829 535-2

ella fitzgerald “ 2 THE IRVING BERLIN SONGBOOK

THE IPVING BERLIN SONGBOOK VOLUME!

3 422-829535-2

STEREO 829 535-2

m BLUE SKIES 3:43 from Betsy (1926)

a SUPPERTIME 3:15 from As Thousands Cheer (1933)

a HOW’S CHANCES 2:45 from As Thousaftds Oteer (1933)

a HEAT WAVE 2:22 from^s Thousands Cheer {193S)

a ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY 3:25 from Top Hat (1935)

[H YOU KEEP COMING BACK LIKE A SONG 3:32 from Blue Skies (1943)

a REACHING FOR THE MOON 2:15 from Reaching For The Moon (1930)

SLUMMING ON PARK AVENUE 2:21 from On The Avenue (1937)

16 more Irving Berlin songs are The Irving Berlin Songbook, Vol.l

[9] THE SONG IS ENDED 2:26 (1927)

d PM PUTTING ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET 2:57 from Follow The Fleet (1936)

a NOWIT CAN BE TOLD 3:08 from Alexander’s fUtglime Baml (1938)

a ALWAYS 3:05 (1925)

a IT’S A LOVELY DAY TODAY 2:24 from Call Me Madam (1950)

a CHANGE PARTNERS 3:14 from Carefree (1938)

M NO STRINGS 2:59 from Tbp Hof (1935)

d PVE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM 2:56 from On The Avenue (1937)

available on Ella Fitzgerald: (Verve Compact Disc 829 534-2)

AAD Manufactured and Marketed by PolyGram Classics & Jazz,

a Division of PolyGram Records. Inc., New York, New York

© 1958 Verve Records, Inc. USA © 1986 PolyGram Records, Inc. USA

THE IRVING BERLIN SONGBOOK VOLUME 2

[B BLUE SKIES 3 43

[I] SUPPERTIME 3:15

[3] HOWS CHANCES 2 45

a HEAT WAVE 2:22

IE\ ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY 3:25

a YOU KEEP COMING BACK LIKE A SONG 3:32

a REACHING FOR THE MOON 2:15

a SLUMMING ON PARK AVENUE 2:21

a THE SONG IS ENDED 2:26

a PM PUTTING ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET 2:57

a NOWIT CAN BE TOLD 3:08

a ALWAYS 3:05

m IT’S A LOVELY DAY TODAY 2:24

a 3:14

a iVO2:59

a /’VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM 2 56

All songs by Irving Berlin, ASCAP, published by Irving Berlin Music Corp.

Ella Fitzgerald, Vocals Orchestra arranged and conducted by Paul Weston Recorded March 13-14 and 17-19,1958 at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles

Original sessions produced by Norman Granz. Produced for compact disc by Donald Elfman. Executive Producer: Richard Seidel Digitally remastered from the original stereo master tapes by Dennis Drake, Polygram Studios, USA Design: Tom <&: Ellie Hughes, HughesGroup Cover Photo: Herman Leonard Liner Notes: Stanley Green Special thanks to William “Red” Carraro, Kathleen Brown, Carla Williams, and Amy Carraro.

44 T T is a rare gift which sets Irving 1 Berlin apart from all other con¬

temporary songwriters. It is a gift which qualifies him, along with Ste¬ phen Foster, Walt Whitman, Vachel Lindsay, and Carl Sandburg, as a great American minstrel. He has caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe.”

Composer Douglas Moore’s words accurately sum up the dis¬ tinctive contribution of Irving Berlin. Beginning in 1908, this un¬ trained composer without formal ed¬ ucation has supplied both music and lyrics to an incredible body of works that has mirrored the American spirit to a degree unmatched by any other songwriter. He is by general agreement, if not by official recogni¬ tion, our national musical laureate.

