75 jaar geleden: “Swinging on a star” van Bing Crosby

Vandaag is het 75 jaar geleden dat de Amerikaanse crooner Bing Crosby “Swinging on a star” uitbracht, wat één van zijn grootste successen zou worden.

“Swinging on a Star” is an American pop standard with music composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year and has been recorded by numerous artists since then.
Songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen was at Crosby’s house one evening for dinner, and to discuss a song for the film project Going My Way. During the meal one of the children began complaining about how he didn’t want to go to school the next day. The singer turned to his son and said to him, “If you don’t go to school, you might grow up to be a mule.” Van Heusen thought this clever rebuke would make a good song for the film. He pictured Crosby, who played a priest, talking to a group of children acting much the same way as his own child had acted that night. Van Heusen took the idea to his partner lyricist Johnny Burke, who approved.
The first recording of “Swinging on a Star”, with Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra, took place in Los Angeles on February 7, 1944, and was released as Decca Records on Disc No. 18597 paired with “Going My Way”. The song topped the USA charts in 1944 and Australian charts in 1945. The Williams Brothers Quartet, including a young Andy Williams, sang backup vocals behind Crosby.
De film “Going my way”, waarvoor deze song was bedoeld, is ook bekend door de hilarische anekdote met regisseur Leo McCarey bij diens verschijnen voor de zogenaamde McCarthy-commissie. McCarey ging er namelijk prat op dat zijn films, “Going my way” en “The Bells of St.Mary’s”, in de Sovjet-Unie totaal geen succes kenden. “En dat omdat er iemand in voorkomt waar ze niet van houden,” zei McCarey. “Bedoelt u Bing Crosby?” vroeg Robert Stripling, de advocaat van de commissie, belangstellend. “Nee, God,” antwoordde McCarey met een uitgestreken gezicht. De zaal ging plat en een journalist schreef: “Dat de Godheid een contract had bij een filmmaatschappij, was iets dat men misschien al lang had verwacht, maar toen ik het hoorde, schrok ik toch nog een beetje.”  [Wikipedia]