Charles Strouse
Overview
Composer Strouse worked with lyricist Lee Adams. After the show 'Applause' the team went their separate ways. Since then, Strouse has worked with such collaborators as Steven Schwartz, on a show called 'Rags'; with Martin Charnin on the show 'Annie'; and with Sammy Cahn on the show 'Bojangles'. He has also worked with Alan Jay Lerner.
1960 "Scored show 'Bye Bye Birdie', starred Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera.
"Kids"
"Put On A Happy Face"
"We Love You Conrad"
"One Boy"
1962 The show 'All American', Mel Brooks libretto. 80 performances.
1964 The show 'Golden Boy' starred Sammy Davis, Jr. 589 performances.
1966 The show 'It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman'. 129
performances. Hal Prince directed.
1970 The show 'Applause'. An adaptation of a 1950 film 'All About Eve',
starred Lauren Bacall. Libretto by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
1977 The show 'Annie', Martin Charnin lyrics. "Tomorrow" hit song.
Jule Styne
b. 1905, London, England, d. 1994, New York, NY, USA.
né: Julius Kerwin Styne
AKA: Jules Stein
Overview
Jule was a child prodigy whose performances amazed concert audiences. When he was just 8, his (Ukrainian) parents brought him to America, where, at age 9, he played solo piano with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He entered films in the 1930s as a vocal coach, arranger and conductor. Styne wrote a number of classic songs including "I'll Walk Alone", "It's Magic", and "It Seems I Heard That Song Before". His talent for composing infectious, buoyant melodies enabled him to work on many Broadway and film scores.
Early on, he worked as a pianist with some Chicago Jazz bands. In 1927, at the age of 22, he collaborated on a song called "Sunday." In 1931, Jule formed his own dance band with which he supported himself until, in 1938, Twentieth Century-Fox signed him as a vocal coach and composer/arranger. He worked on comedies starring Joan Davis and also the Ritz Brothers, and was a vocal coach for Alice Faye and Shirley Temple. He wrote some successful songs, with lyrics by Frank Loesser, that were interpolated in various films, including:
For film, 'Sailors on Leave', they wrote,
"Since You"
For film, 'Priorities on Parade', they wrote,
"Conchita, Marquita, Lolita"
For film, 'Sweater Girl', they wrote,
"I Don't Want To Walk Without You"
In the 1940's.
He moved from Fox to Republic Pictures, where he worked on low-budget
Westerns, writing songs for Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.
But in 1942, Jule met lyricist Sammy Cahn. It was the start of a team that would produce one hit after another. He had two big hits
1942, "I've Heard That Song Before,", sung by Frank Sinatra. From film 'Youth On Parade'
1943, "I Don't Want to Walk Without You", in film, 'Sweater Girl'.
1943, "I've Heard That Song Before", from film 'Youth on Parade'.
1944,
They worked for Universal Pictures in 1944, and had a hit with
1944 "I'll Walk Alone", in the film 'Follow the Boys'
Starting in 1945, he had a number of hits while working at MGM. Among
the songs they wrote over the following THREE years, are:
"It's Been a Long, Long Time"
"Poor Little Rhode Island"
"Let It Snow, Let It Snow" 1946
"The Things We DId Last Summer" 1946
"Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night in the Week" 1945
"It's Been A Long, Long Time" 1945
"There Goes That Song Again", in film 'Carolina Blues'
"What Makes the Sun Set"
"I Begged Her", from film 'Anchors Aweigh'
"I'm Glad I Waited for You", from film 'Tars and Spars'
"Five Minutes More", from film 'Sweetheart of Sigma Chi' 1946
"I Love an Old-Fashioned Song"
"You're the Cause of It All", from film 'The Kid From Brooklyn'
"I've Never Forgotten", from film 'Earl Carroll Sketchbook'
From 1947 film, 'Ladies' Man', the songs,
"I Gotta Gal I Love (In North And South Dakota)", lyric by Sammy Cahn.
"What Am I Gonna Do About You?", with a Sammy Cahn Lyric.
From film, 'It Happened in Brooklyn', the songs,
"It's the Same Old Dream"
"I Believe"
"Time After Time"
From 'Romance on the High Seas'
"It's Magic" 1948
"Three Coins in the Fountain", Academy Award Winning tune 1954
Styne and Cahn had an unsuccessful Broadway show in 1944 'Glad to See You'.
(The show expired in it's Boston opening.)
