Dark/sad vintage popular music

[nightandthecity]

Artie Shaw and his Orchestra -- Gloomy Sunday (1940)

[video=youtube;EkojinjvlpM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkojinjvlpM[/video]

I’d second the Artie Shaw/Pauline Byrne version of Gloomy Sunday - my favourite version of one of the darkest songs of all time.

The tune is supposedly a Hungarian traditional tune, and many of the early/mid-20th century European urban vernacular musics with folk roots are full of dark and angst ridden songs.

For example, French chanson - here’s Piaf singing of the suicide of two illicit young lovers……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBTIuFuS0LE

Though if you want DARK you can’t beat Greek Rembetika - subjects range from crime to drugs to death to the futility of everything to drugs and death again….here’s a scene from a 1980s movie based on the life of Marika Ninou that gives something of the flavour and context…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saUkUYkWL4s

and here’s the great Marika Papagika from 1919
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux_whsihlM0

Though for the depths of despair you can’t beat this classic of the Armenian diaspora - 23 year old Zabelle Panosian singing “Crane”, recorded in 1917.

“Ah, where does this long dark pathway lead
My god, where does it end, this obsession with fear
When shall night end today’s last glimmering spark
Where shall my weary feet tonight find rest”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GizgyxGSrFs

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ben Pollack and his Park Central Orchestra -- True Blue Lou (1929)
featuring Benny Goodman on clarinet.

[video=youtube;eK662lIjy18]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK662lIjy18[/video]

She was a dame in love with a guy
She stuck to him but didn't know why
Everyone blamed her, still they all named her
True Blue Lou

He gave her nothing, she gave him all
But when he had his back to the wall
Who fought to save him, smiled and forgave him?
True Blue Lou

He got a break and went away
To get a new start
But poor kid, she never got a break
Except the one way down in her heart

Maybe somewhere in Heaven above
There's a reward for that kind of love
Angels won't blame her, they too will name her
True Blue Lou

 

[Nobert]

One of my favorites, although I'm more partial to the Ethel Waters version.

[video=youtube;k6FxyAYEFa8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6FxyAYEFa8[/video]

 

[Nobert]

[video=youtube;JB9VVTMiX1k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB9VVTMiX1k[/video]

 

[Nobert]

[video=youtube;PpU-mcgBJxE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpU-mcgBJxE[/video]

Better known by Doris Day pretending to be Ruth Etting.

 

[Nobert]

Not straight up sad or dark, maybe more bittersweet. This is usually played kind of up-tempo and bouncy, but I think the most poignant of the "I want to go back to my home/the south/my dear old mother/the girl I left behind" genre.

[video=youtube;eO6PpD-tRLU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO6PpD-tRLU[/video]

 

[Nobert]

Not going home, just lost.

[video=youtube;KiJx1Hbn_KM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiJx1Hbn_KM[/video]

Possibly even darker is the recording by Lois Deppe and Earl Hines, I just couldn't think of the name "Lois Deppe" until after I posted this.

 

[Nobert]

More from the Stanley Bros. Probably my favorite bluegrass number ever.

[video=youtube;8vXTTWZPXkw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vXTTWZPXkw[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Jane Green -- If You Hadn't Gone Away (1925)

[video=youtube;cO9Bfufe7GE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9Bfufe7GE[/video]

 

[Nobert]

That's a beaut. I'd never heard of Jane Green.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Al Jolson -- Mr Radio Man (1924)
with Isham Jones and his Orchestra

[video=youtube;LlvrD93OO7k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvrD93OO7k[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Belle Baker -- The One I Love Just Can't Be Bothered With Me (1930)

[video=youtube;lcdOHYnxkoM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcdOHYnxkoM[/video]

 

[1mach1]

Glenn Miller - I'll Never Smile Again 1940

[video=youtube;DYqPM8va9jo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYqPM8va9jo[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Leo Reisman and his Orchestra -- Mean To Me (1929)

[video=youtube;tznXbHlXv7I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tznXbHlXv7I[/video]

 

[Shangas]

I'm reminded of this song...

[video=youtube;cC-fOQSLqyg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC-fOQSLqyg[/video]

Sung by the inimitable Al Bowlly

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers -- Someday Sweetheart (1926)
Of all the recordings of this song I've always liked Jelly Roll Morton's recording for its more melancholy stylings, especially Jelly Roll Morton's piano solo, compared to other versions, some of which even had a peppy, upbeat sound to it.

[video=youtube;wjYRjC-AG7c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjYRjC-AG7c[/video]

 

[vitanola]

Irving Berlin's "Suppertime", introduced by Ethel Waters in the revue "As Thousands Cheer":

[video=youtube_share;FcAw8ru_nQc]http://youtu.be/FcAw8ru_nQc[/video]

 

[vitanola]

The 1928 hit song "Ready for the River"
[video=youtube_share;AiKHSTpiDGs]http://youtu.be/AiKHSTpiDGs[/video]

"Ive made my will, wrote the note
Gonna keep a'walkin' 'till my straw hat floats..."

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Blanche Sweet -- There's A Tear For Every Smile In Hollywood (1930)

[video=youtube;bqdvAKgnk0I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqdvAKgnk0I[/video]

You're like a million others
Who seek the road to fame
But soon you'll realize
It's not an easy climb
You'll like find like the all the others
Whose dreams are just the same
The road is not as rosy
As Sunday papers claim

There's a tear for every smile in Hollywood
Every mile's a weary mile in Hollywood
A million dreams are born with each day
A million dreams keep fading away
Like the spider and the fly is Hollywood
Where a brokenhearted sigh is understood
Though fortune seems to beckon to some
There's a tear for every smile in Hollywood

 

[Nobert]

Not exactly "Golden Era" (1969), but still in the basic mode of torch/lounge music, and one I've always been semi-captivated by.

[video=youtube;pTSMyKdKDR0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTSMyKdKDR0[/video]