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...it was Harbach
who added the lyrics based upon
the Russian proverb, “When your
heart’s on fire, smoke gets in your
eyes,” |
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- JW
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On
November 18, 1933, the Broadway
musical Roberta opened on
the stage of the New Amsterdam Theater
and, despite mostly negative reviews,
managed to run for 295 performances.
The show’s longevity was due in
no small part to the Kern/Harbach
songs, of which “Smoke Gets In Your
Eyes” stood out among such other
tunes as “I’ll Be Hard to Handle,”
“Yesterdays,”
and “Let’s Begin.”
Despite the popularity of “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes” and the fact
that it is the first song mentioned
when speaking of Roberta,
nearly twice as many jazz artists
currently cover “Yesterdays.”
Roberta, based on Alice
Duer Miller’s novel, Gowns by
Roberta, told the story of a
college football player who inherits
a dress shop in Paris. The plot
was panned as overly romantic and
just plain ridiculous; however,
the songs purportedly saved what
was to be Jerome Kern’s last successful
Broadway show. The Herald Tribune
reported that there was a “sudden
outburst of public whistling, humming,
and crooning of its score.”
Another major strength of the
original Broadway run was a stellar
cast that included
Fay Templeton, Lyda Roberti,
Sydney Greenstreet, George Murphy,
Bob Hope, and Fred MacMurray.
Tamara was given the honor of
performing the lovely “Smoke Gets
in Your Eyes.”
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An instant hit with the public,
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” made the
pop charts four times in 1934:
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Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
(Bob Lawrence, vocal, #1)
- Leo Reisman and His Orchestra
Tamara, vocal, #3)
- Emil Coleman and His Riviera
Orchestra (Jerry Cooper, vocal,
#4)
-
Ruth Etting(#15)
Later,
- Artie Shaw and the Gramercy
Five (1941, #24)
- The Platters (1959, million-seller
#1)
- Blue Haze (1973, #27)
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The Platters’ best-selling version
has been collected in
The Platters Universal Masters Collection.
This compilation contains a crisp
version of The Platters’ number
one hit. This doo-wop arrangement
is probably the best known of all
versions.
Hot on the heels of its Broadway
success,
Roberta found new life as
a 1935 Hollywood musical. The film
starred Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott,
Fred Astaire, and
Ginger Rogers and was again
well-received on the strength of
the Kern/Harbach score* as well as
the Astaire/Rogers dance routines.
The 1952 remake,
Lovely to Look At, was not
as well reviewed.
Described as “incomparable” and
“immortal,” “Smoke Gets in Your
Eyes” was written by Kern as a tap
dance number to be performed between
scene changes during his Broadway
hit Showboat. Originally
up-tempo and based on a radio commercial,
Kern turned it into a ballad at
the request of the producer. Otto
Harbach later claimed that he suggested
the tempo adjustment, which reportedly
irritated Kern. Regardless of who
came up with the ballad idea, it
was Harbach who added the lyrics
based upon the Russian proverb,
“When your heart’s on fire, smoke
gets in your eyes,” The song was
an instant hit.
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*According to Clive
Hirschhorn’s book Hollywood Musicals
the film
Roberta retained four of
the show’s original numbers,
“Let’s Begin,” “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes,” “Yesterdays,” and “I'll
Be Hard to Handle,” the latter
with new lyrics by Bernard Dougall. Three more were used as
background music and two were
commissioned from Kern and
lyricist
Dorothy Fields: “Lovely to Look At”
and “I Won’t Dance” which was
originally written by Kern and
Oscar Hammerstein II for a London
show called Three Sisters.
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Kern was slow to embrace new styles, and there
is considerable discussion about his 1930’s melodies
clinging to the qualities of an operetta. Author/editor/publicist
Eric Myers says, “Jerome Kern had planned Roberta
as a semi-operetta along the lines of his previous
hits, The Cat and the Fiddle and Music
in the Air. What finally emerged was closer
to traditional musical comedy, although the refulgent
melodies of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “The Touch
of Your Hand,” and “Yesterdays”
definitely have their roots in the florid ground
of operetta.”
Allen Forte, in his book
Listening to Classic American Popular Songs,
observes that the full-octave ascension in the
melody of the first few bars of “Smoke Gets in Your
Eyes” creates “a romantic ambience characteristic
of the European operetta.”
In
The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era,
however, he adds that the B major key of the bridge
and the “swift and harmonically rich transition
from bridge to chorus” represent a departure from
the operetta tradition.
The repeated use of a half note, followed by
four eighth notes, is highly attractive to any jazz
musician, the device creating a melodic drive and
an invariant construction around which to improvise.
The bridge is often characterized as “adventurous”
or “daring,” with its enharmonic (notes with the
same pitch but different names) change of key, of
which Kern is said to have been fond.
Harbach’s lyrics tell a story beginning with
blind love and the rejection of friendly advice
When your heart’s on fire
… Smoke gets in your eyes
And ending with loss, derision, and the consolatory
statement
… when a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes.
