A ukulele player's look at jazz and popular songs of the early 20th Century

BY TIM HATCHER

BY TIM HATCHER

One of the joys of learning the ukulele is discovering the wonderful songs of long ago--the beautiful melodies and lyrics that deserve to be remembered and revived. Thankfully, vintage sheet music abounds on the internet, and so I've had a great time tracking down lots of the old songs, transcribing them to chord/lyric sheets--in a good key for my voice--and then learning them on the uke. If you would like to receive my chord/lyric sheet for any of the songs featured here, email me and I will be happy to share them. (tims.email@yahoo.com)

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Have a listen to Van and Schenk, a popular Vaudeville duo:

Friday, October 23, 2009

"Just Like a Melody From Out of the Sky"

The prolific Walter Donaldson wrote this sentimental but achingly beautiful ballad in 1934. The high tenor voice of Cliff Edwards is a perfect vehicle for it, and he can be heard singing it in a video on YouTube. Access the video by clicking on the title of this blog.
Donaldson wrote more than 600 songs, including the hits "Makin' Whoopee", "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "Little White Lies", "Love Me or Leave Me" and "You're Driving Me Crazy". His film scores include movies from 1927 (LOVE) up until 1965 (A THOUSAND CLOWNS), even though he died in 1947. Most notable are FOOTLIGHT PARADE, THE GREAT ZEIGFELD, and DUBARRY WAS A LADY.

1 comment:

  1. JonPHXJanuary 31, 2010 at 11:37 PM

    Wow! While I'd recently discovered Donaldson, I'd NO IDEA he was such a prolific songwriter! Thanks for sharing this!

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