Latest posts

Carroll Gibbons

“My Cutey’s Due at Two-to-Two Today” (1926)

“My Cutey’s Due at Two-to-Two Today.” Music by Albert Von Tilzer, lyrics by Leo Robin (1926). Recorded by Elsie Carlisle with piano and vocal accompaniment by Carroll Gibbons in London on October 6, 1926. Zonophone 2815 mx. Yy-9074-2.

My Cutey’s Due At Two-To-Two To-Day – Elsie Carlisle
Video by David Weavings (YouTube)

Von Tilzer and Robin’s “My Cutey’s Due at Two-to-Two Today,” an example of the “train song” genre, is a light composition that makes up for a fundamental lack of profundity by being ridiculously catchy, almost addictive. It speaks primarily of faithfulness in one’s lover’s absence and of the giddy anticipation of reunion. Elsie Carlisle brings to it the requisite frantic, girlish enthusiasm and applies her vaguely conversational style of delivery to the song’s rhythmical patter with great effectiveness. She is accompanied on this record, not only by Carroll Gibbon’s piano playing, but also by his voice; he engages in a muted antiphony with Elsie for part of the song.

“My Cutey’s Due” was recorded in America in 1926 by Sam Lanin and His Orchestra (as the Missouri Jazz Band), Ted Weems (Park Gibbs, vocalist), the Happiness Boys (Billy Jones and Ernest Hare), The Clevelanders (with vocals by Tom Stacks), and the Little Ramblers (with vocalist Ed Kirkeby). In Britain there were 1926 versions by Bert Firman’s Dance Orchestra, Don Parker and His Band, Victor Sterling and His Band, Van Straten and His Riviera Dance Orchestra (with vocals by Harry Fay). In early 1927 there were recordings made by Alfredo’s Band and by the Picadilly Revels Band.

Solo Recordings

“The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing” (1934)

“The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing.” Composition usually attributed to Lane Leighton; on this disc “Kennedy” is given the credit. Recorded by Elsie Carlisle on August 23, 1934. Decca F-5173 mx. TB-1498-2.

Elsie Carlisle – “The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing” (1934)

This exceedingly melancholy tune describes a love relationship that began in the spring. The affair’s dissolution has, for the speaker of the lyrics, stripped that season of its usual happy associations. Elsie Carlisle, ever the torch singer, draws out the deep pathos of the music in this violin-dominated arrangement.

“The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing to Me” (for that is the song’s full title) was also recorded in 1934 by Billy Cotton and His Band (with vocalist Alan Breeze), Harry Roy and His Orchestra (with vocals by Sam Browne), and Teddy Joyce and His Orchestra (with Eve Becke):

Teddy Joyce and His Orchestra (with Eve Becke) – “The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing to Me” (1934)

“The Spring Don’t Mean a Thing to Me” was included in Charlie Kunz’s “Piano Medley No. 14” (on Sterno). It can also be heard in the background in the 1945 British movie Waterloo Road (at 57:55).

Carroll Gibbons

“Oh, My Bundle of Love” (1926)

“Oh, My Bundle of Love.” Words by George Price, music by Abner Silver. Recorded by Elsie Carlisle with piano accompaniment by Carroll Gibbons on October 6, 1926. Zonophone 2829 mx. Yy-9071-1.

Elsie Carlisle's "Oh, My Bundle of Love" on Zonophone 2829 (label). Image courtesy of Erik Høst.
Elsie Carlisle’s “Oh, My Bundle of Love” on Zonophone 2829. Image courtesy of Erik Høst.
Elsie Carlisle – “Oh, My Bundle of Love” (1926)
Original 78 rpm transfer by Erik Høst

Elsie Carlisle sang “Oh, My Bundle of Love”1 at her third recording session, for her third record, accompanied, as she always would be that year, by a 23-year-old Carroll Gibbons on the piano. The composition has a bubbly energy typical of the dance music of its period, and the lyrics express the goofy enthusiasm of a young lover by way of precious, cutesy colloquialisms (e.g. “sweetie-sweet”). For this song, Elsie dons a persona of somewhat mindless ebullience that reminds me of her 1930 version of “Wasn’t It Nice?”; she is the picture of pure, giggly fun. The recording is also a good example of Carroll Gibbons’s developing piano virtuosity (he would not be known as a band leader for another year).

“My Bundle of Love” was recorded in America in 1925 by Gene Austin (accompanied by Jack Shilkret on the piano) and by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards. In 1926 there were versions by Mal Hallett and His Orchestra, Emerson Gill and His Castle of Paris Orchestra (with vocals by Pinkey Hunter), Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra, The Southerners (with vocalist Jack Kaufman), and Nick Lucas.  There is a piano roll of the song from that year by Ralph Reichenthal (a.k.a Ralph Rainger), the composer of “Moanin’ Low,” amongst other successful tunes.

Elsie Carlisle’s 1926 recording of “Oh, My Bundle of Love” was preceded that year in Britain by a take by Jay Whidden and His New Midnight Follies Band (rejected by Columbia) and by a version by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra.

  1. “Oh, My Bundle of Love” more commonly has the simpler title of “My Bundle of Love,” and why not? The expression “Oh, My Bundle of Love” does not occur in the song. ↩︎