"In the Mood" to "Sing, Sing, Sing" Quiz

Answer: Take the "A" Train

Billie Strayhorn (1915-1967) met Duke Ellington in 1938 and soon afterwards began a partnership that would last until his (Strayhorn's) death in 1967. Ellington described Strayhorn as "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine."

The 'accepted' lyrics to the song were added in 1944 by Joya Sherrill, although Strayhorn did write his own lyrics along with the tune.

(quote taken from Wikipedia article on "Take the "A" Train")

"You must take the A train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem

If you miss the A train
You'll find you missed the quickest way to Harlem

Hurry, get on, now it's coming
Listen to those rails a-humming

All aboard, get on the A train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem"

Answer: Tuxedo Junction

Erskine Hawkins named the song "Tuxedo Junction" after a jazz and blues club in Birmingham, Alabama that was located in an area called the Tuxedo Junction. Why is the area called Tuxedo Junction? Because of a streetcar crossing at Tuxedo Park.

The song was originally written as an instrumental, but lyrics were added by Buddy Feyne after he learned the origin of the title.

"Feelin' low
Rockin' slow
I want to go
Right back where I belong
Way down south in Birmingham
I mean south in Alabam'
There's an old place where people go
To dance the night away
They all drive or walk for miles
To get jive that southern style
It's an old jive that makes you want
To dance till break of day
It's a junction where the town folks meet
At each function in a tux they greet you
Come on down, forget your care
Come on down, you'll find me there
So long town, I'm heading for
Tuxedo Junction now

Feelin' low
Rockin' slow
I want to go
Right back where I belong
Way down south in Birmingham
I mean south in Alabam'
There's an old place where people go
To dance the night away
They all drive or walk for miles
To get jive that southern style
It's an old jive that makes you want
To dance till break of day
It's a junction where the town folks meet
At each function in a tux they greet you
Come on down, forget your care
Come on down, you'll find me there
So long town, I'm heading for
Tuxedo Junction now
Tuxedo Junction now"

Answer: Moonlight Serenade

Although "Moonlight Serenade" was officially released in 1939, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra were already using the tune (unnamed) as their sign-off piece at engagements. It made it up to Number 3 on the Billboard charts that year, and stayed there for three months.

Shortly after the song's release, Tin Pan Alley lyricist Mitchell Parish added the lyrics we all know.

"I stand at your gate and the song that I sing is of moonlight
I stand and I wait for the touch of your hand in the June night
The roses are sighing a moonlight serenade
The stars are aglow and tonight how their light sets me dreaming
My love, do you know that your eyes are like stars brightly beaming?
I bring you and sing you a moonlight serenade
Let us stray till break of day in love's valley of dreams
Just you and I, a summer sky, a heavenly breeze kissing the trees
So don't let me wait, come to me tenderly in the June night
I stand at your gate and I sing you a song in the moonlight
A love song, my darling, a moonlight serenade"

Answer: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

This song (and the accompanying movie) was released after the beginning of World War II, but before the United States entered the war. At the time, only the Peacetime Draft had been implemented.

The lyrics for "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was written by Don Raye (who wrote a number of songs for the Andrews Sisters), while Hughie Prince wrote the music. Although it did get nominated for Best Original Song at the 14th Academy Awards, it lost out to "The Last Time I Saw Paris" from the movie "Lady Be Good" (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II).

"He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He's in the army now, a-blowin' reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam
It really brought him down because he couldn't jam
The captain seemed to understand
Because the next day the cap' went out and drafted a band
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

A-toot, a-toot, a-toot-diddelyada-toot
He blows it eight-to-the-bar, in boogie rhythm
He can't blow a note unless the bass and guitar is playin' with 'im
He makes the company jump when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

He was our boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
And when he plays boogie woogie bugle he was busy as a 'bzzz' bee
And when he plays he makes the company jump eight-to-the-bar
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

Toot-toot-toot, toot-diddelyada, toot-diddelyada
Toot, toot, he blows it eight-to-the-bar
He can't blow a note if the bass and guitar isn't with 'im
A-a-a-and the company jumps when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

(Instrumental interlude)

He puts the boys asleep with boogie every night
And wakes 'em up the same way in the early bright
They clap their hands and stamp their feet
Because they know how he plays when someone gives him a beat
He really breaks it up when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

Da-dah-da-dah-da
Da-dah-da-da-dah-da
Da-dah-da-da-da

A-a-a-and the company jumps when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B!"

