Series 34, Prog 2

THE BOB RUSSELL SONG BOOK

Bob Russell was a master lyricist who gave a permanent voice to some of the greatest melodies in American music history. Though his name is often overshadowed by the jazz titans and pop icons he collaborated with, his words remain permanently etched into the Great American Songbook.

Born Sidney Keith Rosenthal, Russell possessed a rare lyrical versatility. In the 1940s, he partnered with Duke Ellington, transforming Ellington’s instrumental big-band compositions into unforgettable vocal hits like "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me”. Simultaneously, he demonstrated a unique gift for adaptation, writing the definitive English lyrics for massive international hits like "Brazil" and “Frenesi".

As his career progressed, Russell seamlessly transitioned to Hollywood. Working alongside a young Quincy Jones, he broke new ground in film scoring and captured two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song in the late 1960s. Even while tragically battling terminal lymphoma, Russell’s creative output never wavered. In his final months, he co-wrote the powerhouse ballad "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother” with Bobby Scott. The track became a global anthem for solidarity and brotherly love—most famously recorded by The Hollies—serving as a profound final act for a songwriter who spent his life translating raw human emotion into timeless rhythm and rhyme. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

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Intro: A Little White Ship - Todd Gordon: Love dot com

Brazil - Frank Sinatra: Come Fly with Me (mono)

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore - Al Hibbler & Duke Ellington's Orchestra: Al Hibbler Sings with the Duke

Crazy He Calls Me - Georgia Cécile & Fraser Urquhart: Sure of You

Frenesi - Mel Tormé: Olé Tormé

I'm Not Supposed To Be Blue Blues - Anita O'Day & Caj Tjader: Time for 2

Blue Gardenia - Nat King Cole: Sings Ballads of the Day

Cocoanuts - Mavis Rivers: Swing Along with Mavis Rivers

No More - Irene Kral: Better Than Anything

You Came A Long Way From St Louis - Perry Como: Como Swings

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me - Ed Townsend & Nelson Riddle's Orchestra: New in Town

For Love of Ivy - Billy Eckstine: The Complete Motown Singles - Volume 8: 1968

I Didn't Know About You - June Christy: The Misty Miss Christy

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - Bobby Scott: In Memory of the Race

Warm In December (aka Warm December) - Julie London: Calendar Girl

Dance, Ballerina, Dance (aka Ballerina) - Nat King Cole: At The Sands

Bob Russell 

(April 25, 1914 - February 18, 1970)

“You came a long way from St Louis, you broke a lot of hearts between…"

Image: Borre's Film/Pexels

Series 34, Prog 1

THE LEO ROBIN SONG BOOK

Leo Robin was an Academy Award-winning lyricist and a seminal contributor to the Great American

Songbook. Known tor his romantic, witty, and charming Ivrical style, he penned over 500 sonas for Broadwav stage productions and Hollywood musical films from the mid-1920s through the early 1950s including the timeless hits Thanks for the Memory and Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.

Robin worked with an array of legendary composers such as Richard A Whiting, Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Vincent Youmans and, in particular, Ralph Rainger until his tragic death in a 1942 plane crash.

Over his prolific career, Leo Robin earned ten Oscar nominations and was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1972

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Intro: A Little White Ship - Todd Gordon: Love dot com

Prisoner of Love - Ed Townsend: New in Town

Have You Forgotten? - Ethil Ennis: Have You Forgotten?