In this collection of 16 songs — all enriched by Ella Fitzgerald’s superb renditions — may be found many of Berlin’s most durable songs written over a period of almost 40 years. That durability stems directly from the songwriter’s basic belief that the only real function of a song is to commu¬ nicate an idea, a feat Berlin managed

to accomplish in no small measure through his innovative treatment of song construction, rhythms, and key changes, and through his unique way with words, images, and rhymes. “A song cannot exist by itself,” he has said. “It must reach an audience, make people glad, sad, want to dance, want to sing, and provide expressions of love for the shy and speechless. I may think something I’ve written is the best thing I’ve done, but if the public doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say, if the song doesn’t get across the desired emotion, it has no value.”

That Irving Berlin has achieved his goal with such remarkable con¬ sistency is reason enough to believe that the public appreciates, in even the most artful and sophisticated songs, the genuineness behind the ingenuity.

BLUE SKIES. One of the most durable of all the songs in the Berlin canon. Blue Skies possesses a number of distinctive features. There is the fact that it is written mostly in a minor key even though the mood is lighthearted and optimistic. There is the inspired touch of having the

acceleration quicken on the line “Never saw the sun shining so bright.” And there is the effectiveness of be¬ ginning each of the three main eight- bar sections with “blue” variations — “Blue skies smiling,” “Bluebirds sing¬ ing,” and “Blue days all of them gone.” The song began life as the standout number in “Betsy,” a Ziegfeld produc¬ tion of 1926.

SUPPER TIME. The 1933 Broad¬ way revue “As Thousands Cheer” was created in the form of a newspaper, with each song, sketch or dance rou¬ tine tied to a news event or daily feature. Though the show was breezy and satirical, Berlin was convinced that it needed one really dramatic sequence. Supper Time was the re¬ sult. Introduced by the headline “UNKNOWN NEGRO LYNCHED BY FRENZIED MOB,” the threnody, which was first sung by Ethel Waters, reveals the anguish of a woman whose man “ain’t cornin’ home no more.” As for its construction, the piece is notable for its extended 16- bar release that builds dramatically to the word “Lord” — and then repeats the word as an almost excruciating cry of pain.

HOWS CHANCES? Also from “As Thousands Cheer,” How’s Chances? reverted to the lighter side of topicality in a sparkling example of Irving Berlin at his most sophisti¬ cated. The song was offered in the show to illustrate the headline “BARBARA HUTTON TO WED PRINCE MDIVANI,” with Clifton Webb’s prince serenading Marilyn Miller’s Barbara.

HEAT WAVE. The third “As Thousands Cheer” selection in the Songbook is the sizzling weather re¬ port (headline: “HEAT WAVE HITS NEW YORK”), in which the rising first eight notes of the main theme accom¬ pany the rising thermometer. Ethel Waters originally personified this highly incendiary number which Ella delivers here to a throbbing Latin beat.

ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY? A bouncy love song about how to make the most of atmospheric adversity. Isn’t This a Lovely Day? was first sung in “Top Hat” by Astaire to Rogers, then climaxed by a dance in a London park bandstand where the couple has sought refuge from a thunderstorm.

YOU KEEP COMING BACK LIKE A SONG. Berlin wrote this reassuring ballad as the theme for Bing Crosby and Joan Caulfield in the 1946 movie “Blue Skies.” The song¬ writer’s skillful relating of music to love has been one of his trademarks, and is also evident in such other pieces in this collection as Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Reaching for the Moon, and The Song Is Ended (not to mention A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody).

REACHING FOR THE MOON. This minor-key willowy waltz abput an unattainable love was written for Douglas Fairbanks’ 1930 film of the same title, but by the time the pic¬ ture was finished the song was re¬ tained only as part of the background score. On the recording, Ella takes it at a suitably slow tempo, with effec¬ tive backing by a violin and guitar combination.

SLUMMING ON PARK AVE¬ NUE. A variation on the Puttin’ on the Ritz theme is this saucy, nose- thumbing number in which mem¬ bers of the masses are invited to poke fun at members of the classes. Alice Eaye was the slumming cicerone in the film “On the Avenue.”

THE SONG IS ENDED. Though the ballad tells of a broken romance, Ella won’t allow it to rob her of her innate good cheer as reflected not only by the uptempo treatment but also by the injection of scat singing. Ironically, the song — written in 1927 — had a title that proved temporarily prophetic since Berlin did not have a major hit during the next five years.

