Let's Sing a Quasi-Irish Song with Buster

And now, to mark the upcoming feast of St. Patrick, I present an Irish-themed compendium that has nothing to do with that good saint and very little to do with Ireland itself. While each selection is Irish-related in some way, it is usually the Irish or Irish music through the lens of American or English composers and performers - with the notable exception of the great Irish tenor John McCormack. Apropos of its varied ingredients, I am calling this collection "Buster's Irish Stew."

As usual, I'll present the 32 selections chronologically, reaching back to the early years of last century for the oldest specimens.

Peter Wyper

Our first number, an "Irish Jig," comes from 1909 and the Scottish accordionist Peter Wyper. He was supposedly the first accordionist to make records, so now you know who to blame.

The following year, two of the big stars of the early recording scene, the Americans Steve Porter and Billy Murray, combined for the vaudeville routine "Irish Wit," with a snappy tune sandwiching fast-paced ethnic repartee.

American banjo virtuoso Fred Van Eps is next with his 1911 record of "Irish Hearts." Van Eps was the father of jazz guitarist George Van Eps.

Fred Van Eps at the recording horn

Vaudevillian Ada Jones was last heard on this site in a German dialect number; on this 1911 record she has been transformed into an Irish lass, telling her "German dunce" boyfriend that "You Will Have to Sing an Irish Song" to have a chance with her. Albert Von Tilzer ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game") was the songwriter.

Billy Murray turns up again in 1912 with a tune called "If It Wasn't for the Irish and the Jews," reminding us that "without the Pats and Isidores you'd have no big department stores," among other benefits provided by these two ethnicities. Presumably the Victor company hoped to sell these platters in both Irish and Jewish neighborhoods, and the department stores run by Pat and Isidore.

Cigarette card from 1914

The great John McCormack makes the first of several appearances in this collection with the traditional song "Molly Brannigan." The recording dates from 1913, although this pressing comes from 1920.

Among his other accomplishments, the American songwriter and singer Chauncey Olcott wrote two enduring standards - "My Wild Irish Rose" and "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." In 1913, Olcott recorded the first named for Columbia.

Olcott was an polished vocalist but no John McCormack, who did his own version of "My Wild Irish Rose" for Victor in 1914. The song dates from 1899, when it was heard in the Broadway play A Romance of Athlone. Coincidentally, McCormack himself was from that Irish town.

One of Australian composer Percy Grainger's most famous compositions was his setting of the Irish reel "Molly on the Shore," dating from 1907. Originally for string quartet or string orchestra, Grainger later obligingly arranged it for orchestra, wind band, and violin and piano, missing an opportunity to capture the big kazoo-player market. In this 1916 recording, American violinist Maud Powell is heard with pianist Arthur Loesser, the half-brother of songwriter Frank Loesser.

Maud Powell in 1914

John McCormack returns with Chauncey Olcott's other big success, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," in a 1916 recording for Victrola. The orchestral accompaniment is led by the immensely prolific Victor staff conductor Rosario Bourdon.

Two years later, McCormack was in a New York studio with the less-familiar "My Irish Song of Songs," which name-checks all the familiar Irish tunes of the time. Josef Pasternack, another Victor music director, leads the band.

Arthur Pryor in 1920

We skip ahead to 1923 for a two-sided medley from Arthur Pryor's Band, "Reminiscences of Ireland." One of the tunes is "Irish Washerwoman," which will turn up twice more later in the playlist. The Pryor Band first became famous under the leadership of Arthur's father, Samuel. Arthur took over its leadership after his father's death. A trombone virtuoso, Arthur had been in Sousa's Band for 12 years, rising to become its assistant conductor.

Bartlett and Robertson

Ireland has been the source of inspiration for many composers, none more so than the English composer Sir Arnold Bax. Among his many works with an Irish theme is 1916's "Moy Mell (The Happy Plain)" for two pianos. Performing in this 1927 recording are the eminent wife and husband duo of Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson. The two were closely associated with Bax's music, although he did not compose this work for them - it was written for Myra Hess and Irene Scharrer.

One of the leading chamber ensembles of the day was the Flonzaley Quartet, who recorded an "Irish Reel" in 1927 for Victor. The arrangement is by second violinist Alfred Pochon. The other side of the record (not in the playlist) was Pochon's arrangement of the spiritual "Deep River" - much different from the Flonzaley's usual diet of Beethoven and Haydn.

The Flonzaley Quartet

Perhaps the best known (and most parodied) sentimental song in the repertory is "Mother Machree" by the well-known songwriters Chauncey Olcott, Ernest Ball and Rida Johnson Young. Again, this was an American song of theatrical origin, coming from the 1911 Broadway play Barry of Ballymore. John McCormack is heard in his second recording of the piece, dating from 1927.

Mother Machree song card, c1939

Albert Sammons by
Alexander Akerbladh

Grainger's "Molly on the Shore" was popular with violinists, but not all used his arrangement. In 1928, the superb English instrumentalist Albert Sammons recorded Fritz Kreisler's version, which Grainger reputedly hated. No accompanist is named on the label and I haven't able to discover who the pianist might be.

Also in 1928, John McCormack recorded the wrenching ballad "The Irish Emigrant," written in the mid-19th century by Lady Dufferin and George Barker. This is a remarkable record, surely the best of this group.

"The Irish Emigrant" cigarette card

Moving on to 1936, we have the lighter-hearted "Laughing Irish Eyes" from veteran American bandleader Johnny Johnson, with a pleasing vocal by Lee Johnson. The budget label Melotone records issued this disc.

English violist Watson Forbes recorded William Alwyn's "Two Folk Tunes" in 1940 with harpist Maria Korchinska. The composer contrasts a Norwegian tune with an Irish air. Forbes was a distinguished figure, but he is not note-perfect here.

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears by Cecil Beaton

Last October I discussed John McCormack's recording of Yeats' "Down by the Salley Gardens" in the setting by Herbert Hughes. Benjamin Britten set the poem under the title "The Sally Gardens" in his first volume of Folk Song Arrangements. In this 1944 recording the composer accompanies Peter Pears.

Charlie Spivak

James Royce Shannon's "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" was written for a 1914 Chauncey Olcott show, Shameen Dhu. It did well at the time in Olcott's recording, and its popularity was renewed when it was included in Bing Crosby's 1944 film Going My Way. The playlist has a relatively unfamiliar instrumental version from big-toned trumpeter Charlie Spivak and his band.

In 1945, Boyd Neel took his orchestra into Decca's West Hampstead Studios for our final version of "Molly on the Shore," in Grainger's arrangement for strings.

The next year, comic Morey Amsterdam (last discussed here for not having written "Rum and Coca-Cola") decided to revive an old vaudeville song, "With His Wonderful Irish Brogue," which dates back to at least 1918. This was for the small Crown label.

Fred Lowery

"My Wild Irish Rose" returns in a version from Fred Lowery, probably the most recorded and popular whistler of all time. A big-band veteran, Lowery would achieve his greatest hit with "The High and the Mighty" theme in 1954. This one has the same eerie quality that helped make "The High and the Mighty" a success.

It wouldn't be an Irish-themed collection without hearing from Bing Crosby. I've included one of his lesser-known songs, "My Girl's an Irish Girl," the flip side of "Galway Bay," a 1948 coupling. Victor Young leads the band.

John McCormack died in 1944, and in 1948 another Irish tenor, Michael O'Higgins, put out the tribute song "When McCormack Sang Mother Machree" on the small American Beauty Recordings label. O'Higgins was a music professor at the University of Dublin.

Glamorous Freddy Morgan

In 1949, Spike Jones wreaked his usual havoc with "MacNamara's Band," featuring a decidedly inebriated sounding "I. W. Harper and The Four Fifths" on vocals. (I. W. Harper was a then-popular bourbon.) I believe "Harper" is actually Freddy Morgan. The conceit here is that MacNamara heard Spike's records and decided to imitate his sound, at which point the Irish deported him.

At long last, we come to our first version of "The Irish Washerwoman," a traditional tune played throughout the British Isles. Here we have Leroy Anderson's arrangement from his Irish Suite, written for the Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler. This recording dates from 1950. You can hear Anderson's own version of the Irish Suite via this post. I've newly remastered the sound both of that recording and its companion, a Fiedler collection of Leroy Anderson compositions.

The Pinetoppers

"The Irish Washerwoman" returns disguised as an "Irish Polka" in our next selection, dating from 1952. The artists were the country group The Pinetoppers, who were led by songwriter Vaughn Horton, the author of "Mule Skinner Blues," "Sugar Foot Rag" and "Mockin' Bird Hill," not to mention Louis Jordan's classic "Choo-Choo Ch'Boogie." The "Irish Polka" is attributed to "Paddy Hogan." My guess is Hogan was Horton under another name.

Perhaps fittingly, we close our collection with a song that has nothing whatsoever to do with Ireland or Irish music, but does lend its name to this collection. "English Muffins and Irish Stew" was a pop song by the well-known writers Moose Charlap and Bob Hilliard, here recorded by Brooklyn's Sylvia Syms. Unaccountably, it turns out to be a mock calypso!

