March is Women’s History Month

She Did It Her Way

Stories and songs of female vocalists, recording artists and composers

 

Each March for the past decade I've saluted Women's History Month by offering a cluster of She Did It Her Way concerts at libraries and senior facilities on the East Coast. Most recently it was performed in Erie and Pittsburgh PA, Dover DE, Parksville MD, and in Bloomfield, Whiting, Milltown and Middlesex NJ.

 

The program features stories and songs of female vocalists and female recording artists who plied their craft in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The concert presents hit songs of such musical luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Kate Smith, Mitzi Gaynor, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Dinah Washington, Jo Stafford and Patti Page.

In late 2023 we expanded the program to honor female composers of pop songs. To wit, the emotional strength of their music and cultural contribution of their art had been overlooked by fans, musicians and media for too long. What's more, few of these artists earned recognition of their work during their lifetime despite the score of hits each produced.

She Did It Her Way concerts now include songs written by such overlooked and talented female writers as Chilton Price, Sadie Vimmerstedt, Cindy Walker, Claire Rothrock and Dorothy Fields. Given the warm reception audiences have paid the songwriters, their stories and tunes, mid-20th Century female songwriters have become the core of the concert program.

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               Hit songs in She Did Her Way concerts from

               female recording artists or vocalists include:

The Lady Is A Tramp — This song was launched into popularity by former child actor Mitzi Gaynor in a 1937 coming-of-age Broadway play, Babes In Arms. The song is a spoof of big-city socialites and the clever contrivance of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. Gaynor would meet fame and fortune from her starring role in the 1958 movie musical South Pacific.

 

The song was also sung in 1937 by Edythe Wright, a vocalist in Tommy Dorsey's band and Judy Garland in 1939 for the Hollywood version of the play. Lena Horne had a hit with the song in 1948 and Frank Sinatra saw huge LP record sales with it by his singing role in the 1957 movie Pal Joey.

Time has only deepened the sonic well of this song. To wit, the most exciting and classy version of this song just might be the combination of the 25-year old pop icon Lady Gaga and an 85-year old Tony Bennett for his 2011 album Duets II.

      Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett sing "The Lady Is A Tramp" in 2011

I’m Through With Love — This jazz standard was composed by Fud Livingston, Matty Malneck and Gus Kahn in 1931. Early covers by female vocalists included Dinah Shore in 1941 and 1951, Sarah Vaughn in 1947, Carmen McRae in 1957, and Ella Fitzgerald in 1959.

 

The song gained notoriety and a perch in the pantheon of torch songs by Marilyn Monroe, who played vocalist Sugar Kane in the 1959 film, Some Like It Hot. Near the movie's end she sings it as a lovelorn lament while perched atop a piano in a black slinky dress. Some say her dress was as memorable as the song.

    Marilyn Monroe sings "I'm Through With Love" in the 1959 film Some Like It Hot

Dream A Little Dream Of Me — This dreamboat of a song was written by the orchestra leader Fabian Andre, arranger Wilbur Schwandt and lyricist Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in 1931 by band leaders Ozzie Nelson and Wayne King with vocals from their “girl singer,” Kate Smith.

 

Plucked from obscurity in 1968, the song became the signature tune of Cass Elliott, a member of the folk-rock group The Mamas & The Poppas. Her solo recording sold seven million copies.

         Cass Elliott sings "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" in 1968

On A Slow Boat To China — This is a 1948 ballad by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, who wrote tunes for many successful Broadway musicals and Hollywood films made from the late-1930s to mid-1960s. A 1993 biography by his daughter Susan Loesser states the song was her father’s romantic twist on the well-known poker term that derides the hapless person who loses “steadily and handsomely” at cards.

 

It seems everyone and his cousin likes to give this song the up-tempo crooner treatment, usually seasoned in Dixieland or Vegas overtones. This musical rabble includes covers by Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, Joni James, Rosemary Clooney, Bette Midler and Liza Minelli.