But In 1947, Jule began working on Broadway musicals, which he found more
challenging than Hollywood. Styne and Cahn had their first Broadway smash hit
with 'High Button Shoes, starring Nanette Fabray and Phil Silvers. It ran
for over 700 performances, and had such hit songs as:
"Papa, Won't You Dance With Me"
"I Still Get Jealous"
In 1949, the Broadway show 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' also ran for more
than 700 performances. This time, Jule Styne wrote to the lyrics of Leo Robin.
In this show, Carol Channing became a star singing such songs as:
"Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend"
"I'm Just a Little Girl From Little Rock"
1951 the Broadway show 'Two on the Aisle', starred Bert Lahr
1953 the Broadway show 'Hazel Flagg', had the song,
"How Do You Speak to an Angel", lyric by Bob Hilliard
1954 the Broadway show 'Peter Pan', starring Mary Martin, had three of Styne's songs.
1956 Another Broadway smash hit 'Bells Are Ringing', with lyrics by the great team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Judy Holliday, in her first Broadway appearance, sang:
"Long Before I Knew You"
"The Party's Over"
"Just in Time"
1958 the Broadway show 'Say Darling' had several Styne songs
"Dance Only With Me", lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
1959 the Broadway show ' Gypsy', with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,
"Everything's Coming Up Roses"
"Together"
"You'll Never Get Away From Me"
1960 the Broadway show 'Do Re Mi', with lyrics by Comden and Green, brought Phil Silvers back to Broadway after 10 years.
"Make Someone Happy"
"Cry Like the Wind"
1961 the Broadway show, 'Subways are for Sleeping', again with yrics by Comden and Green.
1964 the Broadway show 'Funny Girl'
'Gypsy', 'Bells Are Ringing' and 'Funny Girl' were filmed in 1960, 1962 and 1968 respectively.
Most composers worked on Broadway shows before being called to Hollywood. Jule reversed that. He spent ten years writing for films before his successful Broadway career.
He is a member of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Kay Swift
b. April 19, 1903, New York, NY, USA. d. Jan. 1993, Age: 96
Overview
Here's a photo of the very beautiful Kay Swift, an extremely talented, and fiercely independent young lady. (Photo Property of the 'Kay Swift Trust'). She is usually credited with being the first female composer to write an entire Broadway musical score. However, strictly speaking, Kay wasn't the first lady to write a Broadway score. That honor must fall to
Alma Sanders, and her husband Monte Carlo. However, since the Sanders/Carlo shows were all short lived, and their tunes now mostly forgotten, it is perhaps fitting to credit Swift with the honor since her show Fine and Dandy was a huge hit, and her tunes are still song today. Additionally, Dorothy Fields, daughter of the great vaudevillian Lew Fields, had been writing lyrics for some time, - though no score. Swift worked closely with George Gershwin both as an unofficial assistant, and later as a posthumous collaborator. And perhaps, just perhaps, it is the Gershwin-esque quality of her compositions that have brought her songs such fame.
Swift came from a very cultured middle-class family. Her father, a syndicated music critic for the New York Evening Mail and several eastern U.S. newspapers, saw to it that his daughter had a good education in classical music composition and theory.
In 1917, Swift was working as a paid entertainer at an afternoon tea party given by the Warburg banking family, where their dashing scion, Paul James Warburg, met the piano player. One year later they wed. Kay, and Jimmy would have three children. Warburg loved writing poetry, and subsequently penned the lyrics to many of Kay's compositions.
In 1925, George Gershwin, newly famous thanks to his "Rhapsody in Blue", introduced by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at New York's Aeolian Hall, came in to entertain the society folks at one of those wild, roaring 1920s type parties that Kay and Jimmy gave at their townhouse. It was just one of those things (sorry Cole Porter). George and Kay began an affair lasting, on and off, until Gershwin's death in 1937.
Gershwin found Kay to be a very able pianist, and encouraged her to become a professional songwriter, -with her husband as lyricist! (It was the start of a ménage à trois, with all three eventually winding up on a psychiatrist's couch (but not at the same psychiatrist, or at the same time). Though she was never able to lead Gershwin to the altar, Kay was surely the great love of Gershwin's life. On the pages of virtually every Gershwin biography, Kay is referred to as 'the woman-George-should-have-married'.