Answer: April in Paris

"April in Paris" was composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg a full 23 years before Count Basie's version. The 1932 song was first recorded the following year by Freddy Martin.

The Broadway musical "Walk a Little Faster" was a musical revue that managed 119 performances between December 7, 1932 and March 18, 1933.

"I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace

Till April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom
Holiday tables under the trees
April in Paris, this is a feeling
That no one can ever reprise

I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace

Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to?
What have you done to my heart?"

Answer: One O'Clock Jump

Count Basie wrote "One O'Clock Jump" along with band members Eddie Durham and Buster Smith, and over the years made many recordings of the song, with no two recordings quite the same. Originally written as an instrumental arrangement, lyrics were reportedly added later, featured in a performance at Carnegie Hall by Glenn Miller in 1939. But heaven help me if I can find a transcript of those lyrics.

Either way, "One o'Clock Jump" is among my favourite Big Band songs, lyrics or no.

Answer: (At the) Woodchopper's Ball

Woody Herman wrote "(At the) Woodchopper's Ball" along with Joe Bishop, a founding member of the group. According to the Wikipedia entry on Woody Herman, he remembers that "(At the) Woodchopper's Ball" took a while to get off the ground, "it was really a sleeper. But Decca kept re-releasing it, and over a period of three or four years it became a hit."

In fact, it became both Woody Herman's and Joe Bishop's biggest hit in either of their careers, selling more than five million copies.

This is another one that I love that is an instrumental-only jazz standard. I hope you can forgive me for including it in this collection - don't let the "Sing, Sing, Sing" of the title be too misleading.

Answer: Blue Skies

While the musical "Betsy" only had a run of 39 performances in 1926, "Blue Skies" was better received. At the premiere of "Betsy", there were reportedly 24 encore performances of the song at the end of the night! (according to Wikipedia). The musical was about three Jewish brothers who long to marry their respective girlfriends but first have to play matchmaker for their sister, Betsy.

"Blue skies (look up, look up) smilin' at me
(Take the azure in the dome, boy)
Nothin' but blue skies (it's mellow, fellow) do I see
(Blue skies, blue skies)

Bluebirds (did you ever) singin' a song
(Hear the bluebirds singin' the blues)
Nothin' but bluebirds (you won't say no) all day long
(The happy little birds, flap, flap happy)
(Sunshine everywhere, and everybody's happy)
(As a square at the fair, hoy, hoy)

All the days are hurryin' by
When you're in love, my how they fly
Blue days (talk about blue)
All of them gone (makes no misery hmm hmm)
Nothin' but blue skies (overhead)
From now on (Mister Elman, go ahead, go ahead)"

Answer: Pennies From Heaven

Although it was Bing Crosby who originally made this song famous, it was Arthur Johnston who wrote the song and Johnny Burke who wrote the lyrics. They were nominated for Best Original Song at the 9th Academy Awards, but lost out to "The Way You Look Tonight" from "Swing Time" (Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields).

"A long time ago, a million years BC
The best things in life were absolutely free
But no one appreciated a sky that was always blue
And no one congratulated a moon that was always new

So it was planned that they would vanish now and then
And you must pay before you get them back again
That's what storms were made for
And you shouldn't be afraid for

Every time it rains it rains
Pennies from heaven
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven

You'll find your fortune falling all over town
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love

You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me

You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me"

Answer: Stardust

The first recording of "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael was in conjunction with Emil Seidel and his Orchestra as well as the Dorsey brothers. The recording listed the performers as "Hoagy Carmichael and His Pals".

"Stardust" (sometimes written as "Star Dust") is a song about a song about love. It is one of the most-recorded songs of the 20th century, with more than 1500 different recordings by a multitude of performers.

"Sometimes I wonder
Why I spend the lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
Oh, but that was long ago
Now my consolation is in the stardust of a song

Beside a garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart, it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

Though I dream in vain
In my heart, it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain"