h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There's a joke that goes:

"What kind of music do you like?"

"Sinatra."

"Oh, you're into Classical Music."



This journal is my salute to the crooners who dominated popular music
from the 30's through the early 60's. I was born in the middle of this era, so I grew up watching Sinatra in movies and Dean Martin on TV. Sometimes I would hear Johnny Mathis on the radio.

Crooning was made possible by advances in the microphone in the early part of the 20th Century. By the late 20's, singers who didn't have powerful voices could nevertheless hope for stardom by leanring to sing right into the microphone. Certainly that was how things turned out for Rudy Valley. As time went by, crooning was perfected so that its warm, relaxed, and mellow sound could vault the best practioners into superstardom.

By the early 40s, Bing Crosby had become the crooner par excellence. A decade or so later, another superstar -- Frank Sinatra -- was in demand for movie roles and personal apperances. Not far behind them were such luminaries as Tony Bennett and Perry Como. By the late 50s there was a whole flock of crooners waiting to take their place: Mel Torme, Eddy Fisher, Vic Damone, Johnny Mathis and Dean Martin among them.

Amazingly, some of them are still alive and active. Tony Bennett's web site says: "He remains a popular and critically praised recording artist and concert performer in the 2010s." Not bad for a guy in his late 80s. I heard him sing on television a few years ago. He sounded very impressive. "I left my heart in San Francisco," first recorded in 1962, is considered his signature song.

Johnny Mathis is still alive at 77, and may still make appearances. His career went strong through the 90s, though he incorporated some soft rock into his repertoire. He sang at a venue in Florida in 2009, according to Wikipedia. A 2010 article says: "At 74, Mathis is into the victory-lap phase of his career. He has nothing to prove at this point, and yet he still gets out to sing for the folks - including at a two-night stand this weekend with the N.C. Symphony."

Did women singers croon, too? Yes, of course. Think Ann Miller's "Why can't you behave?" in the film "Kiss Me Kate." Speaking of Kate, there was some very fine crooning done by Kate Smith, especially in "When the moon comes over the mountain," the theme song for her popular radio show. Kate retired from public view for a while, but came back strong in the 1960s. Crooning was beginning to seem old hat by then, so Kate altered her style to do more belting.

Mary Martin, who excelled in musical theater work, was an excellent crooner. "Speak Low," from Kurt Weill's "One Touch of Venus," was a classic example of her crooning.

Practically any singer of that era could manage to croon if the circumstances required it. In the 1936 film "Born to Dance," Jimmy Stewart did a more than respectable job crooning Cole Porter's "You'd be so Easy to Love." Tough-guy actor James Cagney did some crooning in the movie musical "Footlight Parade."

Some interesting stuff there. I popped into the world at the end of 1952 so I'm familiar with, and indeed like very much, some of the performers you mention. My parents bought many of the soundtracks of filmshows you mentioned: Kiss Me Kate to mention just one. I love the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's version of I Left My Heart in San Francisco. I know some think it's a cruel parodody, it's not, they really loved it as I do, Tony Bennett has lasted so long! He's made some great stuff.
Then came along the 60s and the revolution of pop/rock, call it what you want. Some timeless stuff there too (witness the recent media coverage of Hal David's death).
Despite the massive impact that pop groups had, the crooners et al, didn't get washed away. They still remained popular and still do today. Just goes to show that it really doesn't matter when music was made or who interpreted it, quality will always show.

Hi, Lapislzauli. Thanks for dropping in. Hal Davis/Burt Bacharach were quite a songwriting team. "Promises, Promises" was revived recently, and I have the original cast recording. Listen to any "best of" CD by Tom Jones or Dionne Warwick, and you'll hear a few songs by that songwriting pair. [For what it's worth, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick were cousins!]

You're right that quality will always show. It's hard to spot on a busy street, though . Looking back at the 60's, say, from a distance of 40 or 50 years puts things in a bit of perspective. The Beatles still sound great. Elvis is still hanging in there. Julie Andrews's early-career work is still much appreciated. On the other hand, Kate Smith's late-career singing has dropped off the radar entirely. CDs of The Monkees still sell in the stores. The Rolling Stones are still hot rocks. However, the folk music scene which seemed everywhere in the 60's is pretty much gone from current public awareness. Peter, Paul and Mary are still there, as are Simon and Garfunkel. Other groups have vanished, though: The Kingston Trio, the New Christy Minstrels, The Chad Mitchell Trio, etc. Bob Dylan is still popular,of course, but he had a long career with ventures into country music, rock music, and more. John Denver's popularity came *after* the 60's when he turned to country music. Joan Baez is only for folk diehards nowadays . Donovan is still represented in the stores [I checked the other day]. Sweet Honey in the Rock? There really was a group by that name, but it's pretty much forgotten as far as I can tell.