In 1927, Gershwin induced composer, Richard Rodgers (then working with the wonderful lyricist Lorenz Hart ) to use Swift as the rehearsal pianist on Rodgers & Hart's musical A Connecticut Yankee. In 1928, three years into the Gershwin/Swift affair, the show Say When, with a book by Marc Connelly, opened on Broadway, and ran for
two weeks. For this show, Swift and hubby Jimmy (now using the pen name of Paul James, - his first two given names) collaborated on Swift's first pop songs. (sadly, -apparently now lost.) There were song interpolations by still others too, including one item by then New York city Mayor James J. Walker -an ex-lyricist himself. In 1929, Swift and her hubby did much better. For the Dietz and Schwartz revue The Little Show of 1929, the couple penned the moody ballad "Can't We Be Friends?", which has since become something of a 'torch' standard (and rightfully so).
In early 1930, some of their tunes were interpolated into Broadway shows. Neither one was using the family name at the time. Warburg was using the nom de plume of Paul James, and Kay used her maiden name. Then, Kay and Paul decided to write their first, and only, full musical comedy score (bankrolled by Warburg and some of his friends). The 1930 Broadway musical 'Fine and Dandy', with it's two big hit songs, -the very peppy theme "Fine and Dandy", and a moody ballad "Can This Be Love"- became their biggest success. Paul James also wrote some lively lyrics to Swift's other 14 songs for the show including "Can This Be Love?", "Starting at the Bottom", "Rich or Poor," "The Jig-Hop," and "Let's Go Eat Worms in the Garden". (Sidenote: In 2004, 'PS Classics, Inc.' released a CD re-creating much of the show's music in a new CD with Musical Direction by Aaron Gandy (http://www.psclassics.org) 'Fine and Dandy ran for 255 performances; -not all that shabby considering that it opened within a year of the great 1929 Stock Market crash.
Kay and Warburg finally divorced in 1934, while her affair with Gershwin continued. It has always been the general consensus that Gershwin helped Kay with her music, but -sometimes - when listening to Swift's songs, one wonders if the Gershwin-Swift relationship wasn't indeed mutually beneficial.
As Gershwin was writing his extrordinary and wonderful opera, "Porgy and Bess", Kay was writing Alma Mater, for George Balanchine's American Ballet Theatre. In 1935-1936, Kay worked as staff composer at New York's famed 'Radio City Music Hall', and during 1939, she was Supervisor of Music for the 'New York World's Fair'. Her only subsequent Broadway score was for 1952's Paris '90, Cornelia Otis Skinner's one-woman show which ran for 87 performances. (Cast album released in 2003. DRG 19034). Kay was 96 when she passed away.
Marty Symes
b. 1904, New York (Brooklyn), N.Y., d. 1953, Forest Hills, NY, USA.
Overview
Marty was a lyricist who was most active during the 1930's and '40's. His most famous lyric was 1933's "Under a Blanket of Blue", and "The Talk of the Town".
1936 "There Is No Greater Love", Composer Isham Jones' big hit.
Irving Szathmary
aka: Sometimes used the name 'Szath-Myri'.
aka: Sometimes, he simply used only his surname 'Szathmary'.
Arranger, Song writer and Conductor.
Irving is the brother of comedian Bill Dana (né: William Szathmary. Bill is best remembered for his role of Jose Jiminez on the Steve Allen TV Show). Irving wrote one song that was a moderate hit, "Leave It to Love" which was based on his instrumental "Time to Dance". His specialty was what he called "symphonic swing", sometime "swingphonic swing".
I first became aware of him in 1940 when he made a batch of transcriptions for Associated (Muzak). Many of them were marvellous instrumental arrangements of songs like "Mood Indigo", "Tea for Two" and "Let's Be Buddies". He also had arrangements of songs with a male vocalist (Floyd Sherman), a female vocalist (unknown) and a seven member vocal group called "The Seven Singing Serenaders". One of their songs, "I Am An American", now forgotten, would be appropriate today. They also did "The Call of the Canyon" which could be a Billy Hill number.
Later, Szathmary became the A & R man for the Lang-Worth transcription company. He made many great transcriptions most of which utilized his theme and variation orchestrations. (Among his 1940 Muzak arrangements was a theme and many variations of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill". For Lang-Worth, he had a sensational arrangement of "Gambler's Blues" which is "St.James Infirmary".
In the 1960s, he wrote the themesong and conducted background music for the TV show "Get Smart", on which his brother Bill Dana starred. That's all I know about him. I don't know if he ever recorded for a real record company (non-transcription).
Our thanks to Mr. J. Adams for the above entry on Irving Szathmary.