 

In my view, however, it wasn’t until Ella Fitzgerald teamed up with guitarist Joe Pass for their 1986 album Easy Living that “On A Slow Boat To China” received the artful, wistful, romantic treatment it deserves.

 

         Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass perform "On A Slow Boat To China" in 1981

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                       Songs in She Did Her Way concerts

                       composed by female artists include:

You Belong To Me — This popular ballad from 1951 is memorable to many fans for its opening line: “See the pyramids along the Nile.” It was entirely written by [Ms.] Chilton Price, who had little experience in the pop music world.

So, when the song was published she shared credit with two experienced hands — country music artists Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart — who gave assistance with publicity, distribution and tinkering with the lyrics.

Indeed, King and Stewart revised the song's lyrics from its original late-1940s wartime focus to one with a universal view of separated lovers. As a result, the song has had an appeal for fans generations apart.

It was first recorded in the summer of 1952 by Joni James, Jo Stafford, Patti Page, Ella Fitzgerald and Dean Martin. Best of the bunch was the smooth and sweet vocals of Jo Stafford, whose 78 rpm record spent 24 weeks on pop charts in the U.S. and U.K.

A decade later The Duprees, a five-man doo-wop group from Jersey City NJ, saw their 45 rpm record reach No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Believe it or not, the one and only Ringo Starr also recorded this song — a boisterous and speedy dance-hall variant — in 1981.

         Jo Stafford sings "You Belong To Me" in 1952

         The Dupree's sing "You Belong To Me" in 1962

You Don’t Know Me — This ballad was written in 1955 by country music song writer and lyricist Cindy Walker after country music singer Eddy Arnold cornered her at a disc-jockey convention in Nashville and pitched an idea for a song with this title.

 

Walker agreed to turn Arnold's concept into workable lyrics and melody, she told an interviewer for the Grammy Foundation Living History. “Let me let it cook and I’ll let you know,” she told him.

 

“I was up in my little studio just sitting there. All of a sudden, here comes this song. 'You give your hand to me and you say hello'," she recalled.

 

"But I couldn't finish it. I couldn't find any way to finish it. Maybe two or three weeks went by and nothing happened. One day, [I thought] 'You give your hand to me and then you say goodbye,' and when it said that, I knew exactly where it was going.

 

“To make a long story short, I couldn't wait to get to the phone to call Eddy." Lest it go unsaid, a hit recording by Eddy Arnold quickly followed.

 

Many people have recorded this song, but the best-selling version was the plaint and anguished cover by Ray Charles in 1962. It peaked at #1 for 14 weeks on Billboard’s Pop Album chart. Today, it’s revered as the most soulful version of an emotionally impactful tune.

         Ray Charles sings "You Don't Know Me" in 1962

I Wanna Be Around — This originally was planned as a revenge song from Sadie Vimmerstedt, a Youngstown OH widow and cosmetologist. In the early 1950s she was upset Frank Sinatra divorced his wife Nancy and married Ava Gardner, who eventually left him.

 

Sadie began to write the song only to realize her musical skills were limited. So, in 1957 she sent a handwritten note to tunesmith Johnny Mercer with the song’s first line — "I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart." She asked for Mercer’s help in finishing the ballad, which took another five years.

 

In 1963 balladeer Tony Bennett had a big hit from Sadie and Johnny’s collaboration. Mercer gave Sadie half the song’s royalties, which were sizeable given the number of people who recorded it. Among the many covers by female artists are records by Aretha Franklin, Patti Page, Julie London, Brenda Lee, Dinah Washington and Eydie Gormé.

       Tony Bennett sings "I Wanna Be Around" in 1963

I Don’t Know Enough About You — This is a very clever song written by a pair of very clever people, vocalist and lyricist Peggy Lee, and her husband, writer and guitarist Dave Barbour. They married in 1943 while both performed in the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Within a year, both left, however, due to Benny’s prohibition on band members fraternizing with his “girl singer.”

