Stardust (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sign erected in front of the Gables in Bloomington, IN to commemorate Stardust.

"Stardust" is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with the lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish.

"Stardust" (the song's original title was "Star Dust", which has long since been compounded into "Stardust"^[1]) was written at the Book Nook in Bloomington, Indiana (across the street from the Indiana University School of Law, where Carmichael had attended school ) on an old upright piano, and first recorded in Richmond, Indiana for Gennett Records by Carmichael's band in 1927 as a peppy (but mid-tempo) jazz instrumental. Carmichael said he was inspired by the types of improvisations made by Bix Beiderbecke. The tune at first attracted only moderate attention, mostly from fellow musicians, a few of whom (including Don Redman) recorded their own versions of Carmichael's tune.

Mitchell Parish wrote lyrics for the song, based on his own and Carmichael's ideas, which were published in 1929. A slow version had been recorded in October 1928, but the real transformation came on May 16, 1930, when bandleader Isham Jones recorded it as a sentimental ballad.^[2] This became the first of many hit records of the tune. Young baritone sensation Bing Crosby released a version in 1931 and by the following year over two dozen bands had recorded "Stardust".

"Stardust" was covered by almost every prominent band of that time. Versions have been recorded by Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Mel Tormé, Connie Francis, Harry Connick Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, The Peanuts, Django Reinhardt, Barry Manilow, John Coltrane, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, Billy Ward and the Dominoes, and many others. However, it has been the Artie Shaw version of 1941, with memorable solos by Billy Butterfield (trumpet) and Jack Jenney (trombone) that remains the favorite orchestral version of the Big Band era.

Like many other standards of the Great American Songbook, the verse is both highly melodic and musically sophisticated. Frank Sinatra famously recorded just the verse in a 1961 Reprise recording, much to Carmichael's chagrin (although Carmichael is said to have changed his mind on hearing the recording).

[edit] Legacy

"Stardust" is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, with over 1,800 recordings, perhaps the last popular version by Spanky and Our Gang in 1968. In 1956, a nationwide Billboard survey of disc jockeys showed that their number one favorite of all time was the Artie Shaw (1941) recording of Stardust. In 1999, Stardust was included in the "NPR 100",^[3] in which National Public Radio sought to list the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. In New Year 2000 the Swedish music reviewers voted it as "the tune of the century", with Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife" as second. In 2004, Carmichael's original 1927 recording of the song was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Stardust on Sold on Song (BBC)
• "Stardust" (played by Hoagy Carmichael, 1933) The Red Hot Jazz Archive
• "Stardust" (played by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra, 1931) The Red Hot Jazz Archive
• "Stardust" (played by Fats Waller, 1937) The Red Hot Jazz Archive