Cynthia Strother
b. Oct. 4, 1935, Kentucky, USA
aka: Cynthia Bell
Part of the duo Bell Sisters
There were actually 7 Strother children - syblings of a humble electrician. Cynthia (16), and Kay (11) were discovered on October 31, 1951, singing "Bermuda" on a Los Angeles television program called "Peter Potter's Search for a Song." That song, which Cynthia wrote, was picked up that night by a music publisher who was one of the judges of the evening's amateur compositions.
Within just one week, the young duo cut a demo of the song in Hollywood for Henri Rene, then the West Coast A & R man for RCA Records. Here's a photo of Henri Rene with the young Bell Sisters , -Cynthia is in the center. At this session, Mr. Rene liked the girl's self-arranged vocal harmonies so much, he decided they should record the song for RCA themselves. In early 1952, the song "Bermuda", recorded by RCA, with Henri Rene and his Orchestra, sold over one million copies and reached #7 on the Billboard charts.
Cynthia and Kay, adopting their mother's maiden name of Bell for their act, enjoyed a rollercoaster ride of success, eventually releasing eleven records (22 songs) for RCA and hitting the charts again with "Wheel of Fortune" (up to #10) and "Hambone" (recorded with Phil Harris Orch., and charting as high as #19).
The young ladies worked with and shared stages with all the greats: Kay Starr, Rosemary Clooney, Lucille Ball, Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Mel Torme. They also appeared on many popular radio and television programs, including Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson Show, the Colgate Comedy Hour, the Frank Sinatra Show, the Perry Como Show, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and the Dinah Shore Show. The girls also appeared in several films including "Cruisin' Down the River" (Columbia), "Those Redheads from Seattle" (Paramount), and "Les Brown Goes to Town," (Universal - a B&W film short). Here's a Clip from that film with Les Brown introducing the Bell Sisters (née: Kay and Cynthia Strother) singing Cynthia's own hit composition "Bermuda". (Please note that this is a million Byte file, and users with slower modems may have to wait a few minutes for the file to load.) The young girls also did two tours of Korea with the USO.
The Bell Sisters reached their peak in 1952-1953, and continued to perform around the United States at state fairs and by doing charity telethons for several years. They were excellent acapella singers and were very popular at military hospitals and bases, where they frequently had to perform without a band. Here's a video captured photo of the Bell Sisters in 1955, now grown-up and no longer little girls. Eventually, though, the young ladies lost interest in performing and being "stars." Cynthia and Kay eventually settled down to raise their respective families - Cynthia went on to teach swimming to handicapped children and adults; Kay became an elementary school teacher. They are 66 and 61 today and look back on their career as Bell Sisters as one phase in their very active, full lives.
Among the songs that Cynthia composed are:
So Late, So Early (C.Strother - Sarr)
Baby Count Ten (C. Strother - Saar)
Something Japanese (C. Strother & K. Strother)
School Is Over (C. Strother)
The Big Goodbye (C. Strother)
Cynthia's song "Bermuda," their biggest hit, still earns royalties for Cynthia over 50 years later. It was most recently used in the soundtrack of the 1996 Gramercy film, "Grace of My Heart."
The Big Bands Database Plus thanks Mr. Rex Strother, nephew of the "Bell" Sisters for the above information which was largely based on information in the http://www.bellsisters.com Bell Sisters Website. Still more film clips and sound samples are available on that site.
Dana Suesse
b. 1909, Kansas City, MO, USA. d. Oct. 16, 1987/8, Age: 75
While still a child, Dana toured the Midwest vaudeville circuits. Her act consisted of Dancing and piano playing. During the show, she would ask the audience for a theme, and then proceed to take that theme weaving it into something of her own. In 1926, she and her family moved to New York City.
One of the things that Suesse did so well was to create larger scale pieces from which she would extrapolate a phrase and then set that tune to words collaborating with a lyricist. "My Silent Love" (which came from a larger piece called "Jazz Nocturne"), and "You Oughta Be in Pictures" are among her biggest popular hits. She collaborated with lyricist Eddie Haymen and they wrote some hits including "Ho-Hum". In 1936, Suesse, collaborating with lyricists Irving Kahal and Billy Rose, wrote "The Night is Young and You're So Beautiful". The Jan Garber, George Hall and Wayne King orchestras all recorded it in 1937, (and in 1951, Ray Anthony's orchestra made it a hit again). The same Kahal/Rose/Suesse team also wrote "Another Mile". With lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Suesse wrote "Moon About Town", and "Darn You".
The 1930s press called composer/pianist Dana Suesse "the girl Gershwin". Suesse studied piano under Franz Liszt's last surviving pupil in New York City, Alexander Siloti. She studied Composition under Rubin Goldmark, one of George Gershwin's teachers, and spent four years studying with Nadia Boulanger.