 

By 1945 they were writing songs and making records for Capitol Records. Peggy would record the song three times in her life — in December 1945, January 1956 and September 1992.

 

This version of the song was produced in 1950 as a promotional film that reveals the couple’s obvious chemistry. Key to this achievement is Peggy’s jazz-tinged vocals and subtle facial gestures, as well as Dave’s smooth guitar work.

            Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour perform "I Don't Know Enough About You"

 

                                 © 2024 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

Upcoming Concerts   —   2026

July 11, 2026         Great American Songsters

Free Library Northampton Twp, Richboro PA

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Upcoming Concerts   —   2025

April 10, 2025     Broadway Song Mementos

Moravian Hall Square, Nazareth PA

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Concerts  Schedule    —    2024

                                                                                                                   Jan    27     Pound Ridge Library             Pound Ridge NY      She Did It  Her  Way

                                                                                                                   Mar    19     Milltown Public Library       Milltown NJ             She Did It  Her  Way

                                                                                                                   Apr     7       Edison Public Library            Edison NJ                 Vtg Guitar Roadshow

                                                                                                                   Apr   28       Edith Wheeler Library         Monroe CT               Poets of the Prairie

                                                                                                                   May   23      Concordia @ Short Hills      Pittsburgh PA           Grt American Cabaret

                                                                                                                   Jun      3      Cedarfield                                    Richmond VA           MidCentury Melodies

                                                                                                                   Jun      4      Strickland @ Arbor Acres     Winston-Salem       Juke Joint Jive

                                                                                                                   Sep     12      The Culpeper                             Culpeper  VA           She Did It  Her  Way

                                                                                                                   Sep    18       Grundy Memorial Library   Bristol  PA               Folk Song Boomers

                                                                                                                   Oct    16       Monroe Twp Library              Monroe NJ              MidCentury Melodies

                                                                                                                   Oct   20       Middlsesex Library                  Middlesex NJ         Roots American Jazz 

                                                                                                                   Nov     6       Cedarfield                                     Richmond VA        Moon, Stars and You

                                                                                                                   Nov     8      Strickland @ Arbor Acres     Winston-Salem      Grt American Cabaret

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                                                                     © 2024 - Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

                                   Concert Themes for 2025

Every song tells a story

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VintageMusicConcerts trace musical, historic and romantic ideas with clever lyrics, memorable tunes and amusing anecdotes. Folks say their favorite tunes are graced with wit and warmth, while hosts say themes are easy to promote. We've developed these Concert Themes for 2025.

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Louis Armstrong's  Hot Five
Exclusive on Okeh Records
Chicago — 1925

The Roots of American Jazz — With story and song, this concert offers some of the great tunes first heard in the late 1920s and early 1930s in saloons, clubs, juke joints and speakeasies, in live, on-the-air radio broadcasts, and in the 78 rpm discs produced by a nascent record industry for the era's sweetest, hottest jazz cats.

Crooners, Swingers, Idols — Concert of hit tunes popularized by heart-throb crooners, Rat Pack swingers and TV-dinner idols in the 1950s and 1960s  —  all memorable songs to folks who loved their music played on transistor radios, 45 rpm records, drugstore juke boxes, Friday night sock hops or Saturday movies.

Canadian folksingers Sylvia Flicker and Ian Tyson on
the cover of the 1963 LP album, "Four Strong Winds."

Poets of the Prairie — Concert explores the words, music and cultural impact of the most talented and most successful recording artists   of the 1960s and 1970s — the generation of folkies and singer-songwriters from the North American Prairie, such noted Midwesterners as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jimmy Webb, Phil Ochs, Michael Merchant as well as the Canadians Ian Tyson, Sylvia Flicker and Gordon Lightfoot.

 

Vintage Guitar Roadshow — Concert offers syncopated ragtime, early jazz, hokum & swing tunes of the 1920s, 1930s & 1940s played on vintage acoustic guitars from the same era — tunes first heard when musicians sang the tunes when new and played the guitars when new.

