"Deep River" is an anonymous African-American spiritual, popularized by Henry Burleigh in his 1916 collection Jubilee Songs of the USA.
"Deep River" is an anonymous African-American spiritual, popularized by Henry Burleigh in his 1916 collection Jubilee Songs of the USA.
The song was first mentioned in print in 1867, when it was published in the first edition of The Story of the Jubilee Singers: With Their Songs, by J. B. T. Marsh. [1] By 1917, when Harry Burleigh completed the last of his several influential arrangements, the song had become very popular in recitals. It has been called "perhaps the best known and best-loved spiritual". [2]
The melody was adopted in 1921 for the song Dear Old Southland by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton, which enjoyed popular success the next year in versions by Paul Whiteman and by Vernon Dalhart. [3]
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor arranged the melody in the tenth of his 24 Negro Melodies Op. 24 (1905).
Daniel Gregory Mason quotes the melody in his String Quartet on Negro Themes Op. 19 (1919).
"Deep River" has been sung in several films. The 1929 film Show Boat featured it mouthed by Laura La Plante to the singing of Eva Olivetti. [4] Paul Robeson famously sang it accompanied by a male chorus in the 1940 movie The Proud Valley , [5] and Chevy Chase sang it in the 1983 blockbuster hit National Lampoon's Vacation . [6]
"Deep River" is also one of five spirituals written into the 1941 oratorio A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett.
Harry Burleigh was an American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer known for his baritone voice. The first black composer who was instrumental in developing characteristically American music, Burleigh made black music available to classically trained artists both by introducing them to spirituals and by arranging spirituals in a more classical form. Burleigh also introduced Antonín Dvořák to Black American music, which influenced some of Dvořák's most famous compositions and led him to say that Black music would be the basis of an American classical music.
"Thinking of You" is a popular song, composed by Harry Ruby with lyrics by Bert Kalmar. It was introduced in the Broadway show, The Five O'Clock Girl (1927) when it was sung by Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw.
"My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" is a 1945 popular song.
"Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" is a popular song published in 1929. The music was written by Joe Burke and the lyrics by Al Dubin for the 1929 musical film Gold Diggers of Broadway when it was sung by Nick Lucas. Gold Diggers of Broadway is a partially lost film, and the scene featuring the song is one of the only surviving scenes of the movie.
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"Rockin' Chair is a 1929 popular song with lyrics and music composed by Hoagy Carmichael. Musically it is unconventional, as after the B section when most popular songs return to A, this song has an A-B-C-A1 structure. Carmichael recorded the song in 1929, 1930, and 1956. Mildred Bailey made it famous by using it as her theme song. Like other 1920s standards, "Rockin' Chair" relied on the stereotypes of minstrelsy, citing "Aunt Harriet" from the anti-Uncle Tom song "Aunt Harriet Becha Stowe" (1853).
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" is an African-American spiritual song that originated during the period of slavery but was not published until 1867. The song is well known and many cover versions of it have been recorded by artists such as Marian Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Paul Robeson, and Sam Cooke among others.
"Runnin' Wild" is a popular song first composed and recorded in 1922, written by Arthur Harrington Gibbs with lyrics by Joe Grey and Leo Wood.
"Tomorrow Night" is a 1939 song written by Sam Coslow and Will Grosz. A version by Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights was very popular in 1939.
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced in 1929 by Ruby Keeler (as Dixie Dugan) in Florenz Ziegfeld's musical Show Girl. The stage performances were accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. On the show's opening night in Boston on June 25, 1929, Keeler's husband and popular singer Al Jolson suddenly stood up from his seat in the third row and sang a chorus of the song, much to the surprise of the audience and Gershwin himself. Jolson recorded the song a few days later on July 6, 1929, and his rendition rose to number nine on the charts of the day.
"Sioux City Sue" is a 1945 song and a 1946 movie. Lyricist Ray Freedman and composer Dick Thomas wrote the song. Thomas recorded the song in February 1945 for National Records and it was a number one Country charts hit for him. The song was Thomas' first chart entry on the Juke Box Folk Records chart and was also his most successful release: "Sioux City Sue" spent four weeks at number one on the Country charts during a stay of twenty-three weeks. The Dick Thomas version also reached Billboard's Best-selling Record charts attaining the No. 16 position.
"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is an American popular song published in 1931, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Ted Koehler, and first recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931. It was introduced in the 1931 Cotton Club show Rhythmania and is now a widely recorded standard.
"There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" is a 1928 song sung by Al Jolson in the early Warner Bros. talking picture The Singing Fool the same year. The song, along with "Sonny Boy" and "I'm Sitting on Top of the World", which were also in The Singing Fool, were big hits for Jolson. The song was written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose and Dave Dreyer.
Moanin' Low is a popular torch song. The music was written by Ralph Rainger; the lyrics by Howard Dietz. The song was published in 1929 and was introduced that same year in the musical revue The Little Show by Libby Holman becoming a hit and Holman's signature song. A recording by The Charleston Chasers was also popular in 1929.
"Dear Old Southland" is a 1921 jazz standard. It was composed by Turner Layton, with lyrics by Henry Creamer. It uses basically the same melody as the song Deep River. Popular recordings in 1922 were by Paul Whiteman and by Vernon Dalhart. Jack Mills published sheet music for it.