Louise - Woody Herman: Songs for Hip Lovers

Hooray for Love - Mavis Rivers: Hooray for Love

Blue Hawaii - Frank Sinatra: Come Fly with Me (mono)

In Love In Vain - Lena Horne: Lena in Hollywood

Something in the Wind - The Four Freshmen: Four Freshmen and Five Trumpets

Bye Bye, Baby - Susannah McCorkle: Thanks for the Memory/Songs of Leo Robin

Thanks for the Memory - Anita O'Day & Caj Tjader: Time for 2

Love Is Just Around the Corner - Mel Tormé & George Shearing: An Evening at Charlie’s

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend - Julie London: Whatever Julie Wants

You Say You Care - June Christy: Off Beat

Beyond the Blue Horizon - Connie Conway: 33 Minutes & 20 Seconds With Connie Conway

My Cutey's Due at Two-To-Two Today - Bobby Darin & Johnny Mercer: Two of a Kind

I Can’t Escape from You - Carmen McRae: After Glow

A Gal in Calico - Steve Lawrence: Swinging West

It Was Written in the Stars - Claire Martin & Scott Dunn: I Watch You Sleep

My Ideal - Tony Bennett: Here’s to the Ladies

Miss Brown to You - Billie Holiday & Teddy Wilson’s Orchestra: Teddy Wilson/Billie Holiday

Leo Robin

(April 6, 1895 - December 29, 1984)

"Thanks for the Memory…" 

Image: Markus Winkler/Pexels

Series 33, Prog 20

THE HOAGY CARMICHAEL SONG BOOK

Hoagy Carmichael was one of the most successful, inventive and sophisticated American songwriters of the 20th century. Born Hoagland Howard Carmichael in Bloomington, Indiana, he was a multitalented composer, pianist, singer, actor - and trained lawyer. He was also a pioneer who actively embraced early mass-media technology, and was among the first true singer-songwriters to leverage electronic microphones, radio broadcasts, and early sound cinema to establish a distinct, casual performing persona.

Carmichael composed several hundred songs, with 50 of them achieving massive hit status. He is responsible for four of the most-recorded popular music standards of all time: Stardust (1927), Georgia on My Mind (1930), Heart and Soul (1938) and The Nearness of You (1938). He was one of the inaugural ten inductees into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1969.

Interestingly, in Ian Fleming's original novels, the literary character James Bond is explicitly described as looking remarkably like a dark, brooding Hoagy Carmichael!

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Intro: A Little White Ship - Todd Gordon: Love dot com

Riverboat Shuffle - Hoagy Carmichael: The Stardust Road

Lazy Bones - Jeri Southern: Southern Breeze

Rockin’ Chair - The Hi-Lo’s: I Presume

When Love Goes Wrong - Jane Russell & Marilyn Monroe: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Soundtrack)

I Get Along Without You Very Well - Kurt Elling: Flirting with Twilight

Sing It Way Down Low - Barbara Lea, Bob Dorough & Dick Sudhalter: Hoagy's Children: Songs of Hoagy Carmichael (Vol 2)

Ole Buttermilk Sky - Nellie Lutcher: Our New Nellie

The Nearness of You - Frank Sinatra: Nice ’n’ Easy (60th anniversary edition - bonus track)

Memphis in June - Johnny Mercer: Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers

Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance) - Ella Fitzgerald & Chick Webb: Pure Ella

Judy - Tony Bennett: When Lights Are Low

(Up a) Lazy River - Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong: Bing & Satchmo (bonus track)

Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles: single

Two Sleepy People - Sammy Davis Jr & Carmen McRae: Boy Meets Girl

In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening - Todd Gordon & John Colianni: Moon River to the Days of Wine and Roses

Heart and Soul - Sue Rainey: When Your Lover Has Gone

The Rhumba Jumps - Mel Tormé: Olé Tormé

Stardust - Nat King Cole: Love Is the Thing

Hoagy Carmichael

(November 22, 1899 - December 27, 1981)

“And now the purple dusk of twilight time steals across the meadows of my heart

High up in the sky the little stars climb always reminding me that we’re apart.

You wander dow the lane and far away leaving me a song that will not die

Love is now the stardust of yesterday, the music of the years gone by…” 

Image: Zeynep Sude Emek/Pexels

Series 33, Prog 19

THE PAUL FRANCIS WEBSTER SONG BOOK

An exceptionally talented and successful American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song and received 16 Oscar nominations over his career. Paul Francis Webster is widely recognised for his prolific contributions to Hollywood cinema, television, and popular music from the 1930s through to the 1960s - in particular the smash hit, The Shadow of Your Smile written for the 1965 movie, The Sandpiper starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He provided lyrics for compositions by Duke Ellington, Johnny Mandel, Sammy Fain, Hoagy Carmichael and Maurice Jarre, and was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1972.

