A Hundred Years from Today
LP Columbia 1553
This was the second LP that I bought in my life. The year was 1965, and it has many nice songs, but this one from 1933 became a special favorite with its message about living here and now. There are other fine versions by Lee Wiley and Ethel Waters but Jack Teagarden, with a bit of melancholy in his voice, is perfect to deliver lines like “Remember darling, we won’t see it shine a hundred years from today” about the moon. He also recorded more versions later.
Victor Young wrote the music, and the lyricists were Ned Washington and Joe Young (brother?).
The record is the second volume in a three-LP set, and they show well how music changed from 1920s popular dance bands to 30s swing and with it the role of the trombonist, with more solo space and vocal opportunities.
In the middle of the 1960s my teenage friends got new idols, but one of mine was Jack Teagarden, not a showman but always singing and playing from the heart.