I’M PUTTING ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET. Another winner from “Follow the Fleet,” in which it was introduced by Astaire and Rogers, the spirited number benefits greatly from Ella’s appropriately swinging interpretation, complete with the seldom-heard verse.

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD. In 1938, 20th Century-Fox released a cav¬ alcade of Berlin standards tied to¬ gether with a plot and called it “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” Now It Can Be Told, the only love song writ¬ ten specifically for the film, was first sung by Don Ameche as a ballad he had written to show his feelings about Alice Eaye.

ALWAYS. Irving Berlin’s wed¬ ding present to his wife, Always has a number of imaginative touches. Built

almost entirely on a rising scale capped by the two-note title, the son^ emphasizes the depth otthe devotion through its remarkably elTective changes in keys. Note too, that in the final eight-bar section the writer enhanced the song’s strength by the simple device of not bothering to use any rhymes.

IT’S A LOVELY DAY TODAY A carefree, trippling number — first sung in the Broadway musical “Call Me Madam” in 1950 — It’s a Lovely Day Today pulls a switch on Isn’t This a Lovely Day? by extolling the pleasures of companionship on a day when the sun is shining.

CHANGE PARTNERS. This tender entreaty was introduced by Fred Astaire in “Carefree.” In the scene, the song springs directly from the situation as it finds Astaire ex¬ pressing his feelings to Ginger Rogers while they are both on a dance lloor with other partners. Thanks to the somewhat lengthy form — the song covers 56 bars — the love-smitten swain not only pleads with his in¬ amorata to change partners, he even tells her how to get rid of the man she’s dancing with.

NO STRINGS, lliat sprightly ode to independence. No Strings is an¬ other standard introduced by Fred Astaire in “Top Hat.” In her treatment, Ella takes the verse slowly, then breaks into a happy, scat-singing mood as she gaily proclaims her free¬ dom from all ties to her affections.

I’VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM. Introduced by Dick Powell in a scene from a Broadway revue in “On the Avenue,” this number pledges a love so strong it can even offer protection against in¬ clement weather. For the final selec¬ tion in her “Irving Berlin Songbook,” Ella joylhlly heeds the song’s sheet music instruction — “Bright Jump Tempo” — as she brings the collection to a brassy, blaring conclusion.

Stanley Green

Other Verve CDS By Ella Fitzgerald

The Cole Porter Songbook Vol. 1 Vol.2

The Rodgers Sc Hart Songbook

Vol. 1 Vol. 2

The George Gershwin Songbook

The Johnny Mercer Songbook

The Jerome Kern Songbook

The Silver Collection: The Songbooks

Mack The PHiife — Ella In Berlin

These Are The Blues W. Louis Armstrong

Ella Sc Louis Ella Sc Louis Again Porgy Sc Bess

W. Count Basie Ella and Basie

821 989-2 821 990-2

821 579-2 821 580-2

825 024-2 (3 CD set)

823 247-2

825 669-2

823 247-2

825 670-2 829 536-2

825 373-2 825 374-2 827 475-2

821 576-2

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Printed in U.S.A. Made in U.S.A.

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^OTHORISED COPY/,

ELLA FITZGERALD IRVING BERLIN SONGBOOK, VOL II

B BLUE SKIES S SUPPERTIME 0 HOW’S CHANCES S HEAT WAVE 0 ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY ® YOU KEEP

COMING BACK LIKE A SONG 0 REACHING FOR THE MOON S SLUMMING ON PARK AVENUE 0 THE SONG IS ENDED

S I’M PUTTIN’ ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET 0 NOW IT CAN BE TOLD 0 ALWAYS

0 IT’S A LOVELY DAY TODAY 0 CHANGE PARTNERS A 0 NO STRINGS (I’M FANCY FREE)

^ 0 I’VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM ^ © 1958 Verve Records, Inc., USA

lAIAiDI

STEREO 829535-2

Made in USA (o]q§IE DIGITAL AUDIO

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