Evolution of a Jazz Classic: Sing, Sing, Sing

Louis Prima and Benny Goodman Billboard Magazine Images

_{Credit: Prima's picture appeared in a 1943 issue. Public domain. Goodman's appeared in a 1942 issue. Public domain.}

If any song is associated with the Big Band/Swing era, it is Sing, Sing, Sing. Even listeners unfamiliar with Swing, and with Big Band musicians are likely to have heard some version of this song. I found a site that lists many of the places where the song has been used over the years. Fandom offers these categories:

2.1 Film
2.2 Games
2.3 Television
2.4 Theater
2.5 Songs
2.6 Ice dancing
2.7 Reality TV
2.8 TV advertisements
Following the live links on the site, I counted 30 movies, 4 games, 29 TV shows, 5 theater appearances, 7 song uses, 1 ice-skating use, 7 reality TV appearances, and one appearance in a (Mexican) advertisement. It is likely that the list overlooked some more obscure uses of the song.

This is the original Benny Goodman recording, as it sounded on vinyl, in 1937.

Although Sing, Sing, Sing, is regarded by many as Benny Goodman's most famous song, it is not original to him. The piece was written by Louis Prima and was released by Prima in 1936. His version of Sing, Sing, Sing sounded a lot different from Goodman's. Here it is, on vinyl, as Prima recorded it. He performed with his band, The New Orleans Gang:

Prima may have written the song and recorded it first, but Goodman is the one who made Sing, Sing, Sing famous. Goodman's version of the song "became a kind of anthem for the Swing era".

Prima's version had been tailored for him. He played the trumpet and sang, and his version highlighted those talents. Prima's version featured lyrics. Goodman's version was tailored for him. He played the clarinet and did not sing, so his version was arranged as an instrumental, with the clarinet strongly featured.

Goodman's version was arranged by Jimmy Mundy, who had previously worked with jazz greats, including pianists Claude Hopkins and Earl Hines.

Here is a 1932 instrumental on which Mundy collaborated with Hopkins, Mush Mouth. Note the credit on the label.

Though Goodman's version of Sing, Sing, Sing would inevitably be very different from Prima's, something happened during the recording that made it unique and unforgettable. The recording went brilliantly off the rails when Gene Krupa, the drummer, wouldn't stop drumming.

According to a vocalist, Helen Ward , who was on the scene, "One night Gene just refused to stop drumming when he got to the end of the third chorus, where the tune was supposed to end, so Benny blithely picked up the clarinet and noodled along with him. Then someone else stood up and took it, and it went on from there." Ward described the recording session as a 9-minute jam.

Krupa was a legend in his own right and his solo in the instrumental became itself a thing of history. Here he is recreating his performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960.

Shortly after making Sing, Sing, Sing, Krupa left Goodman's band and headed up his own orchestra.

Another musician on the recording, trumpeter Harry James, left Goodman's band not long after recording Sing, Sing, Sing. He also became a celebrity in his own right. Here is a recording, Boo Woo, he made with the Boogie Woogie Trio in 1939, after he left Goodman.

In that same year, he started up his own band, which eventually became quite well known and successful. His success included working with a young vocalist--Frank Sinatra, and a 'dream drummer'--Buddy Rich.

The King of Swing

When I looked up the phrase 'King of Swing' I found two different names, depending on the site I consulted. Both Louis Prima and Benny Goodman have been called 'The King of Swing'. In 1937, Time Magazine named Goodman the King of Swing. In 2019, French Quarterly Magazine, described Prima as the King of Swing.

The two musicians had vastly different backgrounds. Goodman (1909-1986) was a Jewish kid from Chicago, whose father sent him to study at a local synagogue under a Chicago Symphony musician. Prima (1919-1978) grew up in a New Orleans Sicilian neighborhood and absorbed music in the Tremé Neighborhood.

Here is the kind of sound Prima might have heard in his youth, and a little history of jazz in New Orleans.

As different as their upbringing was, both musicians also had a great deal in common. Both came from homes where resources were limited and both quit school in the mid-teens to become professional musicians. Both headed their own bands, and both had careers boosted by one song, Sing, Sing, Sing.

Benny Goodman, it might be argued, received more recognition for his music...he famously played at Carnegie Hall in 1938. The concert lasted 12 minutes, even longer than the original recording, which had lasted just under 9 minutes. In the Carnegie Hall performance individual musicians played improvised solos. Here is a recording of that performance.

Goodman was also acknowledged by the Kennedy Center 1982, received an honorary doctorate from Columbia and the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1986.

Prima did not receive an honorary doctorate, nor was he honored by the Kennedy Center, but he did win a Grammy in 1958 for That Old Black Magic (which he performed with his wife of the time Keely Smith.

He also is beloved by his home town of New Orleans, where there is an exhibit dedicated to him at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Wrapping It Up
This blog started when I was reminiscing about my days as a student of the clarinet...many years ago. I started listening to contemporary clarinetists and inevitably came across recordings by Benny Goodman.

This has been a fun blog to write. Of course I was familiar with Sing, Sing, Sing. It is inescapable in popular culture. However, there was so much I didn't know, about the song and the musicians who performed it. Discovering those bits of music arcana was a pleasure. I hope the blog has been a pleasure for my readers also.

---

Some sources I consulted. I also listened to a lot of music :))

fandom
myscena.org
northeastern.edu
blackpast.org
drummerworld.com
swingcityradio.com
discogs.org
jazzstandards.com
bennygoodman.com
French Quarterly Magazine
explorelouisiana.com
localgovstat.com
Wikipedia