Monday, March 16, 2009

Do I know any songs by Glen Miller?


Search: glenn miller

Why: Zack is watching "The Glenn Miller Story" (1954) starring Jimmy Stewart. I have never heard of this guy, but apparently he was a big enough deal to have a biopic made about him.

Answer: Probably, but who knows. His discography is a complete mess, and since his songs were mostly big band, they don't really have lyrics that I would remember.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: In Season 2 of "Lost," Hurley picks up a radio transmission of Miller's "Moonlight Serenade." Miller disappeared in a plane flying over the English Channel in 1944.

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5 comments:

  1. Royce Van AllenMarch 16, 2009 at 9:56 AM

    Hi-

    That Wiki entry on Glenn Miller that you looked at is very odd - it's more like a selected listing of songs the Wiki poster wanted to talk about. It is in no way a true 'discography'.

    Here's a link with all the GM lyrics (to the tunes that actually had lyrics - and there were hundreds of them)

    http://www.nefkom.net/al-foster/index.htm

    The weird thing in the movie that Zack was watching was that they featured only his instrumental hits, except for "Chattanooga Choo Choo" sung by the vocal group, The Modernaires, who had sung with Miller in the early 40s. For reasons not clear, Miller's 3 very popular vocalists were excluded from the film, not even mentioned by name, so all the songs they were originally featured on never made it into the film.

    Some titles that people may have heard that Miller had the big hit's on were:

    AT LAST - Yes, That "AT LAST". Major hit in 1942.
    KALAMAZOO
    JUKE BOX SATURDAY NIGHT
    SERENADE IN BLUE


    For the real Miller on film, see his 2 feature films that he and the band were in - both were on VHS and I think both are on DVD - fun movies with lots of songs - and there are clips from the films all over Youtube

    SUN VALLEY SERENADE
    ORCHESTRA WIVES

    Happy listening!

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  2. Royce Van AllenMarch 16, 2009 at 9:58 AM

    PS - EVERYONE has heard "In the Mood" - no lyrics (worth singing), but it is one of the anthem's of the Swing era that turns up all the time in movies and TV.

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  3. UnknownMarch 17, 2009 at 6:23 AM

    Ah - "In the Mood"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM

    Yes, it's the background / intro music for every scene ever set in the 30s.

    Thanks for in the info!

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  4. Royce Van AllenMarch 17, 2009 at 11:01 AM

    Happy to spread the gospel of Swing.

    The other Swing song that they use constantly is SING SING SING by Benny Goodman.

    Those are essentially the 2 national anthems of the Swing era.

    On Youtube, I am sure.

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  5. Royce Van AllenMarch 17, 2009 at 11:31 AM

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

    IN THE MOOD
    GLENN MILLER
    from the film SUN VALLEY SERENADE - 1941

    ReplyDelete