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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Jan 15) Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE (Lyrics by Bob Russel, Music by Duke Ellington) This was written by Ellington as a big band instrumental number in 1940. The lyrics were added two years later and the Ink Spots had a Number One hit with it the year after that. It’s been recorded many times, of course,…

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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Nov 14) If you were the only girl in the world

IF YOU WERE THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD Lyrics by Clifford Grey, music by Nat. D Ayer The song was published in 1916 and introduced on 19 April 1916 at the premiere of the musical / revue The Bing Boys Are Here at the The Alhambra, Leicester Square. It was a duet sung by its…

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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Dec 14) ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) written in 1823. Moore was an American Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature, as well as Divinity and Biblical Learning, at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City. Located on land donated by the “Bard of Chelsea” himself, the seminary…

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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Oct 14) Summer is icumen in

SUMMER IS ICUMEN IN   Medieval (Middle English) lyrics (c.1250) Svmer is icumen in Lhude sing cuccu! Groweþ sed and bloweþ med and springþ þe wde nu. Sing cuccu! Awe bleteþ after lomb, lhouþ after calue cu, Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ. Murie sing cuccu! Cuccu, cuccu, Wel singes þu cuccu. ne swik þu nauer nu!…

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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Sept 14) I never nurs’d a dear gazelle

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852) Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron’s memoirs after his death Oh! Ever Thus, From Childhood’s Hour Oh! ever thus, from childhood’s hour,…

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THIS MONTH’S PARODY (Aug 14) Puttin’ on the Ritz

Puttin’ On The Ritz Irving Berlin Berlin wrote these ingeniously syncopated lyrics as a stand-alone song in 1927 (published 1929). It was recorded, most famously, by Fred Astaire (see the parody, below, in which he is mentioned) in 1930. When the song was used in the 1946 film ‘Blue Skies’, Berlin rewrote the lyrics changing…

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