The Cash Box, July 28, 1956

As usual with these collections, the raw material came from lossless needle drops found on Internet Archive and refurbished by me. The sound is quite good - even for the records that are now 100+ years old.

A pleasant St. Patrick's Day to all from your one-quarter Irish blogger!

Buster's Smoochy Valentine Collection

I reckon that I am as romantic as the next blogger, and to prove it, I have put together Buster's Smoochy Valentine Collection. It consists of 23 songs from 1908 to 1955, all with "cupid" or "valentine" in the title, except for a couple of renegades as discussed below.

This is a wonderfully varied collection, but I want to caution you that even though my namesake above has been caught in the grasp of overwhelming emotion, these records are not designed to induce romantic feelings. That is, unless you and your significant other can find some erotic interest in old vaudeville routines, polkas with the likes of Bedrich Smeage and His Eight Aces, and records featuring Arnold Stang. If so, these songs will be just the thing for your special night and my best wishes to you both.

As is my custom with these assemblages, let me discuss each selection in chronological order.

Ada Jones and Len Spencer

The oldest comes from 1908 and is straight from the vaudeville stage. Ada Jones and Len Spencer, two of the stars of the day, present a well-honed German ethnic routine, "Katrina's Valentine," a "descriptive specialty" in the not-terribly-descriptive description on the Victor label. It's amazing to me how clear this 112-year-old recording sounds, but the acoustic method was better with voices than instruments.

Herbert L. Clarke

That said, cornet virtuoso Herbert L. Clarke also sounds very good in his 1909 disc of "Ah! Cupid," a number from Victor Herbert's first operetta, Prince Ananias, dating from 1894. I raised the pitch of this one - it dragged as transferred. I believe brass bands of the time did use a high concert pitch.

From 1911 comes another instrumental, "Spying Cupid," written by the "Boy Trumpet Wonder," B.A. Rolfe, here in a version by the English Gramophone Company's house band, the Peerless Orchestra.

Grace Kerns, Andrea Sarto, Reed Miller

"When Cupid Calls" was the closing number from Victor Jacobi's 1916 musical Sybil, on Broadway when this record was made. It was done for Columbia by three noted vocalists of the time, Grace Kerns, Andrea Sarto and Reed Miller.

Next is a group that has appeared before on my other blog - the English Singers, who were important both for reviving the madrigal repertoire and for championing contemporary composers such as Peter Warlock. This 1922 recording of Thomas Bateson's 17th century madrigal "Cupid in a Bed of Roses" was one of their first, made for HMV. At the time, the group included tenor Steuart Wilson, who has appeared on this blog as a solo artist.

Moving away from valentines and cupid for a moment, I did want to include an example of the famous tune "Hearts and Flowers," a sugary specialty if ever there was one, in what is perhaps the only straight-faced version I have ever encountered, dating from 1923 and coming from the Aeolian String Trio. In case you have ever wondered (and I would wonder why if you did), this melody was published by Theodore Moses-Tobani in 1894, but was lifted from a march by the Hungarian composer Alphons Czibulka.

Billy Murray

I've included two versions of "Hearts and Flowers" in this collection, also two versions of the less familiar song "Jimmy Valentine." This song-story seems to have been taken from, or at least inspired by, the 1928 film Alias Jimmy Valentine, based on a famous O. Henry story. The amazingly prolific recording artist Billy Murray and Nat Shilkret's Victor Orchestra present a polished version of the Edward Madden-Gus Edwards song. This is the first electrical recording in the collection.

"Valentine" is a ribald and somewhat distasteful song made somehow irresistible by Maurice Chevalier in this 1928 recording issued in conjunction with the film Innocents of Paris, Chevalier's first American film. This was near the beginning of the singer's career and only a few years after he introduced the song, which would be thereafter identified with him.

Fats Waller and admirers

"Valentine Stomp" is a 1929 recording from its composer, the fabulous stride pianist Fats Waller. These days the short-lived Waller is known for his outsized personality, entertaining vocals and small combo recordings, but in a just world his astonishing pianism would be the main source of his fame.

Marion Harris

The next selection, "He's My Secret Passion," is just an excuse for me to include one of my favorite vocalists, Marion Harris. This Brunswick record, made in 1930 when Harris was 34, was near the end of her recording career. Her detailed interpretation, excellent diction and complete involvement are ideal, in my view.

