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“Belle Baker had just lost her husband,
and, struck by the personal sense
of loss conveyed in the lyrics,
broke down weeping during a performance.
The press picked up the
story and before long the song was
a hit.” |
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- JW
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Vaudeville star
Belle Baker introduced the public
to “All of Me” over the radio in
1931. Detroit songwriters, Seymour
Simons and Gerald Marks, offered
Baker the song, and she sang it
onstage at the Motor City’s famous
Fisher Theatre. As the story goes,
the singer had just lost her husband,
and, struck by the personal sense
of loss conveyed in the lyrics,
broke down weeping during a performance.
The national press picked up the
story and before long the song was
a hit.
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A December 1, 1931, recording
of “All of Me” by
Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra,
with vocalist Mildred Bailey, was
the song’s first major hit. It entered
the pop charts in January of 1932
and rose to the number one position
where it held for three weeks. By
February three renditions of “All
of Me” were on the charts,
Louis Armstrong’s version also
climbing to number one. All told,
the hits included:
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Louis Armstrong (1932, #1)
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Paul Whiteman and His orchestra
(1932, Mildred Bailey, vocal,
#1)
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Ben Selvin and His Orchestra
(1932, #19)
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Count Basie and His Orchestra
(1943, Lynne Sherman, vocal,
#14)
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Frank Sinatra (1948, #21)
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Johnny Ray (1952, #12)
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“All of Me” was also included
in the 1932 Fox Studios comedy,
Careless Lady, starring Joan
Bennett and John Boles. A New
York Times review characterized
the film as “artificial,” “strained,”
and “haphazardly directed so lacking
in suspense that a child could hazard
a guess as to how the tame complications
are going to be untangled.”
After 1932, “All of Me” was largely
forgotten until after World War
II when a 1948
Frank Sinatra recording was
a modest hit. It resurfaced again
when Sinatra sang it in Meet
Danny Wilson (1952), giving
a boost to Johnny Ray’s recording
that same year.
At the 2000 Award and Induction
Ceremony, the Songwriters Hall of
Fame selected “All of Me” as one
of two songs to receive that year’s
Towering Song Award. Praising the
Marks/Simons composition, the SHOF
comments,
Truly a Towering
Song, “All Of Me,” first introduced
by the singing star
Belle Baker, was recorded
by
Frank Sinatra four different
times, each time with a different
interpretation. More recently,
country star Willie Nelson,
also recorded “All Of Me,” a
version which enjoyed a lengthy
stay on both the pop and country
charts.
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The lyrics for “All of Me” elaborate on the sentiment,
You took … my heart, so why
not take all of me?
The 20-bar introductory verse is almost never
sung; its lyrics add little and almost seem to ramble
in relation to the succinct 64-word refrain.
Using an A-B-A-C form, Simons and Marks introduce
their title and melodic hook two times in the first
three bars of the song, beginning and ending those
measures with “All of Me.” Although the melodic
hook and its variations repeat throughout the song,
Marks and Simons wisely prevent the lyrics from
becoming boring, saving the lyrical hook, “All of
Me,” until the very end.
The chord changes for “All of Me” are frequently
used by jazz musicians for their improvisations
and for new compositions, two examples being “Background
Music” by Warne Marsh and “Lo Flame” by Bill Dobbins.
- JW
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Musical analysis of
“All of Me”
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| Original
Key |
Bb major;
brief foray into G minor during the bridge |
| Form |
A – B – A
– C |
| Tonality |
Primarily
major |
| Movement |
Lots of arpeggiation,
generally downward with some chromatic embellishments |
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Comments
(assumed
background)
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This is one of the most (over)played pieces in the
Dixieland/Traditional jazz repetoire. The
chord progression is based on circles of
fifths, starting with I – III7 (“Charleston,”
“You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You”),
using minor substitutions. The “A” does
not resolve to V7 – I, however, going directly
from ii back to III7, then starting the
circle again and finally resolving to V7
– I as it goes into the second “A”. The
only real harmonic surprise comes in the
fifth measure of “C”. Where we might expect
to hear a II7on its way to V7, the composer
instead uses a iv, sometimes played as a
ii7(b5). Since the melody here lands on
the flatted sixth degree of the scale (Gb
in the original) and the chord of the moment
is preceeded by a VI7 (its own V7chord),
there are virtually no other chords that
would work in this spot. |
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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“All of Me”
was included in these films:
- Careless Lady (1932)
- Meet Danny Wilson (1952, Frank
Sinatra)
- Down Among the Sheltering Palms
(1953, Gloria DeHaven)
- Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960,
Dinah Washington)
- Lady Sings the Blues (1972,
Diana Ross, Richard Pryor)
- All of Me (1984)
- Bird (1988, Charlie Parker,
saxophone; Monty Alexander, piano; Ray Brown,
bass; John Guerin, drums)
- Sweet and Lowdown (1999, Carol
Woods, Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli, Kelly
Friesen, Ken Peplowski, Ted Sommer)
- Swing! (1999, Ann Hampton
Calloway, Everett Bradley)
And on television:
- The Helen O'Connell Show (1957)
Theme music for NBC musical variety show
- The Muppet Show (1976) Season
1, Episode 8
- Edderkoppen (2000, Katrine
Madsen) Danish TV mini series
- The Sopranos (2001) Season
3, Episode 29 "Fortunate Son"
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Click on a CD for more details
at Amazon.com
Lee Konitz
Motion
2003, Verve 440065510
Original recording, 1961
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| Alto saxophonist Konitz is his original
and intriguing self on this track. Drummer
Elvin Jones and bassist Sonny Dallas lay
down an up-tempo base for Konitz’s spellbinding,
improvisational, solo runs. |
Erroll Garner
1949
2001, Melodie Jazz Classics 1138
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| Pianist Garner gives the song a
Tin Pan Alley feel on this busy but highly
original reading of the song. |
Sonny Stitt/Jack McDuff
Stitt Meets Brother Jack
1992 Original Jazz Classics 703
Original recording, 1962
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| Saxophonist Stitt and organist McDuff
deliver a mid-tempo, swing rendition of
the song. This laid-back reading features
great horn runs over soulful organ and interesting
percussion. |
King Pleasure
Golden Days
1991,Original Jazz Classics 1772
Original recording, 1960
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| This rollicking rendition highlights
the vocalese talents of King Pleasure. Twisting
and multiplying lyrics tenfold the singer
keeps this high-energy swing going at a
blistering pace. |
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Benny Carter, alto saxophonist,
trumpeter and arranger, was among a group of talented
musicians for whom leading a big band became a financial
disaster (Bunny Berigan, Jack Teagarden and Bobby
Hackett, just to name a few, suffered as well).
Fortunately Carter’s big band made a number of great
records, leaving a legacy illustrating his great
playing and that of his sidemen.
His 1942 recording of “All of Me” is a treat.
He began arranging in the 1920’s with Fletcher Henderson,
and his writing for saxophone section, which leads
off this performance, was unparalleled. (He later
arranged, wrote and conducted for films and television).
A rare treat on the last chorus of Carter’s arrangement
is a marvelous solo on clarinet, an instrument he
seldom played but of which he was a master.
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 “All of Me” may be found in:
1 paragraph including the following types of information: film productions, lyric analysis, history and performers.
Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.
2 pages including the following types of information: music analysis, performers and jazz solo transcription.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: history.
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