[Dixielandjazz] Re: Chords and Lead Wanted: The Lady In Red

dwlit at cpcug.org dwlit at cpcug.org
Wed Feb 15 08:01:22 PST 2006


> It was - and it does!
> I'm surprised that in your musical travels you've, somehow, missed "The
> Lady
> in Red" (1935. Allie Wrubel, music-Mort Dixon, lyrics).
> It was done magnificently by Louis Prima for Brunswick on 17 May 1935 with
> Prima, t/v; Pee Wee Russell, cl; Frank Pinero, p; Garry McAdams, g; Jack
> Ryan, sb; Sam Weiss, d. [Playing it now.}
> It's not all that rare on LP or CD and contains two great Pee Wee solos.
> Our band used to do it a few years ago.
> So did Joe Haymes, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Stan Getz, Duke Ellington
> and
> the 1955 Humphrey Lyttelton Band.
> It was featured as a Busby Berkeley number in the 1935 film 'In Caliente'
> (sung by Winni Shaw).
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
>

I like Ethel Merman's 1935 record, which has probably the complete vocal.
Originally a rhumba, it has a couple of extra sections in addition to the
verse and chorus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lady In Red (from the Ethel Merman record, 1935)

Have you heard about the   toast of the town
dressed// in a   red velvet gown./
Whatever is her   name?///   Never has it been   said.//They
Call her|the   Lady| in    Red.///   ////

Verse:
Say///   /have you ever met the   girl who is the toast of the   town?///
A work of art without a   question.|||
	who gives your heart a great   congestion.||
Say///   /have you ever met the   dream in the red velvet   gown?///
If you will pardon my sug-   gestion|||
	you’d better write her number   down.||She’s the

Gay young bird all the   magazines feature,
	‘Pon my word she’s the   zippiest creature|
(long tone) ////   ////   ////   ///She’s the
Valentine all the   movies are after
	she won’t dine ‘cause she   really don’t have ta.
I|de-|   clare./Oh the

Chorus:
(Oh the) Lady in red,/the   fellows are crazy for the   lady in red./   ////
She’s a bit gaudy, but   lawdy, what a person-   ality./   //Oh the
Lady in red,/ is    f/resh as a daisy when the   town is in bed./    ////
Dancing and dining and   shining with origi-   nality./   //She’s very
-----------------
Proper||she’s nothing   more than a pal, but/
	oh/ me and oh   my!//You’d never
Stop’er,||she’d be a   dangerous gal/if
	she should ever meet the right guy! Oh the
----------------
Lady in red,/the   fellows are crazy for the   lady in red./   ////
Is she a study, oh!   Buddy what a person-
	ality. She’s got vi-   tality. (Ending: Say/   ////
/Have you every met the   girl who’s the toast of the
	town?///   A work of art without a
Question|||   You’d better write her number   down!|||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Send me a couple of bucks and I'll send a .pdf of my 2-page lead sheet.
It's in my "Gig Book".

BTW, Merman also did my favorite version of "I get a kick out of you" ca.
1934.

--Sheik
http://americanmusiccaravan.com



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