Saturday, February 14, 2009

Let's!

I started up iTunes on my laptop this morning and ordered the songs alphabetically. I was looking to see how many versions of "Star Dust" I had (according to Will Friedwald's book Stardust Melodies, the song's proper name is spelled "Star Dust", not, as it often is, "Stardust.") Turns out I have three, the definitive vocalized version by Nat King Cole, the definitive version, period, by Artie Shaw, and a 1951 version by Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars. A few rows above "Star Dust" on the display was "St. Louis Blues", another song Friedwald covers in his terrific book, and one of the classic jazz tunes of all-time. I have three versions of that also, by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, with a terrific vocal by Bing Crosby (who, in his very early days, was a terrific jazz singer), and a 1947 version by Jack Teagarden and his Big Eight. That got me interested so I started to scroll through the listing of my nearly 1600 iTunes songs to see which songs I had the most versions of. I include in the list below all songs that I've got at least three versions of on iTunes. (I have countless songs with two versions, and none with five.) To go with the two songs mentioned above, the list turns out to be a pretty good survey of The Great American Songbook, with a sprinkling of great jazz. Here's the list:

I've got three versions of "Ain't Misbehavin'," three of "Dancing On The Ceiling," four of "Embraceable You," three of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," three of "I've Got The World On A String," three of "I've Got You Under My Skin," three of "I Get A Kick Out Of You," three of "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues," three of "Isn't It Romantic?," three of "It's Delovely," three of "It's Easy To Remember," three of "It Might As Well Be Spring," four of "Just One Of Those Things," three of "The Man I Love," four of "My Funny Valentine" (also included in Friedwald's book,) three of "Night And Day" (ditto,) three of "The Sunny Side of The Street," three of "One For My Baby," three of "Our Love Is Here To Stay," three of "Pennies From Heaven," four of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," three of "Solitude," three of "Stormy Weather," three of "Too Marvelous For Words," three of "The Very Thought of You," four of "The Way You Look Tonight," four of "White Christmas," three of "Yesterdays," and three of "You Took Advantage Of Me." Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, and Johnny Mercer, perhaps the six most important men responsible for what we now refer to as "The Great American Songbook" are all well-represented here.

As I scrolled through something else caught my attention: songs that begin with the contraction "Let's." I've got twelve songs of that description. And I thought, hey, that would be a good idea for a compilation record, or at least a personal playlist. It could be titled simply (like this post) "Let's!" Let's do what? Well, a lot of things, according to the list, though the most popular deed would be, to quote Cole Porter, "Let's Do It." Yes, yes, I know Porter ends each verse of this marvelous list song with the words, "Let's fall in love" but that's not what he's talking about, and we all know it. The song's opening lines of the verse tell you all you need to know:

Birds do it
Bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it


It's at this point that Porter averts attention from his real meaning by suggesting "Let's Fall in Love." Which is nonsense. If you need more convincing the entire marvelous lyric is easily googled.

To be sure, there are a few other concerns on the "Let's!" list. Not everything in life is about that. So here's the list of the songs and their performers. Where possible, I've linked you to the song over on imeem. A couple of times I could not find the version I've got on ITunes so I've linked you to another performer's version. Of particular interest are Billie Holiday's "Let's Do It," Irving Aaronson's "Let's Misbehave" (another Cole Porter song, written in the same year as "Let's Do It," 1928, and with the same subject,) Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which is one of my desert island songs. So, here's "Let's!":

Let's Begin (Ella Fitzgerald)
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Ella and Louis Armstrong)
Let's Do It (Billie Holiday)
Let's Face The Music and Dance (Rosemary Clooney)
Let's Fall In Love (Lee Wiley, linked version by Nat King Cole)
Let's Just Pretend (Jo Stafford)
Let's Misbehave (Irving Aaronson and The Commanders)
Let's Put Our Heads Together (Henry "Red" Allen)
Let's Take the Long Way Home (Jo Stafford, linked version by Rosemary Clooney)
Let's Get It On (Marvin Gaye)
Let's Spend the Night Together (The Rolling Stones)
Let's Stay Together (Al Green)

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