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“‘A Foggy Day’
has been described as ‘beautiful,’
‘easy-going,’ ‘atmospheric,’ and,
interestingly, ‘timeless,’ considering
the brothers are said to have written
the song in less than an hour.”
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- JW
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Fred
Astaire introduced “A Foggy Day”
in the 1937, RKO musical, A Damsel
in Distress. Later that year
his recording of the song would
rise to number three on the pop
charts. “Things Are Looking Up”
and “Nice
Work If You Can Get It,” two
other songs from the Gershwin score,
were also charting hits, with the
latter rising to number one. “A
Foggy Day” was on the charts again
early in 1938 when
Bob Crosby and His Orchestra,
with vocalist Kay Weber, saw their
version rise to number 16.
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Based on a P.G. Wodehouse
novel, published in 1919 A Damsel in
Distress had proven itself a
popular commodity years before George
Gershwin had a notion of making
it into a musical comedy. It had
already been made into a 1920 silent
film and then graced the stage as
a play in 1928. Gershwin’s attraction
to the book was understandable.
The central figure in the novel
is a character named George who,
though successful as a composer,
is unsuccessful at finding the right
woman to marry.
It is intriguing to consider
that even though the book predates
the RKO movie by eighteen years,
it is conceivable that the fictional
George contained elements of (the
real) George Gershwin’s personality.
Ohio State Professor John Mueller,
co-author of the hit musical
A Foggy Day (Shaw Festival,
Ontario Canada), writes in his background
notes, “As it happens, George Gershwin
had been a rehearsal pianist for
Miss 1917, a musical Kern
and Wodehouse had worked on, and
the promising young composer may
have been in mind when the whimsical
novelist got around to dubbing his
American songwriter-hero.”
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The casting for A Damsel in Distress
did not go smoothly. RKO was forced
to find another partner for
Fred Astaire when, after seven
movies together,
Ginger Rogers demanded a break
from musicals. With Joan Fontaine
replacing Rogers, the movie company
attempted to compensate by including
the comedy team of George Burns
and Gracie Allen. While audiences
were disappointed with the break
in tradition, they were thrilled
with the superb Gershwin score.
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Ira Gershwin’s beguiling verse almost paraphrases
the chorus. Both verse and chorus open with gloom
and then transition to an uplifting close. The verse
suspends the answer, however, leaving the chorus
to explain what transformed the foggy day into “the
luckiest day I’ve known.” While the verse is not
always included on vocal recordings, it can be heard
by Ella Fitzgerald (The
Complete Songbooks - George and Ira Gershwin),
Louis Armstrong (Ella and Louis), Chris
Connor (Chris Connor Sings The George Gershwin
Almanac of Song), and Rosemary Clooney (Dedicated
to Nelson).
Critical analyses of “A Foggy Day” rarely fail
to comment on the simplicity of the song and George
Gershwin’s use of repeated notes. William Zinsser,
in
Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters
and Their Songs, says that “the song is calm
and mature, wise in its understatement” and that
it takes its emotion from “repetitive clusters and
melodic jumps.”
George Gershwin’s use of repeated notes is widely
recognized and found in many of his songs including
“Oh,
Lady Be Good!” (1924), “That Certain Feeling”
(1925), “Someone
to Watch Over Me” (1926), and “They
Can’t Take That Away From Me” (1937). In Wayne
Schneider’s The
Gershwin Style: New Looks at the Music of George
Gershwin, contributor C. André Barbera says,
“[Repeated notes] build melodic tension while emphasizing
rhythm and holding the door open for harmonic ingenuity…the
ear is simply drawn to the harmonic progressions.”
The opportunity to showcase harmonic ingenuity makes
these songs compelling to many jazz musicians. And
shifting the complexity to the bass line increases
the likelihood the song will be a hit because more
artists can sing it.
