The Song Spinners

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The Song Spinners were an American singing ensemble of the 1940s, best known for songs sung alone in a cappella style or with light jazz accompaniment . They also worked as a backing ensemble for other musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald ( And her tears flowed Like wine , My Happiness ) and Dick Haymes ( You'll Never Know , It can't be wrong and others). They achieved particular popularity at the time of the American recording ban at the end of World War II , during which they had a number one hit in the USA for three weeks in July 1943 with the song Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer . Her song Johnny Zero also became popular during this time.

Both Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer , written by Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh , as well as Johnny Zero , written by Mack David and Vee Lawnhurst as Johnny Got a Zero , referred to American soldiers who were involved in the Pacific War and were narrating their story. In the case of Johnny Zero, it was the American soldier John D. Foley , who was treated as a fool during school days and shot down numerous Japanese warplanes as an aircraft gunner in the Pacific War and was celebrated as a hero. After its appearance on April 7, 1943, Johnny Got a Zero was listed a week later on April 14 for the first time in the Variety charts at position 14 and the next week at position 4. It stayed there for 18 weeks before slowly losing its popularity and disappearing from the charts in September. The a-cappella version of the Song Spinners built on this success and was able to place itself in the charts of Billboard Magazine from July 7, 1943 , and climbed to position # 7. Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer , the story of a pilot who returns with a damaged airplane, was produced by the Decca record company as the B-side on the same single, but was placed at the same time as Johnny Zero and became an even bigger success. The song debuted at position 10 on Billboard Magazine on June 19, 1943, and climbed to position 2 the following week before reaching the top spot on July 3.

My Happiness by Ella Fitzgerald and The Song Spinners was created in 1948 during a second, much shorter recording ban, also a cappella.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Banned in Boston and Everywhere Else For That Matter Buttsy's Moments to Remember, July 10, 2014; accessed on January 17, 2015
  2. ↑ a b c John Bush: The songs that fought the war: popular music and the home front, 1939-1945 . Brandeis University , Waltham, Massachusetts; P. 175. ISBN 1-58465-443-0 .
  3. ↑ List of the number one hits in the USA (1940 - 1949) ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on oldiehitparade.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.oldiehitparade.de
  4. ↑ John Sforza: Swing It !: The Andrews Sisters Story . University Press of Kentucky, 2000.