Cole McElroy was more of an impresario than a musician - he ran dance halls and led dance bands in the Pacific Northwest for years. Cole McElroy's Spanish Ballroom Orchestra took its name from the leader's Portland dance emporium. The vocal on its 1931 recording of "Cupid's Holiday" is by Myer Alexander, who later became Jeff Alexander, a well-known conductor and composer for radio, television and films.

Cole McElroy and band

"Hearts and Flowers" makes its second appearance in a 1938 jazz interpretation from Matty Malneck, ex-Whiteman violinist who was then leading a swing combo. It sounds like he employed harp, accordion, vibes and muted trumpet along with his violin in the attractive ensemble sound here. The discography doesn't list the an accordionist, but perhaps pianist Bobby Van Eps handled the wheeze box.

Jabbo Smith by R. Crumb

The next song, "How Can Cupid Be So Stupid," also from 1938, comes from one of the unsung greats of the swing era, Jabbo Smith. As a trumpeter, Smith was notable for his beautiful tone and lyrical approach. Smith also sings on this record. While his playing as clearly influenced by Louis Armstrong, his vocals are nothing like that of Pops. This enjoyable side marked Smith's last swing-era recording. He was to make a comeback 30 years later.

The fine swing band of ex-Miller reed man Hal McIntyre provides this set's first, inevitable reading of "My Funny Valentine." It boasts strong vocal work from Ruth Gaylor, whose singing brightened many of the big bands of the day without her ever becoming famous. Gaylor clearly has been listening to Helen Forrest - not such a bad model to follow. This Decca side dates from late 1944. Some of Hal's later recordings have appeared here.

Ruth Gaylor sings, Hal McIntyre beams in approval

Now on to a polka, which I know you have been waiting for. Bedrich Smeage and His Eight Aces were a Czech group from (I believe) Michigan. He recorded his "Valentine Polka" for Signature circa 1945. Smeage later did a few numbers for RCA and small Michigan labels.

The prolific trumpeter-vocalist Louis Prima weighs in with "My Valentine," which Majestic released in 1946. Louis surprises us (me, anyway) by turning the vocal duties over to Jack Powers, not that I am complaining.

Next, another polka (or "polka-mazurka"), this one from Joseph Snihur, proclaimed as the "Polka King" on this circa 1946 Sonart release. The decidedly more popular Frankie Yankovic would soon wrest the royal title away. Snihur, of Ukrainian descent, was based in New Jersey and often advertised in the local ethnic newspapers. This rough-and-ready performance is enjoyably gusty.

Arnold Stang

Remember "Jimmy Valentine," whom we covered back in 1928? Nineteen years later, the Lyn Duddy Swing Choir thought it might be a good idea to resurrect the song, give it some new lyrics, and employ the nasal squawk of Arnold Stang as the title character for this M-G-M recording. Stang was even then a star on the radio, and would become an even bigger star on television, where his tiny stature and bug-eyed appearance was a perfect complement to his uber-nerd voice.

Now on to a few songs that could actually be accused of being romantic. First is a 1947 recording from the great Gordon Jenkins, a superior reading of "My Funny Valentine" with a casual yet intimate vocal from Charles LaVere. The singer was by trade a pianist, whose day job at the time was in John Scott Trotter's band on the Bing Crosby radio show. Somehow he started singing with Jenkins on record, and soon they had a hit with "Maybe You'll Be There." I am preparing a post highlighting both LaVere's vocal and jazz talents.

Vocalist Jack Carroll joins us for "The Valentine Song," assisted by the Honeydreamers and Bill MacCrae's band. This was done for the small VITAcoustic label in 1947. Carroll would later become a busy studio singer. His Christmas LP appeared on this blog a number of years ago. The Honeydreamers also have been featured here.

The excellent pianist Paul Smith taped his composition "Cupid Took Me for a Ride" for the Discovery label in 1950. Tony Rizzi is the fine guitarist you hear.

Now on to one of my favorites from the set - Blackie Crawford and the Western Cherokees with their Western swing recording of "Stupid Cupid" (not the Connie Francis tune, I probably don't need to add). Blackie and the gang did this one for the Coral label in 1950. Although I doubt many of you have heard of this group, they did have a distinguished pedigree, having served as the backing band for Lefty Frizzell, George Jones and Ray Price. Read more about them in this excellent article.

We close with "Cupid" from the little-known McDonald Sisters, recorded for Modern in 1955. Although the artists' name might be unfamiliar, their sound is not - they were a vocal clone of the Chordettes.

All recordings were remastered by me from lossless originals found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally quite good - even from the acoustics.

Have a nice Valentine's Day, everyone!