On the serious side, Paul Whiteman (following Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue) commissioned her to write "Concerto in 3 Rhythms" (she was 19 years old at the time.)
Dana was the wife of Courtney Burr (July 26, 1940 - June 29, 1954). Their marriage ended in a divorce.
Among the original Musical productions for which Dana composed are:
You Never Know (Sep 21, 1938 - Nov 26, 1938) [Musical Play] Additional music by Dana Suesse
Crazy With the Heat (Jan 14, 1941 - Jan 18, 1941) [Musical Revue] Music/Lyrics by Dana Suesse
It Takes Two (Feb 3, 1947 - Feb 8, 1947) [Comedy] Written by Dana Suesse
The Seven Year Itch (Nov 20, 1952 - Aug 13, 1955) [Comedy] Incidental music composed and arranged by: Dana Suesse
Golden Fleecing (Oct 15, 1959 - Dec 26, 1959) [Comedy] Incidental music by Dana Suesse
Einar Aaron Swan
b. March 20, 1903, Fitchburg, MA, USA, d. August 8, 1940, Greenwood Lake, NY, USA. (Stroke). Age: 37.
multi-instrumentalist/composer/lyricist/arranger
né: Einar William Swan. He later replaced 'William' with 'Aaron'.
Here's a 1927 photo of Einar Swan, who was born of Finnish parents in Fitchburg, MA. (Photo credit: Worcester Telegram, April 24, 1927). In 1899, his father, Matti Aleksinpoika Joutsen (b. Oct. 7, 1877, Evijärvi, Finland) emigrated from Finland, and in America, changed his name to John Matthew Swan. In 1900, Einar's mother (née: Edla Maria Aaltonen. b. April 1, 1877, Koski, Finland) emigrated. Apparently, Edla was a fine singer.
The Swan family lived in Cleveland, OH, for a few years before moving to Gardner, MA, in 1913. John Swan was a member of the Cleveland Saxophone Quartet (consisting of W. J. Lucas, soprano sax; T. L. Edwards, alto sax; John Swan, tenor sax; and William Llewellyn, baritone sax), and also played cornet and saxophone with William Kirk's band.
Out of the elder Swan's family of 8 children, 7 became working musicians, -Einar's sister,
Aina, was the only one that did not become a professional musician. Instead, she made writing her creative outlet and later, even she turned her hand to writing lyrics.
While still in High School, Einar (age: 16) was part of a trio that had a summer job in East Hampton, CT, with Swan on sax, Joseph Fagan on violin, and Henry Berman on piano. Two years later, Swan became a member of Benny Conn's band. In 1922, after graduating from high school, he formed his own group called "Swanie's Serenaders", consisting of Swan on tenor sax, Julius Levinsky on violin (and manager), Sammy Swenson on piano, Ernest Paul on drums, Joe Toscano on banjo, Oscar Werme on trombone, and Benny Conn on trumpet. (Benny Conn, Werme and Swan had previously played with 'The Fidelity Orchestra', of Worcester, MA.) A few years later, Werme had switched to playing the tuba, and joined 'Paul Whiteman's Leviathan Ochestra' (SS Leviathan), remaining with Whiteman for 4 years, and Swannie had left for an engagement at Roseland Gardens in New York city. It was during this time that Swan composed his greatest hit "When Your Lover Has Gone". In later years, famed Finnish-American trumpeter Sylvester Ahola recalled that the Serenaders were "a good, modern group, similar to Frank Ward's". (At the time, Ahola was playing with Ward, who led a popular New England 'territory' band.)
About this time, a serious family rupture occurred. Einar had discovered his two great loves; one was the then brand new music called Jazz, and the other love was Ann(a) "Billie" Kaufman, a beautiful young Jewish lady. His father's anger was about both. He had planned for Einar to have a career in Classical music, not Jazz, and was 'unhappy' about his son's love with Ann. So unhappy, that during an argument, he reportedly smashed his son's violin. Einar asserted his own independece by marrying "Billie", converting to the Jewish faith, -and even taking the middle name of Aaron. The family rupture was complete, and permanent. However, Einar and "Billie" would remain very happily married for the rest of their lives. (Anna Kaufman, 1904-1993, was b. Kiev, Russia. Ca. 1923, she married Einar. She had attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, but never pursued a musical career.)