But the middle of the song holds equal interest.
The first line of the bridge shows Harbach is no
more fully out of the operetta camp than Kern, having
written
So I chaffed them and I gaily
laughed
And the bridge is where the mood of the song
changes, going from laughter to loss, in perfect
concert with the enharmonic change of key. -JW
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Musical analysis of
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
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| Original
Key |
Eb major,
with false key change to B major during
the bridge (originally written as Cb major) |
| Form |
A1 – A2 –
B – A2 |
| Tonality |
Primarily
major |
| Movement |
The rhythmic
motif is a half note followed by four eights,
gradually climbing, then descending in section
“A.” The generally arpeggiated section “B”
rises and falls with some wide leaps (6th). |
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Comments
(assumed
background)
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For a ballad, this tune has a good deal
of dynamic, forward-moving energy due to
the placement of the moving notes toward
the end of the measure. (There are very
few sustained notes in this work.) The harmonic
progressions at work here are simple: “A”
consists of I –ii7 – V7 – I, followed by
I – I7(+5) (V7/IV) – IV - #iv˚7 – I, and
finishing with the opening harmonic sequence.
This, incidentally, does not take into consideration
the many embellishing and passing harmonies,
both in Kern’s original and the additions
made by jazz performers over the years.
Section “B” uses the “ice cream changes”
(“Blue
Moon,” “Heart
And Soul”) for the first six measures.
The second time through, however, the vi
resolves back to the original tonic key
of the “A” section (in the original key,
the sequence is B –Abm – Eb, in which the
Ab – vi of B – becomes the iv of Eb.)
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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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Jerome Kern’s “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is not
as commonly performed as many other tunes, but its
attraction is the bridge. The bridge is in the key
of B while the tune is in Eb. This is a very uncommon
key change, and B is an uncommon key for jazz players.
And often the bridge is not set up with a 2 – 5
progression (ii – V7). Just jump in. Another almost
unique feature of this tune is in measures three
and four where the melody remains static and the
chords move. This happens at the end of many tunes
but not so often in the middle.
Rick
Leppanen, jazz bassist
www.pearldjango.com
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published Vocalist or Instrumentalist?
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“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
was included in these films:
- Roberta (1935, Irene Dunne)
- Till The Clouds Roll By (1946,
Cyd Charisse and Gower Champion)
- Lovely to Look At (1952, Kathryn
Grayson)
- Four Weddings And A Funeral
(1994, Nu Colours)
- Smoke (1995, The Jerry Garcia
Band)
- Hearts in Atlantis (2001,
The Platters)
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Click on a CD for more details
at Amazon.com
Harvey Mason
With All My Heart
2004, RCA
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| Drummer Mason breathes new life
into the song on this all-star trio album.
Joined by Bob James and Charlie Haden, Mason
makes “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” a highlight
of an already impressive album. |
Pearl Django
Avalon
2000, Modern Hot Records
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| This quintet of violin, bass, and
three guitarists (sometimes playing unusual
models) has brought the lively sound of
the Quintet of the Hot Club of France into
the 21st century. They swing “Smoke Gets
in Your Eyes” at a joyous tempo. |
Jacky Terrasson
Reach
1996 Blue Note Records 35739
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| Always innovative and engaging,
pianist Terrasson bends the song into new
shapes. On this album he bookends the song
in an arrangement with the title track. |
Freddy Cole
Merry-Go-Round
2000, Telarc
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| While the familial connection is
there, pianist/vocalist Cole is his own
man and an adept interpreter of some great
tunes on this CD in the company of young
horn players Steve Davis and Eric Alexander. |
Duke Jordan
As Time Goes By
1994, Steeplechase
Original recording, 1985
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| Hard bop pianist Jordan delivers
a “cool” version of the song in an arrangement
with “Lush Life.” |
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This tune scored highly with piano players, beginning
in 1941 with a version by
Teddy Wilson; versions by Dodo Marmarosa and
Nat “King” Cole in 1946; and 1947 recordings by
Johnny Guarnieri and Art Tatum.
An octet, led by guitarist George Barnes in a
1946 session, had the unusual instrumentation of
four reeds and standard four-piece rhythm section.
What was even more remarkable was the instruments
used by the reed players (especially for that time):
flute, alto flute, bass clarinet, piccolo, English
horn, oboe and bassoon. Their rendition of “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes” is truly unique, as are the titles
of some of the original compositions: “Kilroy is
Here”; “Zebra’s Derby”; “Priority on a Moonbeam.”
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 “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” may be found in:
3 paragraphs including the following types of information: history, music analysis and recordings.
1 page including the following types of information: music analysis.
4 pages including the following types of information: music analysis.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: summary, lyric analysis and music analysis.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: history and performers.
1 page including the following types of information: history, performers, style discussion and song writer discussion.
Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: history.
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