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Intro: A Little White Ship - Todd Gordon: Love dot com

Black Coffee - Ella Fitzgerald: Things Ain't What They Used to Be (And You Better Believe It)

You Are There - Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra

Secret Love- Carmen McRae: Live at Bubba’s!

Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme from "Dr Zhivago”) - Johnny Mathis: Johnny Mathis Sings

A Time for Love - Claire Martin & Kenny Barron: Too Much In Love to Care

The Breaking Point - Bobby Darin: single

Baltimore Oriole - Barbara Lea: Barbara Lea with the Johnny Windhurst Quintets

Tender Is the Night - Steve Lawrence: Sings of Love and Sad Young Men

I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good) - Rosemary Clooney: Dedicated to Nelson

The Gift (Recado Bossa Nova) - The Hi-Lo’s: The Hi-Lo’s Happen to Bossa Nova

Memphis in June - Irene Kral & Herb Pomeroy: The Band and I

Invitation - Andy Bey: Tuesdays in Chinatown

The Shadow of Your Smile - Peggy Lee: Then Was Then, Now Is Now

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing - Nat King Cole: Nat King Cole (EP)

Jump for Joy - Mark Murphy: Midnight Mood

Paul Francis Webster

(December 20, 1907 - March 18, 1984)

"I walk the floor and watch the door 

And in between I drink

Black coffee…" 

Image: Sami Aksu/Pexels

Series 33, Prog 18

THE HARRY WARREN SONG BOOK

Harry Warren was the first major songwriter to focus mostly on writing music for movies. Over a 60-year career, he wrote more than 800 songs. His famous tunes appeared in over 300 films and received 11 Oscar nominations, winning three Academy Awards - the first of which he picked up in 1935 for Lullaby of Broadway. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1971.

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Intro: A Little White Ship - Todd Gordon: Love dot com

You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me - Frank Sinatra: Songs for Swinging’ Lovers!

Lullaby of Broadway - Ella Fitzgerald: Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers

That’s Amore - Dean Martin: Dean Martin Sings

This Is Always - Betty Carter: Inside Betty Carter

The More I See You - Johnny Hartman: The Voice That Is!

Jeepers Creepers - Cleo Laine: Cleo Laine Sings (EP)

On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers: The Best of Johnny Mercer

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby - Peggy Lee: Somethin’ Groovy!

There Will Never Be Another You - Ann Phillips: Born to Be Blue

You’re My Everything - Nat King Cole: I Don’t Want to Be Hurt Anymore

At Last - Etta James: At Last!

This Heart of Mine - Ruth Price & Vic Feldman Trio: Live And Beautiful (at The Scene Club, Hollywood)

By the River Sainte Marie - Sy Oliver & His Orchestra featuring Leslie Scott: 78rpm single

I Wish I Knew - Beverly Kelly: Sings with the Pat Moran Trio

I Had the Craziest Dream - Bob Manning: Lonely Spell

Coffee Time - Carmen McRae & André Previn Trio: Subterraneans (Soundtrack)

Someone Like You - The Four Freshmen: Four Freshmen and Five Trumpets

You’ll Never Know - Keely Smith: The Intimate Keely Smith

September In the Rain - Dinah Washington: September In the Rain

I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five And Ten Cent Store) - Nat King Cole: The Very Thought of You

I Only Have Eyes for You - Rosemary Clooney & Pérez Prado Orchestra: A Touch of Tabasco

Harry Warren

(December 24, 1893 - September 22, 1981)

"I found a million dollar baby in a five and ten cent store..."  

Photo: Mason McCall/Pexels