Back in the day, American popular songs often began with a prologue. Two of my favorite songs that employ that convention were both written in the 1920's, "If You Want a Rainbow (You Must Have the Rain)" and "What'll I Do". Here are two clips; first, Annette Hanshaw performs "Rainbow", which was released, of all things, on the "Diva" label. I first heard her music only recently, after I watched Nina Paley's multicultural phantasmagoria, Sita Sings the Blues, where her music provides the soundtrack to a vivid reinterpretation of the Ramayana. Hanshaw was only in her 30's when she performed a disappearing act & quit show business. The story goes that she was just tired of it. Her song not only has a prologue--it also ends with her trademark signature "That's All". And that's just what she said to her singing career.
The second clip is Harry Nilsson, from his 70's retro album of pop standards, performing Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do". Berlin wrote everything from "White Christmas" to "God Bless America", but of all his hundreds of songs, this is my favorite. Anyone hearing this song can probably guess that its writer must have been well-acquainted with heartbreak. Irving Berlin certainly was. His first wife died from an illness she contracted on their honeymoon. (His second marriage would last 63 years.)
Many rockers of the 60's and 70's, like Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simon, later issued albums where they went 'retro', covering pop songs of the 30's and 40's. The irony was not missed; rock n' roll was a revolutionary break from tradition; these returns to the past seemed like the musical equivalent of 'Wrong Way Corrigan'. But, at least once, merging the old & new traditions paid off big time. The first--and still the best--album in this genre was Harry Nilsson's 'A Litle Touch of Schmillson in the Night'. Unlike the others, Nilsson didn't turn to the past after the hits stopped coming; he took his retro turn at the height of his career, still basking in the success of Nilsson Schmillson (and the Grammy he won for his performance of one of the songs on the album, 'Without You'). He chose the Gordon Jenkins orchestra (one of Frank Sinatra's favorites) to collaborate with--a very wise choice that worked beautifully. The recording of the album was actually filmed by the BBC, and some of the songs can be seen in the following YouTube clips. In the first clip, 'Nevertheless'; in the longer second clip, 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows', 'I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now' and Irving Berlin's heart-rending 'What'll I Do' (complete, with the original prologue).
