147. 1 January 1921
Art Hickman’s Orchestra
Avalon
Written by Al Jolson, Richard A Whiting & Vincent Rose
No.1 for 2 weeks
Art Hickman’s Orchestra became the first artist to achieve two number one singles on the bi-weekly chart in the 1920s as they followed their chart-topping hit Hold Me in 1920 with the first no.1 of 1921, Avalon. Avalon was the legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend, the place where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged and he fought in defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, all of which may be historically true but has never been proven to be anything other than a myth, especially the details of his life as it was so long ago, if he ever really existed at all. The song Avalon had nothing to do with King Arthur but was seeking love and finding her in Avalon beside the bay. He left the island and sailed away but dreams of her from dusk ’til dawn and now he thinks he’ll travel back to Avalon. Just before he sailed away, she said the word I long to hear her say, they tenderly caressed and now every morning, his memories stray across the sea where flying fishes play, in Avalon. The melody was based on E Lucevan Le Stelle written by Giacomo Puccini and Puccini successfully sued for copyright but the composers of the hit song Avalon were allowed to continue to keep their writing credits. The original hit was a vocal version by Al Jolson and he was also given a writing credit for his contributions to the ad lobbing and putting his personal style on the song and the lyricists were also credited on this version by Al Hickman even though it was an instrumental and among the standard orchestral instruments playing the tune, there was a break with a musical saw, very innovative and new at the time. After five hits in the bi-weekly charts including two no.1s, Art Hickman never hit the bi-weekly charts again. He died in 1930 aged 43.
148. 1 February 1921
Gene Rodemich’s Orchestra
Margie
Written by Con Conrad, Joseph Russel Robinson & Benny Davis
No.1 for 4 weeks
Like the song Palesteena at no.2, Margie was also a song that started as an instrumental originally composed by Joseph Russel Robinson the pianist with The Original Dixeland Jazz Band and recorded by The Rega Dance Orchestra with lyrics added later by Benny Davis and Con Conrad. It became famous as both an instrumental and a vocal recording by Eddie Cantor and a number one single on the bi-weekly charts for four weeks by Gene Rodemich’s Orchestra. Eugene Rodemich was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1890 and was also a pianist like Joseph Robinson who also recorded Margie with his band on the other side of their no.2 single Palesteena. The lyrics as on the Eddie Cantor version tell of what he has done for his Margie, I’m always thinkin’ of you, Margie, I’ll tell the world I love you, I have bought the home and ring and everything for Margie, you’ve been my inspiration, days are never blue after all is said and done really there is only one, oh Margie Margie it’s you. After the verse, Cantor spoke rather than sang the second verse where he promises her, I’d even cut out liquor, you are like a little doctor to me, why when I’m nervous you just put me back in service, we’ll wine and dine the whole night through, yes I’m sure we will and when we have had our fill who do you think will pay the bill, oh Margie Margie it’s you.
149. 1 April 1921
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
Bright Eyes
Written by Maurice K Jerome, Otto Motzan & Fred E Ahlert
No.1 for 3 weeks
The third no.1 single of 1921 was a song called Bright Eyes and it was the third instrumental hit of the year. It hadn’t taken Paul Whiteman, the leader of the largest and most successful orchestra since he had burst on to the charts late in 1920 to achieve his second no.1 single of the decade. Bright Eyes was just the main song on this disc as it was a medley of two songs, introducing a second song You Ought To See My Baby, composed separately by Fred E Ahlert which merged into Bright Eyes and played at the same tempo to aid continuous dancing. Whiteman dropped the word Ambassador from the name of his orchestra for this single Bright Eyes which was credited as being composed by Maurice K Jerome and Otto Motzan. Bright Eyes was now the twelfth instrumental to top the bi-weekly charts, six of which had been within the past fourteen months and the song was prominently led by the banjo, played by Mike Pingitore, a member of Whiteman’s orchestra.
150. 15 May 1921
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
My Mammy
Written by Walter Donaldson, Joe Young, Sam M Lewis & Irving Berlin
No.1 for 3 weeks
The composing trio who had previously written How Ya Gonna Keep Em Down On The Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree), a no.1 single for Nora Bayes in 1919 now wrote My Mammy for Paul Whiteman, yet another song that was released both as an instrumental and a vocal hit, the instrumental being by Whiteman who had his second consecutive no.1 and his third in total, the original vocal hit being by William Frawley but more successful and famous versions by The Peerless Quartet and Al Jolson. This was a more conventional medley introducing a second song Beautiful Faces composed by Irving Berlin which was only given forty seconds of the recording compared to the main song My Mammy which played for nearly three minutes. My Mammy was a song written three years earlier in 1918 by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Joe Young and Sam M Lewis. Although most associated with Al Jolson, he didn’t record the song and hit the charts until 1928 after it had featured in his film, The Jazz Singer. The biggest hit version in 1921 was by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with an instrumental version. As Beautiful Faces had been written by Irving Berlin, he became the first composer to register ten no.1 singles in the bi-weekly charts, finally breaking the deadlock he had held since 1919 with Will D Cobb. It was probably the right thing for Paul Whiteman to give such prominence to My Mammy as the tune was already so famous by 1921 that even without lyrics people would sing along to the Paul Whiteman version the refrain, mammy mammy, the sun shines east the sun shines west, but I’ve just learned where the sun shines best, I’d walk a million miles for one of your smiles, my mammy.
