CategoryBands & Directors

Jay Wilbur

“Oh! Johnny, Oh! Johnny, Oh!” (1940)

“Oh! Johnny, Oh! Johnny, Oh!” Words by Ed Rose, music by Abe Olman (1917). Recorded by Elsie Carlisle with orchestral accompaniment on February 12, 1940. Rex 9724 mx. R-4325-1.

Personnel: Jay Wilbur dir. Alfie Noakes-Harry Owen-t / Bill Mulraney-Bill Boatwright-Joe Cordell-tb / Frank Johnson-Cyril Grantham-cl-as / Sid Phillips-cl-as-bar / Brian Wicks-cl-ts / Bob Busby-p / Jack Simmons-g / Joe Gibson-sb / Tom Webster-d

Elsie Carlisle, Oh! Johnny, Oh! Johnny, Oh!
Transfer by Mick Johnson (YouTube)

 “Oh! Johnny, Oh! Johnny, Oh!” is a 1917 composition that has proved itself long-lived, no doubt because it is catchy and because its lyrics have the perennial topic of a young woman’s passionate infatuation as their theme.  It is said that Ed Rose wrote the lyrics about two college friends who were absurdly in love; Rose then collaborated with his Tin Pan Alley colleague Abe Olman, who put the words to music. In 1917, Columbia issued a 10-inch disc with Howard Kopp and Frank Banta playing the song on the drum and piano, and there is a Blue Amberol wax cylinder of the Premier Quartet singing it with lyrics altered in light of America’s having entered the First World War; by the end of the song, the Quartet is telling Johnny to enlist: “Go, Johnny! Go, Johnny! Go!”

“Oh! Johnny, Oh! Johnny, Oh!” was revived in November 1939, with recordings by the Andrews Sisters, Dick Robertson and His Orchestra, Orrin Tucker and His Orchestra (with vocalist Bonnie Baker), Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (with vocals by Mildred Bailey, and Glenn Miller (with Marion Hutton), and in January 1940 Ella Fitzgerald would broadcast the song from the Savoy Ballroom. These versions naturally have a lot more swing in them than the 1917 versions, but the renditions are fairly faithful to the original concept, which is to say that they portray a young girl desperately in love in words that are funny and unproblematic.

In her February 1940 version of the song, by contrast, Elsie Carlisle starts out in a state of excitement, whimpers a bit as she describes her feelings for “Johnny” and then continues to ratchet up the effect as the song progresses. Something happens about two minutes into the song when Elsie sings (I should say squeals)

When I sit on your knee,
Oh, what you do to me!
I just
Oh, Johnny!
No, Johnny!
Oh, you have...

Whatever is going on, it appears to lead to talk of marriage, as the song ends with Elsie exclaiming “You’re so full of ideas / For the next fifty years,” along with more “Oh, Johnny”ing. The overall effect is very funny, and Elsie brings out a potential for ribald humor missed by other singers.

Other British versions of “Oh, Johnny! Oh Johnny, Oh!” were recorded in 1939 and 1940 by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra (with singer Dolly Elsie), Joe Loss and His Band (with vocals by Shirley Lenner), Arthur Young and the Hatchet Swingtette (with vocalist Beryl Davis, and Stéphane Grapelli on the violin), Harry Roy’s Tiger Ragamuffins and Phyllis Robins.

Gilt-Edged Four

“I Can’t Get Over a Boy Like You” (1927)

“I Can’t Get Over a Boy Like You.” Words by Harry Ruskin, music by Martin Broones.  Composed for LeMaire’s Affairs (1926). Recorded by Elsie Carlisle with the Gilt-Edged Four on February 7, 1927. Columbia 4275 mx. WA-4805-1.

Personnel: Al Starita-as / Ray Starita-t s/ Sid Bright-p-cel / Rudy Starita-d

I Can’t Get Over a Boy Like You – Elsie Carlisle
Video by David Weavings (YouTube)

This recording of Elsie Carlisle singing “I Can’t Get Over a Boy Like You” to the accompaniment of the Gilt-Edged Four is remarkable for two purely physical or material reasons. First, it is one of only four recordings that Elsie made that are meant to be played at 80 revolutions per minute, and of those only it and “Meadow Lark” were issued to the public. Columbia records were a holdout against the general tendency to standardize gramophone speeds at 78 rpm, and the company stuck to its proprietary speed of 80 rpm until late 1927. Second, these records were made using the special Columbia “New Process” of laminating cores of low-quality shellac with higher-quality compounds that reduce surface noise, and the resulting sound is impressively clear.

