Let’s Face the Music and Dance
78 rpm His Masters Voice B.D. 5047
We had a seven pieces orchestra from about 1983-1995 called The Absalon Orchestra. This tune was one of our hits. When we started we were only five and the idea was to play my arrangements of jazz tunes and try to make the band sound bigger but then there was a program in the radio called Back to the Ballroom at the same time as we usually took a break in our rehearsals. We got more and more interested and from then on we aimed at playing music that covered the whole spectrum of dance styles of the 1920s. This is only to say why I have an ear for music like this.
The great tune is by Irving Berlin from the musical Follow the Fleet, and the fine orchestra that recorded it in May 1936 is led by the English Ray Noble (1903-1978). His singer was Al Bowlly who unfortunately was killed during a German air raid in 1941.
“Before the fiddlers have left, before they ask us to pay the bill and while we still have a chance. Let’s face the music and dance.”
Instead of “left” I used to sing ”fled” which I think is in the original lyrics. And we played it a little bit faster but maybe not as elegant.
Listen to the Absalon recording and more in the