Russell Davies - 31/05/2009

It was a surprise to find how many songs with bona fide vocal choruses (as opposed to instrumentals) there were with Benny Goodman's name attached, even if the attachment may have been more economic than artistic. But we don't begrudge Benny's name on Don't Be That Way and Stompin' At The Savoy for it was he, more than any other performing artist, who gave these and other songs their permanence. We've mentioned before the erroneous crediting of songs and in the case of Benny's signature tune, a grave injustice is done - by Gregory Stone and Joseph Bonime to the originator of that familiar melody Let's Dance - for it is merely a disguised translation into four-four time of the main waltz theme in Carl Maria Von Weber's 1811 composition, Invitation To The Dance Op. 65. Our appeal for further "grudging love-songs" (of which we ourselves came up with another this week - "Until The Real Thing Comes Along") has elicited quite a flurry of suggestions though none that we consider properly reluctant yet loving: Plenty of cheerful "hate" songs were offered but that's another category. Nearest, perhaps, is one put forward by Blair Miller - You're Awful (from On The Town) but this, with its deceptive starts to sentences ("You're nothin'" "You're frightening" and so on), simply goes on to laud the subject in the usual way ("..Awful good to look at.." "nothin' if not dazzling..") so hardly a reluctant, half-hearted admirer!