I was feeling a bit nostalgic today and decided to play some songs from my 1920’s – 1950’s playlist. While I can’t say that listening to any of the music brought back actual memories, it certainly created some magical scenarios in my mind. Music was a lot simpler back then. Although the quality may have been one to be desired – there was something special about it, romantic even.
After grooving to about 8 songs, I realized that the majority of music that I’ve collected from those eras were from American artists.
Not necessarily meaning that they are of ‘American descent’, but the music was recorded in America, therefore giving it that American style. So I wound up doing some research to find music from the 20’s to 50’s, from various artists around the world.
Boy oh boy did I fall down a rabbit hole, a very deep rabbit hole.
I wound up researching way into the wee hours of the morning. I’ll tell ya, it wasn’t very easy finding music from the 20’s – 50’s from different countries. It actually got easier once I started searching for music in the 1950’s. I did manage to find a handful of delightful tunes. Some from Germany, Africa, China, Russia and Italy, that I’d like to share with you. It is so interesting to hear & compare the different sounds from different countries – not to mention from a time when music was still original. {cough cough}
1920’s
We’ll start with an American tune by Helen Cane called, “I Wanna Be Loved by You”. I remember Betty Boop singing this!
Over 8700 miles away in Africa, a tune by the Kumasi Trio called, “Atsin” was being created. Gotta love that raw organic sound!
On the contrary of raw & organic, in Germany a song by Paul Godwin Jazz Symphoniker called, “Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder Blüht” was being produced.
1930’s
At the height of the Swing Era in America, Benny Goodman released his hit called, “Swing Swing Swing”.
Meanwhile at the Teatro Nazionale in Rome, Italy – Rosetta Pampanini recorded her version of “O Sole Mio”.
Do you remember the popular song, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”? Well this is the original version called “Mbube” from the South African Acappella group, Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds.
1940’s
Here is an American classic called, “God Bless the Child” from one of my favorite singers of all time, Billie Holiday.
Thanks to the ‘luck’ of the Irish, a beautiful song by Dennis Morgan was created called, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling”.
About 3700 miles away, Russia Jazz singer Leonid Utyosov was singing “Road to Berlin”.
1950’s
This song is certainly an American staple, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Originally recorded by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton on August 13, 1952. However, the best-known version of “Hound Dog” is the July 1956 recording by Elvis Presley.
Over in West Africa, the locals were groovin’ to the song “Fom Fom” by ET Mensah & His Tempos Band.
Almost 6600 miles away in China, Grace Chang was singing her rendition of “Carmen”.
I had such a wonderful time putting this compilation together. Although it was time consuming & quite difficult to actually find & purchase a lot of these old songs, it was certainly well worth it. Stay tuned for part 2 of music through the ages!
If you have a comment, or like to share your favorite song from 1920-1950, please let us know below.