Moon, Stars and You — This concert summons the moon, the stars, moonlit trysts & the heavens above for romantic insights from such memorable tunes as Blue Moon, Fly Me To The Moon, Moonglow, It's Only A Paper Moon, Stars Fell On Alabama, Pennies From Heaven, Moon River, Carolina Moon, Allegheny Moon, As Time Goes By, Stardust, Dream A Little Dream Of Me, How High The Moon, Moonlight in Vermont, and I'll See You In My Dreams.

MidCentury Melodies — Concert of pop music from heart of the 20th Century — hit tunes by Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, Eydie Gormé, Patti Page, Vaughn Monroe, Eddy Arnold and others.

Kingston Trio Redux — This concert offers some of the well-known, well-loved and well-played tunes by the most successful musical trio of the 1950s and 1960s, a group of musicians who kept stretching the pop-music industry's balloon with their brand of folk, folk-rock, singer-songwriter, calypso and show tunes that they played across the country in small clubs, coffee houses, on college campuses and on 21 hugely successful LP records.

Broadway Mementos — The tunes producers on the Great White Way used to push dramatic and comedic storylines, tout ingénues, spur media publicity or to hustle extra income from sheet music sales, radio airplay, jukebox cuts, feature movies and cast recordings.

Nashville songwriter, singer
& guitarist Penny Jay - 1940.

  Achy Breaky Heart —

  Concert offers some great

  tear-stained ballads, love

  struck laments and steamy

  pop standards from the

  1940s, 1950s and 1960s

  written by N.Y. City, Los

  Angeles and Nashville

  songwriters and record

  producers for the biggest

  fans of country, folk,

  movie and Broadway

  music. It's a well-known

  fact that, sooner or later,

  everyone deserves an hour

  of musical heartburn.

Great American Songsters — Songs and stories of 20th Century composers, vocalists & scamps who spawned the genres known today by music-marketers' labels: swing, jazz, Americana, folk, blues, boogie-woogie, country 'n western, folk-rock and Brill Building pop.

 

Vocalist, songwriter & recording
artist Miss Peggy Lee  —  1950

She Did It Her Way — With story & song, concert honors the lives, careers & hits of female vocalists, composers and recording artists active from 1925 to 1965. Program touts songs and talents of previously unheralded songwriters such as Cindy Walker, Dorothy Fields, Claire Rothrock, Peggy Lee and Sadie Vimmerstedt.

Hollywood Souvenirs — Concert of hit tunes that enabled Hollywood moguls to monetize the theme songs and background music of their celluloid dramas, torrid romances, show tunes and screwball comedies.

Band leader Cab Calloway, vocalist Ivie Anderson
and friends at an after-hours party in August, 1939.

Great American Cabaret — From the 1930s through the 1960s people dated, dined and danced to live music played in hotel ball rooms, restaurants, rent parties, cabarets, roadside juke joints and nightclubs. We offer some of the pop standards, ballads, hit tunes and favorite dance numbers played by the era's dance bands, jazz combos, saloon singers and pick-up musicians.

Folk Song Boomers — Concert of the folk, protest and traditional songs that were sing-along anthems, radio favorites and hit recordings for the post-WW II teenagers known as Baby Boomers.

Duke Ellington — Jazz Pianist + Composer + Band Leader
Exclusive on Victor and Bluebird Records
Ranked "Tops" as Swing Band Leader in 1944 Down Beat poll

He Did It His Way - Concert will honor the lives, hits, romances and careers of some of the greatest male singers, recording artists and composers active from the 1920s through the early 1960s. The show will tout several well-known and familiar names, but we plan to season the program with some of the lesser known male record makers, top vocalists and composers, such as Bart Howard, Ned Washington, Johnny Black, J. D. Loudermilk, Neil Moret, Joe Kosma and Richard Whiting. 

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© 2024 - Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved