Saturday morning brought the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In 1918, that time brought Armistice, the end of World War I. The conflict was known at the time as “The War to End All Wars,” a nice piece of savage irony. It was also called the Great War; later, they called its successor the Good War. So, if the wars decrease in quality as we go along, where are we now?
There were many notable bands in the Thirties, but lots of people have a great affection for Ray Noble. The bandleader and composer had success first in his native England and then in America. Just as well-known was his vocalist, Al Bowlly.
Bowlly was born in Mozambique in the 1890s and brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He made more than 1000 recordings from 1927 to his death in 1941. In 1929, a 22 year-old Ray Noble had been named a musical advisor for His Master’s Voice (HMV) Records and was the conductor for the label’s house band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra. In 1930, Bowlly did his first recording with Noble, “I’m Telling the World She’s Mine.” In 1931, they had a huge hit with “Goodnight, Sweetheart.” It’s kind of a schmaltzy record, but I love the guitar at the beginning.
But for many, they treasure the times in their lives when such sentimentality can be allowed to be indulged. Richard Thompson captures the end of such dreams with his song “Al Bowlly’s in Heaven.” It’s about a British veteran of WWII and the wreck his life becomes after the war. The lyrics are veddy British, with references to ‘demob’ suits, the civilian clothing issued to men leaving the armed services, and dossers and St. Mungo’s.
Bowlly died in the London Blitz. He was killed by a German Luftwaffe parachute mine which exploded outside his apartment on April 17, 1941. The blast tore his bedroom door off its hinges and slammed it into his head.
His last recorded song, made two weeks before his death, was a duet with Jimmy Messene on Irving Berlin’s “When That Man Is Dead And Gone.”
The song was featured later that year in a show held at Madison Square Garden on October 5. It was called “Fun to Be Free,” written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and featured a cavalcade of stars making the case for the U.S. entering the war (two months before Pearl Harbor, which made that same case very effectively). According to accounts, there was a feature spot with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson tap-dancing on a coffin labeled “Hitler,” accompanied by what the New York Times called “a Negro chorus of sixteen voices singing ‘When That Man Is Dead and Gone’.” The lyrics go like this:
Satan, Satan, thought up a plan
Dressed as a man
Walking the earth and since he began
The world is hell for you and me
But what a heaven it will beWhen that man is dead and gone
When that man is dead and gone
When they lay him twelve feet deep
I’ll be there to laugh, not weep
When that man is dead and gone
Ray Noble and His Orchestra (ft. Al Bowlly) – Goodnight, Sweetheart — BUY
Richard Thompson – Al Bowlly’s In Heaven
Tags: Al Bowlly, Ray Noble, Richard Thompson, MP3s