151. 1 July 1921
Van & Schenck
Aint We Got Fun
Written by Richard A Whiting, Raymond B Egan & Gus Kahn
No.1 for 3 weeks
After four consecutive instrumentals at no.1 during 1921, lasting exactly half the year, finally a vocal recording hit the top and it was the third no.1 single by Van & Schenck Aint We Got Fun. the fifth no.1 composing credit for Whiting and the third for both Egan and Gus Khan. The song was first performed in 1920 in the Fanchon and Marco revue Satires Of 1920 and sung by Arthur West and it was Gus Van & Joe Schenck who took the song to the top. The song could be taken at face value that people were having fun in the early 1920s as they shook off the despondency of the preceding years, but on the other hand, the song was seen as a satirical social comment on the reality that people were not really having fun, they were pretending to or aspiring to a hedonistic lifestyle but none of the countries had yet totally recovered from the Great War. The men who had come home from France were promised a new world but it hadn’t happened, there were a lack of decent jobs and housing was still slums. Even more suffering was felt by those who lost family who didn’t return at all, or were so maimed or traumatised by injuries that life would never again be the same. The lyrics hinted at this, rather than being a statement that everybody was having fun, bill collectors gather round and rather haunt the cottage next door, men the grocer and butcher sent, men who call for the rent, but every morning every evening ain’t we got fun, not much money oh but honey ain’t we got fun, the rent’s unpaid dear, we haven’t a bus, but smiles were made dear for people like us, there’s nothing surer, the rich get rich and the poor get children, just to make their trouble nearly double, something happened last night, to their chimney a grey bird came, mister Stork is his name, and I’ll bet two pins a pair of twins just happened in with the bird, twins and cares dear come in pairs dear, don’t we have fun, we’ve only started as mama and pop, are we downhearted I’ll say that we’re not, landlords mad and getting madder, times are bad and getting badder still we have fun, there’s nothing surer, the rich get rich and the poor get laid off, in the meantime in between time, ain’t we got fun. Van & Schenck did not sing the verse written by Gus Kahn that said, they won’t smash up our Pierce Arrow we ain’t got none, they’ve cut my wages but my income tax will be so much smaller, when I’m paid off I’ll be laid off, ain’t we got fun. A Pierce Arrow was a luxury car driven by royalty and celebrities that no ordinary person could ever hope to afford.
152. 15 August 1921
Ted Lewis Jazz Band
All By Myself
Written by Irving Berlin
No.1 for 5 weeks
For his second no.1 single Ted Lewis changed the name of his band to specify that they were a Jazz Band and All By Myself remained at no.1 for five weeks, the longest run at the top during 1921. With all the furore surrounding the success of Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, the jazz band that beat him to no.1 earlier in 1920 was Ted Lewis Jazz Band who hit the top for the second time with the song All By Myself, an Irving Berlin song first recorded by Frank Crumit and then introduced into the musical revue show, The Music Box Revue of 1922. Ted Lewis dispensed with the vocals altogether on his version of All By Myself, unlike his previous no.1 Wjen My Baby Smiles At Me which at least included one small vocal segment and this was the fifth number one out of six chart-toppers during 1921. Both Crumit and Aileen Stanley had hits with vocal versions with the lyrics, I’m so unhappy what’ll I do, I long for somebody who will sympathize with me, I’m growing so tired of living alone, I lie awake all night and cry, nobody loves me that’s why, all by myself in the morning all by myself in the night, I sit alone in a cosy Morris chair, so unhappy there playing solitaire, all by myself I get lonely watching the clock on the shelf, I’d love to rest my weary head on somebody’s shoulder, I hate to grow older all by myself. For the composer Irving Berlin, it was his eleventh no.1 single.
153. 1 November 1921
Ted Lewis & His Band
Ma He’s Makin’ Eyes At Me
Written by Con Conrad & Sidney Clare
No.1 for 2 weeks
The original Ma He’s Making Eyes At Me was a vocal version by the baritone and tenor vaudeville duo of Eddie Furman and William Nash but yet again it was an instrumental that made it to the top of the charts in November 1921 by Ted Lewis & His Band, his third chart-topper, following quickly after All By Myself. Because this was an instrumental, Lewis did not feel the need to change the title of the song which was usually sung as Ma She’s Making Eyes At Me and sung by a male voice but as there were no lyrics used in the Ted Lewis version, he saw no need to change it from it’s originally composed form which included the lyrics, mama he’s making eyes at me, mama he’s awfully nice to me, mama he’s almost breakin’ my heart, he’s beside me mercy let my conscience guide me, mama he wants to marry me, oh be my honey bee, every minute he gets bolder, now he’s leanin’ on my shoulder, mama he’s kissing me. This song would be revived again in 1957 by Johnny Otis in a raucous version sung by Marie Adams and The Three Tons of Joy which would be taken to no.2 in the UK that year.
154. 1 December 1921
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
Say It With Music
Written by Irving Berlin
No.1 for 3 weeks
It was quite fitting that the final number one of 1921 should be an instrumental hit, the seventh of the eight chart-toppers this year and even more so that it should be by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with his third number one of the year, his fourth in total and to complete the set, the composer of Say It With Music was Irving Berlin with his twelfth no.1 his in total. The song originated in Berlin’s review show Music Box Review and became the theme song for the subsequent Music Box Revues, staged at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. Irving Berlin had written lyrics for the song which was usually sung as a duet in the revues and was about what music meant to him and considering the popularity of his song, probably to a lot of other people too, music is a language lovers understand, melody and romance wander hand in hand, Cupid never fails assisted by a band so if you have something sweet to tell her, say it with music, beautiful music, somehow they’d rather be kissed to the strains of Chopin or Liszt, a melody mellow played on a cello helps mister Cupid along, so say it with a beautiful song. Say It With Music gave Paul Whiteman his ninth top ten hit single of 1921.
The pop music charts 