Einar's first important job came in 1924, as a member, and arranger, of
'Sam Lanin's Roseland Orchestra'. Lanin had become resident at Roseland just after World War 1 ended. He would remain at Roseland for the next 13 years, during which time many Jazz stars would play with him, includung, Benny Goodman, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, the Dorsey brothers, Red Nichols, -and even Bing Crosby sang with the band. Tuba player Joe Tarto became one of the 21 year old Swan's new acquaintances. Tarto and Swan would co-compose "White Ghost Shivers" (recorded by the
New Orleans Owls, in 1926 -and still available), a tune that would again be heard 100 years later in the 2004 film, 'Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson', Swan remained with Lanin for 5 months before being signed by Vincent Lopez, and stayed with Lopez until 1930.
1925-1930 Vincent Lopez era.
In 1925, the Vincent Lopez Orchestra was booked by the William Morris Agency to play at the Kit-Cat Club, London, England, when it opened in May of that year. At the time, a young "Eino Swan" (age: 22) was playing reeds. (Vincent Lopez, b. Dec, 30, 1898, New York (Brooklyn), New York, USA. The Lopez family were Portuguese immigrant stock, and Vincent's father eked out a somewhat precarious living as a music teacher.) Eino Swan is the same person as Einar Swan, Einar was a multi-instrumentalist, but his main instruments were the reed family (i.e. clarinet & saxophone). At just age 24, he was already a well known musician who had mastered the violin and every other instrument in the band. It is said that he was the chief arranger for the Lopez band.
Arranger era:
In 1930, after leaving Lopez Einar did the totally unexpected. He stopped playing and devoted all his time to arranging for many different orchestras including
David Rubinoff, (for the 4 years after leaving Lopez),
Gustave Haenschen,
Raymond Paige, the Westinghouse Symphony, and even the (New York) Paramount Theatre orchestra. Paige later became the director for Radio City Music Hall (New York), where he worked with Al Stillman, putting on stage shows. Lyricist Stillman was married to Ann Kaufman's sister, Pauline. Stillman would go on to write all the songs for the theater's stage shows for the next 40 years.
Postscript:
Circa 1932, for reasons unknown, the elder John Swan deserted his family (leaving them in poverty), and moved to California, where he formed the 'Eureka Organ' factory, in Eureka, CA. On April 23, 1935, his wife Edla died. John did not attend the funeral. Einar's sister, Aina Swan Cutler, of North Carolina, was a lyricist, who among her other work, wrote English text to some of the Finnish pianist and composer Heikki Sarmanto's compositions.
Among Einar Swan's compositions are
"When Your Lover Has Gone", (599 kb) : Ethel Waters singing this wonderful 'Torch". Recorded: Feb. 10, 1931 New York, NY Columbia 2409-D (words and music: Einar Swan - his best known composition)
"When Your Lover Has Gone" (composer: Einar Aaron Swan);
This Ethel Waters' version has the verse:
"For ages and ages the poets and sages
of love wanted love always tame
but ask any lover and you'll soon discover
the heartache that romance can bring"
Chorus
"When you're alone who cares for starlit skies?
When you're alone the magic moonlight dies
At break of dawn there is no sunrise
When your lover has gone
What lonely hours the ev'ning shadows bring
What lonely hours with mem'ries lingering
Like faded flowers, life can't mean anything
When your lover has gone"
"When Your Lover Has Gone", (613 kb): This is an interesting version because it is a "Torch" song sung here by a Male singer, - Paul Small, singing with 'The Charleston Chasers ' on their last recording session Feb, 9, 1931 New York, NY Columbia 2404-D. In more recent years, another male singer tried his hand with this Torch.... Frank Sinatra.
"Trail of Dreams" (1926. music: Einar Swan - lyric: Raymond Klages) - rec'd by: Ben Bernie, Fred Rich, Harold Oxley, Johnny Kamp, Paul Specht, and Vincent Lopez
"A Room With A View" (1938 with lyric by Al Stillman) This tune should not be confused with the immensely more popular tune of the very same name composed by Noel Coward.
"In the Middle of a Dream" (Einar Swan; Al Stillman, Tommy Dorsey), a vocal score
"What Good is Scheming" (Lee Christopher Hamblin, Simon Alban Law, Einar Aaron Swan)
"White Ghost Shivers"
, (455 kb): The New Orleans Owls playing this song composed (ca. 1924) by Einar Swan and Joe Tarto). Originally recorded in 1926 by the New Orleans Owls. In 2004, it was again performed by The New Black Eagle Jazz Band for the Soundtrack for film 'Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson' (2004)
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