Born in St. Louis, Tenney arrived in Los Angeles as a boy of ten in 1908 with his parents.[4] During World War I, he fought with the American Expeditionary Force in France.[4] Upon his return, he married Leda Westrem, a 16 year-old stenographer, and they had a baby while living at 3764 South Main street, Los Angeles. Marital problems ensued when Tenney became a professional musician in 1919, forming the Majestic Orchestra. He spent 1920 to 1923 playing dance halls and hotels in Calexico and Mexicali. Leda filed for separation on the grounds of desertion and non-support in July 1920,[5] and was awarded custody and support. However, she was killed in an automobile accident in January 1921.[6]
When bookings in the better Calexico places were full, the Majestic played less-desirable clubs in Mexicali. When the distraught widower was offered a steady job (now called a residency) at the Imperial Cabaret, Tenney accepted, and started writing his famous melody, which he initially called "The Waltz", then eventually "Mexicali Rose". People came to believe that the song had been named after one of the dance hall girls with a dubious reputation, called Rose Erskine. However, Tenney always denied this assumption.[7]
Later in his career, he commented on the naming of the song: "There was an old lady who ran a boarding house in Brawley. Every 30 days when the railroad men were paid, she came to Mexicali. We'd play the waltz for her, and she'd sit around drinking and crying. She must have been 50 or 60 years old and weighed 200 pounds. I don't know what her name was but Jack Hazelip, my saxophone player called her 'Mexicali Rose.' I already had the tune and we started fiddling around with the words as a result of watching her cry."[7]
The song was first played by Jack Tenney and the Majestic Orchestra in 1922, with Helen Stone on vocals, but there is no evidence of a recording being made. According to Tenney, "Helen Stone, the singer, liked the song so much that she put up the money for the first publication. I gave her half interest, and put her name on the number as the writer of the lyrics. It was a fine investment as we are still deriving royalties."[8] After the song was published on March 10, 1923,[1] it was recorded as an instrumental, "Rosa de Mexicali", by the International Novelty Orchestra on September 6, 1923 in New York. It was issued for the Mexican market on Victor 77255 in March 1924, with the band under the name Orquesta Internacional. It sold 13,936 copies.[9]
Lewis James also recorded the song in September 1923 for Okeh Records.[10] Tenney, however, turned his energies towards night law school, and moved back to Los Angeles in 1928. The 1929 sound film, Mexicali Rose, starring Barbara Stanwyck, came and went.[11] He reportedly sold his interest in "Mexicali Rose" for two to three thousand dollars to the M.M. Cole Company of Chicago.
Good fortune came to the song over a decade after it was first published, when the publisher suggested that another client record it late in 1935.[12]Gene Autry, rising star of Hillbilly radio and more recently, Cowboy westerns, had branched out into a third career as a recording artist. This had yielded little until a re-release of 1931's "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine"[13] became successful after Autry performed the song in two 1935 films (the science-fiction/western 12-part serial The Phantom Empire in February and Tumbling Tumbleweeds in September). Discovering a formula that would lead to many future successes, the song his partner and business manager Jimmy Long had penned in 1930 sold a reported five million copies by the decade's end.[14]
Autry recorded "Mexicali Rose" on December24,1935(1935-12-24)[2] at the American Furniture Mart ARC Studios, 666 N Lake Shore Drive, 21st Floor, Chicago. Autry was still considered a hillbilly or folk artist, and his recordings were released on ARC's discount labels: these were Melotone 6-05-59[2] and Perfect 6-05-59[2] in April 1936, and later that year on Conqueror 8629[15] and Vocalion 3097.[16] The song was included in the 1939 film Mexicali Rose starring Autry.[17]
As with most of his early hits, Autry re-recorded it for Columbia Records on the 10" LP Gene Autry's Western Classics, released on February3,1947(1947-02-03). Amongst several obvious differences, the latter version runs six seconds shorter than the original.[18] The 1947 version was released on Columbia 37185[19] and Columbia 20086.[20]
Due to popular demand, the original recording was also re-released in 1940 on Okeh 03097,[21] in 1946 on Columbia 37002,[19] and in 1948 on Columbia 20028.[20]
The song's greatest commercial success came in 1938, due to the airing and recording of a version by Bing Crosby. One report said, "Mexicali was around 10th among the best sellers and the recording was among the first four or five on the Decca sales list."[23]
Between the 1923 publishing and the mid-1930s revival of "Mexicali Rose", composer Jack Tenney and publisher W. A. Quincke of Los Angeles transferred their interests to the M.M. Cole Company of Chicago.[24] Crosby had performed the song on his Kraft Music Hall radio show on March 31, 1938. He recorded the song for Decca Records on July 11, 1938,[25][26] and his version achieved success the same year.[27] Crosby recorded the song again for his 1954 album Bing: A Musical Autobiography.[28][29]
"How High the Moon" is a jazz standard with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. It was first featured in the 1940 Broadway revue Two for the Show, where it was sung by Alfred Drake and Frances Comstock. In Two for the Show, this was a rare serious moment in an otherwise humorous revue.
"Love Me or Leave Me" is a popular song written in 1928 by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was introduced in the Broadway musical comedy Whoopee!, which opened in December 1928. Ruth Etting's performance of the song was so popular that she was also given the song to sing in the play Simple Simon, which opened in February 1930.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1949.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1947.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1945.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1944.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1943.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1942.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1941.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1940.
"Pennies from Heaven" is a 1936 American popular song with music by Arthur Johnston and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby with Georgie Stoll and his Orchestra in the 1936 film of the same name.
"Imagination" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen and the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was first published in 1940. The two best-selling versions were recorded by the orchestras of Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey in 1940.
"The Nearness of You" is a popular song written in 1937 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. Intended for an unproduced Paramount film titled Romance In The Rough, the studio's publishing division Famous Music reregistered and published the song in 1940. It was first recorded by Chick Bullock and his Orchestra on Vocalion. Despite numerous accounts to the contrary, the song was never scheduled for and does not appear in the 1938 Paramount film Romance in the Dark.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1939.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1936.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1934.
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is a popular Vaudeville song. The music is credited to Harry Carroll, but the melody is adapted from Fantaisie-Impromptu by Frédéric Chopin. The lyrics were written by Joseph McCarthy, and the song was published in 1917. It was introduced in the Broadway show Oh, Look! which opened in March 1918. The song was sung in the show by the Dolly Sisters. Judy Garland sang it in the 1941 film Ziegfeld Girl. It was subsequently sung by Jack Oakie in the 1944 film The Merry Monahans and was again featured in the 1945 film The Dolly Sisters, where it was sung by John Payne. It was also included for part of the run of the 1973 revival of Irene. Additionally, the pre-chorus would not have been included until later covers in the 1940s, where the song would gain it's iconic libretti.
For music from an individual year in the 1940s, go to 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49
Starting as the B-side of Gene Autry's "Mexicali Rose", penned by Autry, 'You're the Only Star in My Blue Heaven' was also popular in Hillbilly jukeboxes and radios in the mid-late 1930s. After the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) purchased ARC and Gene's contract in December 1938., 'Star' was re-recorded on April 13, 1939 at Columbia's new Hollywood studio, located at KNX Radio, Sunset and Gower. The younger version is over 20 seconds shorter.
"Be Honest With Me" was a 1940 song by Gene Autry and Fred Rose. The recording by Autry was one of the big Hillbilly hits of 1941, and was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
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