Gershwin wasn’t the first or the last to use
the repeated notes device. Examples are common,
ranging from Chopin’s “Prelude in E minor” to
Cole Porter’s “Every
Time We Say Goodbye” (1944). In the October,
1998, issue of Atlantic Monthly, David Schiff
points out in his article “Misunderstanding Gershwin”
that “Gershwin may have taken some of his most distinctive
musical touches from Chopin’s ‘Prelude in E minor’…Chopin’s
melody emphasizes numerous repetitions of the same
pitch…Each time a note is repeated, the harmony
under it changes…making the melodic notes sound
ever more intense.”
- JW
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Musical analysis of
“A Foggy Day”
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| Original
Key |
F major |
| Form |
A – B –A
– C |
| Tonality |
Major throughout |
| Movement |
Repeated
notes, followed by an upward skip or an
upward leap; arpeggiated descent with
step-wise embellishment. |
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Comments
(assumed
background)
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Harmonically speaking, this is one of Gershwin’s
“slicker” compositions. “A” and the second
half of “B” are based on the I – VI7 – II7
– V7 progression (similar to “I
Got Rhythm” as well as the first four
measures of “Just
You, Just Me” and “Sweet
Lorraine”). In fact, the harmonic progression
of the first twelve measures is virtually
identical to “Let’s
Call The Whole Thing Off.” However,
many of the important melodic pitches fall
on color notes and chord extensions (maj7,
b9, b5, 11 and 13) to give this otherwise
simple tune a very sophisticated tonality. |
K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com
Check out K. J. McElrath's book of Jazz Standards Guide Tone Lines at his web site (www.bardicle.com). |
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“A Foggy Day”
was included in these films:
-
A Damsel in Distress
(1937, Fred Astaire)
- An American in Paris (1951,
Oscar Levant, piano, not used in film)
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Click on a CD for more details
at Amazon.com
Charles Mingus
Pithecanthropus Erectus
1990, Atlantic Jazz 8809
Original recording, 1956
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| The bass player and all-round genius
manages to keep a tight rein on the heavy
improvisation without hindering creativity.
It is one of the most ambitious interpretations
of the song. |
Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire
1994, Bethlehem
Original recording, 1956
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| The combination of Marty Paich’s
arrangements, stellar jazz musicians, and
Tormé’s insightful approach to the songs
that Astaire introduced makes this a desert
island disc. |
Wynton Marsalis
Marsalis Standard Time Vol. 1
1987, Sony 40461
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| Trumpeter Marsalis delivers a thoughtful
interpretation of the song. Controlled and
understated at times, the song is played
with technical perfection. |
Ahmad Jamal
Chamber Music of the New Jazz
2004, Grp Records
Original recording, 1955
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| Long out of print, this new reissue
features pianist Jamal in the company of
Ray Crawford (guitar) and Israel Crosby
(bass) savoring “A Foggy Day.” Elsewhere
Crawford plinks out the rhythm on his guitar
in a most unusual way. |
Bireli Lagrene
Blue Eyes
1998, Dreyfus 36591
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| Although guitarist Lagrene styled
himself after Django Reinhardt early in
his career, little of the gypsy peaks through
in this set dedicated to Frank Sinatra |
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Clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw loved
numbers written by top songwriters like George Gershwin,
Jerome Kern and
Cole Porter. Always looking ahead, Shaw assembled
a killer big band following World War II that included
jazz great Roy Eldridge on trumpet and young lions
Barney Kessel on guitar and Dodo Marmorosa on piano.
As jazz became more complex during the beginnings
of the bebop era, Shaw quickly embraced the style,
and elements of it crept into his playing, as evidenced
on his record of “A Foggy Day,” which also has solos
by Eldridge, Kessel and Marmorosa.
Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian
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| This section shows the jazz standards
written by the same writing team. Click on a name
to see all of a writer's jazz standards.
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Additional information on “A Foggy Day” may be found in:
2 paragraphs including the following types of information: history.
2 pages including the following types of information: music analysis.
1 page including the following types of information: music analysis.
4 pages including the following types of information: history and music analysis.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: summary and performers.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: history and performers.
3 pages including the following types of information: anecdotal, history and song lyrics.
1 page including the following types of information: lyric analysis.
Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.
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