1933 saw the end of Prohibition, the first MLB All-Star Game, and Fay Wray co-stars with a giant ape in the hit movie, King Kong. In addition to all that, Krispy Kreme opened its first doughnut shop, and the NFL had its first championship game, the Chicago Bears beating the New York Giants, 23-21.
And of course the music kept coming. Let's start off with a Hoagy Carmichael song. This year his big hit was Lazy Bones, written by Carmichael and Johnny Mercer (Mercer would still be writing hit songs well into the 60s). Numerous versions of this one made the charts. Of course I like The Mills Brothers version, and Mildred Bailey's too.
It's 1933, so songs divide up between those that happily pretend that economic realities simply don't exist (We're in the Money), those that address them in a veiled way (Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, which was a hit by multiple bands this year), and those few that addressed the reality with a sardonic humor (Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train, by Louis Armstrong).
Other stand-outs of the year were Ethel Waters' Stormy Weather. It doesn't get much better than that, but Ivie Anderson fronting the Duke Ellington Orchestra ain't bad.
Speaking of the Duke, 1933 was a busy year from him and his orchestra. Among the highlights: Sophisticated Lady and Drop Me Off in Harlem.
And I don't want to forget Louis Armstrong's 1933 version of I Got a Right to Sing the Blues.
On the Americana side of things we have Big River Blues by the Delmore Brothers, Careless Love by the Frank Luther Trio, and You Are My Flower, by the Carter Family..And we must not forget Bessie Smith's Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer.
Finally, before getting to our feature song, 1933 was the year that Jimmie Rodgers died. He was a pioneer of country music and western swing, inspiration to many performers who would come after. His death from tuberculosis came at the age of 36. His last recorded song was called Years Ago.
And so we come to the feature song of the year: "It's Only a Paper Moon" (tune by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Yip Harburg). The song was a major hit for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, but I'm particularly partial to this version by Ukulele Ike (aka, Cliff Edwards). Of course everyone has recorded this song, notably including Nat Cole and Frank Sinatra. Here's a nice modern version from the fine jazz singer/guitarist, John Pizzarelli:
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