come On and Pet Me by William Carey Duncan and Oscar Hammerstein II . This song was featured on the Mary Jane McCane show in 1923 , but was removed from the program before the show hit New York City.
With the lyrics of Caesar and Gray, the song was presented as Sometimes I'm Happy on the short-lived show A Night Out , which premiered on September 7, 1925 at the Garrick Theater in Philadelphia, but ran there for only two weeks. Released with a shorter ending (now without co-author Gray), the song was presented in 1927 in the musical Hit the Deck from March 28, 1927 at the Chestnut Street Opera House in Philadelphia. After the great success of the piece and the song, Hit the Deck! performed in New York City from April 25, 1927 and saw 352 performances on Broadway . Sometimes I'm Happy was sung by Charles King and Louise Groody , who also recorded it for Victor Records (# 20609).
In the lyrics of the chorus a singer claims that he "sometimes happy" ( sometimes happy ) and "sometimes sad" ( sometimes blue ) is what depended on the girl he loved. In the lyrics it says:
- "Sometimes I love you"
- "Sometimes I hate you"
- "But if I hate you"
- "It's because I love you."
Other early recordings
After the success of the title in the original version by King and Groody, which reached number 9 in American chats in 1927, and Roger Wolfe Kahn (with the vocals of Franklyn Baur , Victor # 20599), who reached number 7, further recordings were made , a duet version by Baur and Gladys Rice ( Columbia Records 998-D) and a cover version by Vaughn De Leath ( Brunswick Records # 3608), which were successful in the United States.
More cover versions
Already in 1927 the song was u. a. by The Six Hottentots (a studio band around Red Nichols , Miff Mole and Jimmy Dorsey ), Noble Sissle , recorded in the following years by Red Nichols and in Europe by Jean Wiener / Clement Doucret . In the years that followed, Sometimes I'm Happy became a jazz standard ; the recording of Benny Goodman (1935, in an arrangement by Fletcher Henderson ) came in the American charts at number 12 and Sammy Kaye (1938) at number 18. The song was also featured in 1930 and 1955 in the film versions of the musical Hit the Deck , 1955 by Jane Powell and Vic Damone . Music magazine Variety included Sometimes I'm Happy on its Hit Parade of a Half-Century and Golden 100 Tin Pan Alley Songs lists . The discographer Tom Lord lists a total of 437 (as of 2015) cover versions, including interpretations by Carmen McRae , King Pleasure , Bud Powell , Oscar Peterson , Jimmy Smith and Sun Ra .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c James J. Fuld The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk Dover: Mineola 2000 (5th ed.), P. 515
- ↑ a b basic information at Jazzstandards.com
- ^ A b c Edward Foote Gardner: Popular Songs of the 20th Century: Chart Detail & Encyclopedia, 1900-1949 . Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesota 2000, ISBN 1-55778-789-1 .
- ^ A b Don Tyler: Hit Songs, 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era . P. 192.
- ↑ a b Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)