Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Larry Clinton

1930s, Swing

Dipsy Doodle

First recorded by Tommy Dorsey feat. Edythe Wright (#1 1937).
Other hit versions by Russ Morgan and His Orchestra (US #2 1937), Johnny Maddox & the Rhythmasters (US #15 1953).
Also recorded by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra feat. Bea Wain (1937), Ella Fitzgerald & the Chick Webb Orchestra (1937), Bill Haley & His Comets (1957).

“Larry Clinton was an arranger for the Dorsey Brothers big band at the he came up with ‘Dipsy Doodle’, hanging out at the Onyx Club, a jazz club on 52nd Street in New York City, where the back of the menus were printed with blank music scores. One evening Clinton wrote the melody on a menu. It wasn’t until baseball season rolled around that he came up with the lyrics.

“He was a baseball fanatic and Clinton got the idea [for lyrics] from New York Giants left-handed pitcher Carl Hubbell. Hubbell had a screwball pitch that had been dubbed ‘dipsy doo’ for the crazy way it dipped over the plate and befuddled the batters.

“Clinton originally wrote ‘Dipsy Doodle’ for Tommy Dorsey [whose 1937 recording featuring vocalist Edythe Wright topped the Hit Parade ahead of the Russ Moran Orchestra cover version]. Dorsey then made Clinton so well known that Clinton was able to start a band of his own with the financial backing of Dorsey. Then Clinton’s own band further popularized ‘Dipsy Doodle’ by using it as its theme song.

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1980s, Pop

Memory

First performed and recorded by Elaine Paige (UK #6 1981).
Similar to “Bolero in Blue” by Larry Clinton (1940).
Other hit versions by Barbra Streisand (US #52/MOR #9/UK #34 1982), Barry Manilow (US #39/MOR #8 1982), Elaine Paige rerecording (UK #36 1998).

From the wiki: “‘Memory’, often incorrectly called ‘Memories’, is a show tune from the 1981 musical Cats. Its writers, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cats director Trevor Nunn, received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. (Prior to its inclusion in Cats, the tune was earmarked for earlier Lloyd Webber projects, including a ballad for Perón in Evita, and as a song for Max in his original 1970s draft of Sunset Boulevard.)

“The lyric was based on T. S. Eliot’s poems ‘Preludes’ and ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’. Composer Lloyd Webber feared that the tune sounded too similar to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and to a work by Puccini, and also that the opening – the haunting main theme – closely resembled the flute solo (improvised by Bud Shank in the studio) from The Mamas & the Papas’ 1965 song ‘California Dreamin””.

“Lloyd-Webber asked his father’s opinion; according to him, his father responded ‘It sounds like a million dollars!’ While Lloyd Webber does acknowledge Ravel’s ‘Bolero’, there is no mention of similarity to ‘Bolero in Blue’ written by Larry Clinton, replicating note-for-note the first several measures from Clinton’s composition.

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1930s, Swing

Heart and Soul

First recorded by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra with Bea Wain (US #1 February 1939).
Other hit versions by Eddy Duchin (US #12 1939), Al Donahue & His Orchestra (US #16 1939), The Four Aces (US #11 1952), Jan & Dean (US #25 1961), The Cleftones (US #18 1961).

From the wiki: “‘Heart and Soul’ was written by Hoagy Carmichael (‘Stardust‘, ‘Georgia on My Mind‘) with lyrics by Frank Loesser and first recorded in 1938 by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra featuring Bea Wain. In 1939, three versions charted: Larry Clinton (reaching #1 on the chart in February, 1939), Eddy Duchin (reaching #12), and Al Donahue (reaching #16).

“The Four Aces covered and charted ‘Heart and Soul’ in 1952. Two contrasting cover versions charted in 1961: surfers Jan & Dean reachedg #25, while the Cleftones reached #18 with a neo-doo wop arrangement. The Cleftones’ recording became more widely and popularly known after it was used in the 1972 movie American Graffiti, and was included on the soundtrack album.

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