On This Day: Al Dubin passed away in 1945. He wrote the lyrics to what is formally called “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money)”, from the 1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933, sung in the opening sequence by Ginger Rogers. The song’s lyrics reflect a positive financial turnaround and a fantasized end to the Great Depression, which in the U.S. began to turn around in early 1933 but wouldn’t actually end until the late 1930s.
Al Dubin, like me, was a Jewish guy from Philadelphia, perhaps explaining my affinity for this song. He also wrote “Tiptoe through the Tulips”, “I Only Have Eyes for You” and “Lullaby of Broadway.”
Harry Warren wrote the music and was the first American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars. He wrote the music for the first blockbuster film musical, 42nd Street, choreographed by Busby Berkeley and over a career spanning four decades, wrote more than 800 songs. Other well known Warren hits included “I Only Have Eyes for You”, “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby”, “Jeepers Creepers”, “That’s Amore”, “There Will Never Be Another You”, “At Last” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (the last of which was the first gold record in history).
He also wrote nearly three dozen short piano vignettes. Budding lyricists might be interested in trying to put lyrics to one of his short melodies that can be heard at https://www.emipm.com/en/browse/labels/APMC/101. It seems like Warren also recognized the concept of the music minute because each of his short compositions happens to be less than 90 seconds. So we’re on the right track – more Weiss Music Minutes coming! This Weiss Music Minute is dedicated to Sean W.
A MUST SEE: Link to video of Ginger Rogers singing the song with an amazing chorus in pig Latin!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJOjTNuuEVw
Enjoy,
Dr. Weiss
Bosendorfer piano sound – For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I’ve ever owned!!
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