![]() ![]() The big bands of Harry James and Charlie Spivak played the tune on radio broadcasts in 1944, and there was a 1946 recording made for Musicraft Records by vocalist Louanne Hogan. After all, it’s in the verse that the writer should be freer, for in practical terms it’s the chorus that’s being sold or promoted.”īut then again, perhaps the problem with the song was that it was too far ahead of its time in 1934. But I find it very interesting, and I approve of its experimental nature. Wilder continues: “It’s extremely difficult and very lush. It begins simply enough, but halfway through it’s almost as if the other musical side of the man couldn’t be silent and the rest of the verse was finished by Dukelsky.” Here Wilder is alluding to composer Vernon Duke’s “other” life as a composer of extended works. “The verse may be the most ambitious I’ve ever seen. ![]() It’s this very same verse that composer Alec Wilder, in his book American Popular Song, The Great Innovators 1900-1950, praises. I played it at one or two Westport get-togethers and found the listeners retreating to the bar in the middle of the verse.” Again from his autobiography he discusses the “premier” of the tune: “Both the long ‘conversational’ verse and the constantly modulating refrain contained not a particle of what the Harms (publishing company) moguls called ‘popular appeal’ the song was a genuine emotional outburst and, possibly, this genuineness accounted for its subsequent standard status. In his autobiography Passport to Paris Duke described the show as “a decent, average revue received decent, average notices.”ĭuke wrote “ Autumn in New York” while vacationing in Westport, Connecticut. Harold Murray, and the finale, “ Autumn in New York.” Only the latter remained in the show which opened on December 27, 1934, and closed five months later. Thirteen years later it rose to number 27 on the pop charts thanks to a fine vocal version by Frank Sinatra.Ĭhart information used by permission from Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954Ĭomposer Vernon Duke wrote three pieces for Thumbs Up!: a dance number for Hal Le Roy to tap to, a tango for J. Vernon Duke’s composition was written for the 1934 show Thumbs Up! and introduced by J. the song was a genuine emotional outburst and, possibly, this genuineness accounted for its subsequent standard status.” ![]()
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