Year by Year in Popular Song: 1934

I'm really enjoying this year-by-year walk through the music of the 1930s. I'm using several websites to find song-lists for each year, and then picking my favorites. Consequently it's totally reflective of my own tastes and long-held preferences. So far we've seen plenty of Mills Brothers, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. The music of Hoagy Carmichael has been represented in each of the first four entries in this series. Fred Astaire has made a couple of appearances.

One of the things I'm looking for as I go is a sense of the changes that popular music goes through in this period. For example, we're seeing the rise of Cowboy music, fueled by the popularity of Western movies. So let's start there. Two songs stand out: Down Yonder, by Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, and Tumbling Tumbleweeds, by the Sons of the Pioneers.

Let's keep Hoagy Carmichael's streak alive with Al Bowlly's version of his Judy. Other great songwriters were represented in 1934 as well. Chick Bullock and the Levee Loungers recorded the Rodgers and Hart tune, Blue Moon, And Cole Porter really had a year: Anything Goes, You're the Top, and I Get a Kick Out of You (by the Dorsey Brothers, Cole Porter himself, and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra).

Much of the popular music partook of that Cole Porter-ish fantasy of life in the Jet Set. Band leaders made sure everything was set to a danceable rhythm, with the Fox Trot being the popular dance of the year. For the most part 1934 seems a little tamer than previous years. Armstrong and Ellington don't show up on the bestseller lists this year (but Ellington did give us his exquisite rendering of Moonglow, and Armstrong gave us On the Sunny Side of the Street). And leave it to the Mills Brothers to liven things up with Swing It Sister (check out the mouth-orchestra on this one). They also check in with the wonderful Sleepy Head (lyrics by Gus Kahn).

Also noteworthy: Benny Goodman made his first recording in 1934 (under the name of Vincent Rose), with Stars Fell on Alabama. A future standard of the crooners and jazz musicians was Vernon Duke's Autumn in New York, introduced in '34 by the Richard Himber Orchestra. And another future standard debuted this year: Chick Webb introduced Stompin' at the Savoy (about as swingin' as it gets). 

Speaking of swing, let's hear from Cab Calloway, with a fun film-clip for Hi De Ho (which has absolutely no relation to the Blood, Sweat, & Tears song). 

Fats Waller had a hit with a little rag called Sweetie Pie.

Blues? You can't do better than Big Bill Broonzy: Mississippi River Blues.

And so we come to my feature song of the year. I love a romantic ballad, and I love to hear how they get re-interpreted through the years. The Very Thought of You was a hit for Ray Noble and His Orchestra (sung here by Al Bowlly). For a wonderful modern take on this classic song, check out Corinne Bailey Rae and Jon Batiste:

Year by Year in Popular Song: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933.