Where Have All The Real Adult Standards Gone (Long Time Passing)?

FredLeonard said:

Smartphones have Internet access. So do tablets. You can decide not to use Internet access but you still have Internet access. Just like you can decide not to listen to terrestrial radio (but still have a radio receiver).

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Do you know what brand of cell phone I carry? Do you know what carrier I use?

Avid Listener said:

Do you know what brand of cell phone I carry? Do you know what carrier I use?

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All smartphones have Internet access. That's the difference between smartphones and cell phones. All carriers offer data access. Where have you been in the last decade?

FredLeonard said:

The song they danced to was "I Know Why and So Do You" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra (or a cover version using the Glenn Miller arrangement). The song was featured in the 1941 film "Sun Valley Serenade."

It's a big band number and not the kind of song that would be played on a Soft AC station.

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But we're not talking about soft AC. I occasionally listen to a station that does play Glenn Miller. I have to be closer to where the station is located to get a good enough signal.

I agree it would be too much for America's Best Music. They tried a few years ago with "Big Bands Remembered" but it was hard for Jeff Rollins to keep coming up with new stuff to say.

michael hagerty said:

You do realize that those are actors paid to behave a certain way in a scene, right?

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The logic of each crisis they deal with makes this sort of a sci-fi show, but I'm not buying that the young people in that scene represent something fictional as well. No, they could have had these people dancing to more contemporary music.

vchimpanzee said:

The logic of each crisis they deal with makes this sort of a sci-fi show, but I'm not buying that the young people in that scene represent something fictional as well. No, they could have had these people dancing to more contemporary music.

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It's a formal fundraiser with a live dance band. I've been to a few. The music tends to skew old so as not to blow off the oldest attendees, who are usually the biggest donors. Sometimes, it's a string quartet playing Bach. Younger people (rarely under 30 at these) don't run screaming out of the room, but they don't suddenly start listening to classical radio stations. Nor do they when it's music like this.

Mostly, though, it's a work of fiction. The writer and director wanted a scene where nerdy math geek has to slow dance with beautiful woman partner. They didn't want it to be overly romantic, but they didn't want it to seem like a high school dance, either.

Why they chose Glenn Miller and that tune specifically, who knows? Maybe it was one of their parents' favorite songs.

Odds are the actors never even heard it. Music is usually dubbed in in post-production. There was probably a choreographer counting a rhythm for the dancers.

Why was the song chosen? Well, it had to fit the scene, which was a formal ball (notice everybody was in evening clothes). It had to be something people in evening gowns and dinner jackets could (and would conceivably) dance to - meaning formal ballroom dancing. And, most likely and most important, it should be something to which the producers already owned song rights. That last rule has exceptions. After "Casablanca" was completed, Warner Brothers discovered the studio did not own the rights to "As Time Goes By." Ingrid Bergman had been loaned to Warner Brothers and was doing another picture, so was not available to re-shoot the scenes in which she and the song appear. So, Warner Brothers had to buy the song. "Sun Valley Serenade" was a 20th Century Fox picture, but Fox had sold their pre-48 library off years ago.

Today was a bad day. Now I like these songs, but I can't really make a case for America's Best Music doing a good job with the standards when this is what I hear.

I only remember what I heard after the last optional commercial break, which I believe had commercials because of the election.

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", news, "Evergreen", one of those R&B songs from the 70s which I made a note of but lost it, "Heartlight", a commercial break, "That's What Friends Are For" and "Let It be' before the clock radio turned itself off.

Today, before "Never Can Say Goodbye", which is disco, "Ramblin' Rose" by Nat King Cole and "Like Young" by Andre Previn. It doesn't happen often, but that's two standards together.

On the other hand, no standards last night in 30 minutes as I drove home. Carl Hampton has a substitute whose name I thought I'd remember. I don't know that the DJ necessarily influences the music, but when Carl is on it seems better.

vchimpanzee said:

Today was a bad day. Now I like these songs, but I can't really make a case for America's Best Music doing a good job with the standards when this is what I hear.

I only remember what I heard after the last optional commercial break, which I believe had commercials because of the election.

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", news, "Evergreen", one of those R&B songs from the 70s which I made a note of but lost it, "Heartlight", a commercial break, "That's What Friends Are For" and "Let It Be" before the clock radio turned itself off.

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"Use ta Be My Girl".

"Little Things Mean a Lot". I haven't heard that one in a while. WAVO Charlotte played it.

Later, though, they played "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" by Carly Simon.

Kitty Kallen, #1 song of 1954

This isn't really a sign of anything, but Sinatra's "Young at Heart" was followed by "Too Close for Comfort" one day last week. If you listen to America's Best Music long enough, you just might hear two standards together, and that's a long way from just playing a few for those who might want them.

I thought I would remember other examples from the past week.

Legends 100.3 is a great station to listen to Adult Standards.
http://www.legendsradio.com/

Dr Wayne said:

Legends 100.3 is a great station to listen to Adult Standards.
http://www.legendsradio.com/

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I looked at the last 20 songs played. It looks like they are staying close to material from The Great American Songbook but it's mostly NOT the "original hits station." Most of the cuts were more recent cover recordings by current artists. OK, but I'd rather hear the real thing. Remember the quote about not pouring old wine into new wine skins. Same thing applies to old songs from new singers.

FredLeonard said:

I looked at the last 20 songs played. It looks like they are staying close to material from The Great American Songbook but it's mostly NOT the "original hits station." Most of the cuts were more recent cover recordings by current artists. OK, but I'd rather hear the real thing. Remember the quote about not pouring old wine into new wine skins. Same thing applies to old songs from new singers.

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The saying is about new wine in old skins, because old skins would be more likely to break or to have absorbed bad flavors they'd impart to the new wine. The closest musical equivalent would be old singers like Tony Bennett singing new songs.

One of the important things about "Great American Songbook" standards is that they come from an era when the song was the hit. Sales of recordings were important, but so were the sales of sheet music copies for people who actually played music themselves. Back in those days, when you'd go to a venue where a big band was playing, you expected to hear the band performing the hit songs. That tradition was last seen on television on the series "Your Hit Parade" where the show's permanent cast of singers would perform the current Top 10. Singers of standards were noted for how well they could handle the favorite songs of the day. It wasn't until the early rock era that the recorded performance of a hit song became more important than the actual song itself.

Of course, those are all general statements, and there were exceptions back then, and there are still exceptions today. But generally speaking, what I wrote is accurate.

A couple online that I know of:

http://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/theseabreez/index

http://www.croonerradio.com

http://ezdoesitradio.com/

My mama done told me ...