Song Story: Que Sera, Sera

This hit Doris Day song is a mystery in it’s origin.   At least to some point. Doris Day was scheduled for the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956.  Hitchcock wasn’t happy that Day was going to be in the picture.  He called songwriters, Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and asked Read More

Song Story: Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys

With summer fun here let’s take a look at a good beach song. Barbara Ann was written by Fred Fassert.  He used his sister’s name for the title of the song.  The song was originally written for The Regents, a band Fassert was part of at the time.  The Regents recorded the song in 1958, Read More

Profile of a Performer: Frank Sinatra—The Hollywood Years

Frank Sinatra was making a name for himself with the Tommy Dorsey band.  The teenage girls of the day, also known as bobby soxers, were his biggest fans. With World War II underway, Sinatra was classified as 4F for a perforated eardrum.   He did support the war effort through USO tours. In 1943, he signed Read More

Behind the Song: Yankee Doodle Dandy

We just celebrated the 4th of July over the weekend.  Today I want to share the story behind one of our patriotic songs, Yankee Doodle Dandy. We all think about the Revolutionary War when we hear the song, however, the folk song dates back to even before the Revolutionary War. Yankee Doodle Dandy dates back Read More

Blueberry Hill

If you’ve ever seen Happy Days, you’ll probably remember Richie Cunningham singing “I found my thrill….” These are the opening lines to the 1940 hit Blueberry Hill. The tune to Blueberry Hill was written by Vincent Rose.  Rose, who was born in Italy, was a musician and bandleader.  He conducted the Montmartre Orchestra in the Read More