"Underneath the Arches" is a 1932 popular song with words and music by Bud Flanagan, and additional lyrics by Reg Connelly. [1] It was one of the most famous songs of the duo Flanagan and Allen.
According to a television programme broadcast in 1957, Bud Flanagan said that he wrote the song in Derby in 1927, and first performed it a week later at the Pier Pavilion, Southport. [2] It refers to the arches of Derby's Friargate Railway Bridge and to the cobbled street where homeless men slept during the Great Depression. [3]
The Flanagan and Allen recording was used as part of the performance art piece The Singing Sculpture, by artists Gilbert & George, premiered in 1969. The artists stood on a table, their hands and heads covered in multi-coloured metallic powder, and sang along with the recording while they moved. At times the performance would last for a day. [4]
The song has also been covered by Connee Boswell, Primo Scala, the Andrews Sisters, and Andy Russell in the United States. A well-known version in the United Kingdom was made by Max Bygraves. A sequel to the song, Where the Arches Used To Be , was sung by Flanagan and Allen in the film A Fire Has Been Arranged in which the arches are knocked down and flats built in their place.
The Primo Scala recording, with the Keynotes, was released by London Records as catalogue number 238. The record first reached the Billboard charts on 6 August 1948, and lasted 16 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 6. [5]
The Andrews Sisters' recording was released by Decca Records as catalogue number 24490 (the flip side of their recording of You Call Everybody Darlin' ). The record first reached the Billboard charts on 27 August 1948, and lasted 10 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 10. [5]
The Andy Russell recording was released by Capitol Records as catalogue number 15183. The record first reached the Billboard charts on 1 October 1948, and lasted 5 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 21. [5]
In 1968 Australian pop singer, Johnny Farnham, covered the track, as his second single, which reached No. 6 on the Go-Set National Top 40 Singles Chart. [6] In 1970 the artist duo Gilbert & George performed the song in Nigel Greenwood Gallery, which launched their career as "singing and living sculptures".
The song is used in the television mini-series A Perfect Spy , based on the novel by John le Carré, while father and son (the key figures) are running under arches near a British beach. It was also the signature tune for the Radio London Underneath the Arches programme.
Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act most active during the 1930s and 1940s. Its members were Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen (1894–1982). They were first paired in a Florrie Forde revue, and were booked by Val Parnell to appear at the Holborn Empire in 1929.
"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song with music written by Jay Livingston and lyrics by Ray Evans. The song was published on February 25, 1948 by Famous Music Corp., New York. The song was written for and appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film The Paleface and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was originally written with an Indian theme, but was changed when the director said that would not work in the movie. It was a vocal selection on many radio programs in late 1948. It was reprised in the sequel, Son of Paleface, by Roy Rogers, Jane Russell and Bob Hope. In 2004 it finished #87 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema.
"(It's No) Sin" is a popular song with music by George Hoven and lyrics by Chester R. Shull. It was a No. 1 song on Billboard charts released by Eddy Howard in 1951. This song should not be confused with "It's a Sin", another popular song of the same era.
"Those Were the Days" is a song composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) but credited to Gene Raskin, who put a new English lyric to Fomin's Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu", with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. The song is a reminiscence of youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing and dancing.
"You Can't Be True, Dear" is a popular German song.
"It's Magic" is a popular song written by Jule Styne, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, published in 1947. They wrote the song for Doris Day in her Warner Brothers film debut, Romance on the High Seas. In the autumn of 1948 Vic Damone, Tony Martin, Dick Haymes, Gordon MacRae and Sarah Vaughan all charted on Billboard magazine charts with versions of the song, but none as successfully as Day's recording. "It's Magic" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but in March 1949 lost to "Buttons and Bows" by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
"You're Breaking My Heart" is a popular song, which was first published in 1948. Though credited to Pat Genaro and Sunny Skylar, the song is an English version of the famous Italian song "Mattinata" written by Ruggero Leoncavallo at the beginning of the 20th century; that song had lapsed into the public domain in the United States by the time this English song was set to its tune.
"Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" is a popular song written by Harry Stone and Jack Stapp and published in 1950. It is the signature song of Red Foley who recorded it in late 1949. The song has been covered by many artists, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Faron Young who scored a hit with the song in 1959.
"Harbor Lights", is a popular song by Northern Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy with music by Hugh Williams. The song was originally recorded by Roy Fox & his Orchestra with vocal by Barry Gray in London on 29 January 1937. Another famous early version was recorded by American singer Frances Langford in Los Angeles on 14 September 1937 and was published again in 1950.
"Civilization" is an American traditional pop song. It was written by Bob Hilliard and Carl Sigman, published in 1947 and later included in the 1947 Broadway musical Angel in the Wings, sung by Elaine Stritch. The song is sometimes also known as "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo ", from the first line of its chorus. The sheet music gives the title as "Civilization ".
"You Call Everybody Darlin'" is a popular song. The words and music were by Sam Martin (né Samuel Matzkowitz; 1908–2002), Ben Trace, and his brother, Al Trace, who used the pseudonym, Clem Watts. The song was copyrighted and published in 1946.
"Red Roses for a Blue Lady" is a 1948 popular song by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. It has been recorded by a number of performers. Actor-singer John Laurenz (1909–1958) was the first to record the song for Mercury Records. It rose to #2 on the weekly “Your Hit Parade” radio survey in the spring of 1949. The original 78rpm single was issued on Mercury 5201 - Red Roses For A Blue Lady by John Laurenz.
"Nevertheless I'm in Love with You" is a popular song written by Harry Ruby with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, first published in 1931. The song was a hit for Jack Denny in 1931, and was revisited in 1950 by The Mills Brothers, Paul Weston, Ray Anthony, Ralph Flanagan, Frankie Laine and Frank Sinatra, with perhaps the most compelling version being that of the McGuire Sisters.
"Cruising Down the River" is a 1946 popular recording song, which became the winner of a public songwriting competition held in the UK. Words and music were entered by two middle-aged women named Eily Beadell and Nell Tollerton. The words had been written by Eily in the 1920s, and the melody composed by music hall artist Ena Dayne; as she could not read music, it was transcribed by Tollerton. It was sung in concert parties throughout the 1930s, mainly by Charles Ray. One of the original early recordings of this song, issued in the UK in January 1946 on the Columbia record label, was by Lou Preager and his Orchestra, with vocals by Paul Rich. This was immensely popular on radio, with record and sheet music sales making it one of the biggest hits of 1946 in the United Kingdom.
"Far Away Places" is an American popular song. It was written by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer and published in 1948.
"Near You" is a popular song written and originally recorded by Francis Craig and His Orchestra at Castle Studio in 1947, with lyrics by Kermit Goell, which has become a pop standard.
"(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" is a popular song written by Bill Trader and published in 1952. Recorded as a single by Hank Snow it peaked at number four on the US country charts early in 1953.
"Someday You'll Want Me to Want You" is a popular song published in 1944 by Jimmie Hodges. The song became a standard, recorded by many pop and country music singers.
"Pistol Packin' Mama" was a "Hillbilly"-Honky Tonk record released at the height of World War II that became a nationwide sensation, and the first "Country" song to top the Billboard popular music chart. It was written by Al Dexter of Troup, Texas, who recorded it in Los Angeles, California on March 20, 1942, with top session musicians Dick Roberts, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart, who all normally worked for Gene Autry. It was used in the 1943 film Pistol Packin' Mama, starring Ruth Terry and Robert Livingston.
"Bouquet of Roses" is a 1948 song written by Steve Nelson (music) and Bob Hilliard (lyrics). It was originally recorded by Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plow Boys and his Guitar in Chicago on May 18, 1947. It was released by RCA Victor as catalogue number 20-2806 and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalogue numbers BD 1234 and IM 1399. "Bouquet of Roses" was Eddy Arnold's third number one in a row on the Juke Box Folk Record chart and spent 19 weeks on the Best Selling Folk Records chart. In 1949, when RCA Victor introduced its new 45 RPM single format this record was among seven initial releases and the first in the Country and Western category. Arnold would re-record "Bouquet of Roses" several times during his career.