The Gilt-Edged Four was a Columbia studio band led by saxophonist Al Starita. This particular song features his playing and that of his brothers Ray and Rudy, with whose bands Elsie would go on to make noteworthy recordings in 1932-1933. The piano and celeste are played by Sid Bright, twin brother of bandleader Gerald Bright, better known as “Geraldo.”

The song “I Can’t Get Over a Girl Like You (Loving a Boy Like Me)” — for that is how the lyrics usually go, insofar as they are usually sung by men — originated in a revue named “LeMaire’s Affairs” (after producer Rufus LeMaire), which was quite popular when it was based in Chicago and starred Ted Lewis and Sophie Tucker. It apparently bombed after moving to Broadway when Sophie Tucker was replaced with Charlotte Greenwood. The song compares the ease with which one can “get over” all manner of ailments (e.g.”[m]easles, mumps, and whooping cough, / The flu, and housemaid’s knee…”) to the difficulty of “getting over” being the object of someone’s affections. Elsie injects upbeat, girlish fun into this catchy foxtrot and delivers its simple argument rather fetchingly.

“I Can’t Get Over a Girl Like You” was recorded in America in 1926 by Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders (with vocals by Billy Murray), Abe Lyman and His Hotel Ambassador Orchestra, Ted Lewis and His Band, Aileen Stanley and Billy Murray, Adrian Schubert and His Salon Orchestra (with vocalist Arthur Hall), and the Arkansas Travelers (with Lem Cleg).

The song was recorded in Britain in late 1926 and early 1927 by Bert and John Firman’s Devonshire Restaurant Dance Band, Billy Mayerl and His “Vocalion” Orchestra (with vocals by Billy Mayerl), the Savoy Havana Band (with vocalists Rudy Bayfield Evans, Abe Bronson, and Reg Batten), the Edison Bell Dance Orchestra (with vocalist Tom Barratt), and Jack Payne and His Hotel Cecil Orchestra.

 

Jack Harris

“The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot” (1937)

“The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot.” Composed by Michael Carr, Tommy Connor, and Jimmy Leach. Recorded by Jack Harris and His Orchestra, with Elsie Carlisle as vocalist, on November 1, 1937. HMV BD-5290 mx. 0EA-5120-1.

Personnel: Jack Harris-vn dir. Alfie Noakes-Doug Holman-t / Lewis Davis-Don Binney-tb / Harry Karr-cl-as-f / Freddy Williams-Harry Smith-reeds / George Glover-bar / Max Jaffa-Bill Sniderman-vn / Bert Read-Jack Penn-p / Cyril Halliday-Joe Brannelly-g / Alf Gray-d

Jack Harris & His Orchestra w. Elsie Carlisle – “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot” (1937)

“The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot”  is a secular Christmas song concerning a boy who receives no visit from Santa Claus and therefore gets no Christmas gifts. He feels out of place when he considers the treasured argosies awaiting other children. The song reveals that the boy is fatherless, and suddenly we see things from an adult perspective: since we know that it is parents who play the role of the mythical jolly gift-giver, the lack of a father could mean missing out on a common seasonal joy.  In the end, the song changes its focus from a fictional character to the absent father who would normally impersonate him, and the boy’s unfortunate situation is revealed to be year-round, not seasonal.  Jack Harris’s band lends a rich tone to this sad composition, and although the song’s lyrics have the potential to be cloying, Elsie Carlisle’s singing emphasizes their more poignant aspects.

“The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot” has been recorded countless times since its composition in 1937. Vera Lynn’s version of it, recorded with Ambrose and His Orchestra six days before Elsie Carlisle did hers with Jack Harris, notably appears in the opening sequence of Pink Floyd’s 1982 movie The Wall, the relevance of its inclusion being that the father of Pink Floyd band member and screenwriter Roger Waters (and that of the fictional character that he based on himself) was killed fighting in the Second World War when Waters was only an infant.

On the same day that Jack Harris recorded “The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot” with Elsie Carlisle, Billy Cotton did a version with Alan Breeze as his vocalist; it features a speech by a small child.  Soon afterwards there were recordings by Phyllis Robins and Arthur Tracy. An early American version was recorded by Jimmy Ray and the Southern Serenaders.