You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me—S. Fain/P. Norman/I. Kahal, 1930 (Recorded January 20, 2012) This fine Sammy Fain number was introduced to the world when Maurice Chevalier sang it to Claudette Colbert in the 1930 film, The Big Pond. In the 1931 Marx Brothers flick, Monkey Business, each sibling—Zeppo, Chico, and Groucho—tries in his turn to fake out a customs agent on a ship by using Chevalier’s stolen passport and singing a few bars of this tune mimicked in Chevalier’s style, only to be ejected one at a time by the official. Finally, Harpo, with a hidden record player strapped to his back, hilariously mimes Chevalier, and havoc ensues.

Here, I play the Epiphone banjo uke, which happens to have been built probably 5-7 years before this tune was written. The lead ukulele work during the break is with the Earnest La Paula, and natch, I whistle some. Hope you enjoy it!

From Wikipedia:

In a 1941 interview with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Fats [Waller] claimed the song was written while “lodging” in alimony prison, and that is why he was not “misbehaving.”

Hahaha.

I recorded this cut for the Ukulele Cosmos’s monthly Open Invitational. Go to that site to hear lots of cool ukulele-centric takes on this venerable chestnut.

UPDATE: I’ve uploaded a third version of the song. Unhappy with the other two, I thought I’d give it one more shot. This recording is a once-through track with no overdubs or cut-ins. I just added a bit of EQ and a smidge of reverb. Not sure if it’s really any better than the others, but what the hey.

Johnny Mercer’s is probably the best known version of this breezy, bluesy tune, and I took a few cues from the maestro with this recording. I used the Earnest Instruments cigar box uke, and I distorted the whistling break to make it sound like it went through an amp. Actually, the whole thing is kind of ampy and distorted. You know what they say: Ampy, distorted minds make ampy, distorted music. ;°)

Sammy Fain wrote this song for the animated Disney feature of the same name, and if you check back on my list of songs to Number 10, “That Old Feeling,” you’ll hear another tune by the great Mr. Fain. I’ve also added the mp3 of this song to the Box.net widget. The audio quality is not very good, though, as it derives from the “phone” that I used to record the video. (Who would have imagined even just a couple of years ago that telephones would become tools to make videos, surf the Internet, and gaze at the stars?)

Seriously, though, this is the number written specifically by Weill and Anderson for the great Walter Huston to sing in 1938 the play Knickerbocker Holiday. The song became a popular hit in subsequent decades, enjoying a number of interpretations by artists as varied as Ezio Pinza, Maurice Chevalier, Matt Monro, Edie Gormé, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, Patti Page, and Billy Eckstine, among others.

My interpretation was prompted by the Ukulele Cosmos monthly Invitational challenge, whose September theme was (what else?) “September Song.” I was hemming and hawing about doing this tune until my good friend, Arturo “Arch” Larizza offered to lay down cello accompaniment against my uke and vocal tracks. After about a week of back and forth, re-recording sections, and sorting out mixing challenges, we came up with this very interesting version. Arch’s cello is hauntingly beautiful, and the whole thing is quite dramatic and moving, in keeping with the introspection of the tune’s original reading.

The End of a Love Affair—E.C. Redding, 1950 (Recorded September 3, 2011) Here’s a standard from 1950 that was recorded by lots of singers and instrumentalists back then, including Billie Holiday, Sinatra, Wes Montgomery, Dexter Gordon, Tony Bennett, Nat Cole, and so on. I used to play this years ago and then lost track of it until recently when I decided to re-remember it. It’s one of the cool mid-Century lost-love songs of despair.

I used the Earnest La Paula ukulele and added maracas and bongos later on. It was a challenge keep proper time with the percussion, since I didn’t do the uke and vocal part against a rhythm track. Turned out OK after all.

This is my first new recording in quite a while. I feel a bit rusty with the process, but I hope this old Hollywood ballad is appealing enough for your enjoyment. Thanks for listening.