06/8/2012 4:52 pm  #1


BING named in other people's song lyrics!

The thread about Bing's songs in non-Bing movies inspired me to start this thread.

I actually only know of one good example of Bing being named in a song, though I think I must have heard some ad-libbed references to him in others' songs somewhere along the way.  My example, however, is of a song lyric written with a mention of "Bing" in it from the beginning.

The song is titled "I Brought My Father With Me" by Michael Peter Smith.  Actually, for decades he has gone by Michael Smith, and most of his own and other's many recordings of his songs, will name him that way, but in the last few years an upstart calling himself Michael W. Smith has become ultrapopolar in the new "contemporary Christian' music genre, so this older renowned lyricist has had to throw in his middle name do distinguish his brand.

The song is in the voice of a younger adult, who has taken his father, who may not have been able to get out of the house for some time due to the frailties of age, to a tavern or pub in remembrance of long past times when the father took the son. Other recollections are brought up in the song, as in this third verse:

"Car trips to Pennsylvania
When all of us would sing
He sang Bells Of Saint Mary's
And he sounded just like Bing
Summer days down at the shore
Remembering how he
Would bless himself with foam before
He'd dive into the sea."

I think Bing would like the sentiment of that verse, as he has said in interviews that he believed that he sounded like what an ordinary man thought he could sound like.

Here is a link to the complete lyric on Smith's website:
http://michaelpetersmith.com/lyrics/brought-father.shtml

Here is a link to a video of him performing it in 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdu_MydIz0

The song (like many of Smith's others) has been recorded by many other individuals and groups, mostly (but not only) in the folk genre.  I particularly like the version performed by Small Potatoes (Rich Prezioso and Jacquie Manning) in which Jacquie takes the vocal.  I have been fortunate to have heard each of these versions performed live on more than one occasion at folk concerts in my region.  I believe I have heard versions of the song performed by artists from the UK or Ireland on the radio, as well, but I forget their names, alas.  Perhaps some of you have heard the song before, if not sung by the writer, by one of the many others who have recorded and performed it.

Here is a link to some more background about Michael Smith at a recording label website:
http://www.folkera.com/windriver/michaelsmith/bio.html

(if any of these links don't work properly, just type the text of them into the address line of your web browser.)

I would be very interested in hearing of other songs naming Bing, even if they are not as dramatically moving as this one.  Any background on the lyricist and/or performer would be appreciated.

Last edited by Steve Fay (06/8/2012 4:55 pm)

 

06/8/2012 11:23 pm  #2


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Steve, there are quite a few, even excluding parodies and ad libs. Sometimes the latter are hard to be sure about - who, for example, could dissociate ''Inka Dinka Doo'' from Jimmy Durante who used the apparent throwaway line not only in the recording but in radio appearances. 

''Bing'' 155, Summer 2010 page 41 lists a few, and some more were added in ''Bing'' 158 of Summer 2011, page 41.

If you think about I'm sure you'll recognize some.

Just a few of the better known (in my View) examples-

''These Foolish Things'' (- the songs that Crosby sings -)
''Ain't We Got Fun'' (as sung by Hope and Whiting) (- the poor get Crosby -)
''Rum and Coca Cola'' ( - the natives swoon every time der Bingle croon -)   
''My Kid's A Crooner'' (- I think I'll write to Crosby -)
''If I Could Sing Like Bing''
'Inka Dinka Doo'' (- that note was given to me by Crosby -)
''Opus One'' ( - maybe old Bing will give it a fling -)
''You're The Top'' ( - you're Crosby's salary- -)

Quite a few more, but some are a little obscure.

 

08/8/2012 4:10 am  #3


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Richard,

Thanks for listing all of those examples!  I will have to look at the article you cited, to see if there are others, like my example, that named Bing in the era since he left us and stopped performing new work.

     Thread Starter
 

13/8/2012 11:28 pm  #4


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Richard,

Among the songs that name Bing that you listed, my favorites are the list songs "You're the Top" and "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)." One of my favorite readings of the latter is the Frank Sinatra Columbia recording from the 1940s. Incidentally, there is a Bing radio show on the website of Bing Crosby Enterprises with Sinatra as a guest, in which Young Blue Eyes sings "These Foolish Things." The interesting thing, though, is that in this live version, Sinatra chooses to leave out the whole stanza that includes the line "The song that Crosby sings"...

 

16/8/2012 8:41 am  #5


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

A post-Bing song that comes to mind is "Where Did the Magic Go" written by P.J. Erickson and B. Weed and featured on Tony Bennett's "Astoria: Portait of the Artist" album. It puts Bing in good company with references to many jazz, hollywood, and other artistic luminaries. The couplet with the reference is "the memories of songs by Bing, Benny was the king of swing".

There's a nice youtube video of Tony's version of the song, if you search for "Where did the magic go - film by Joe Marzano". (Sorry, it won't let me post a link).

 

21/8/2012 1:15 pm  #6


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

My favourite among the songs mentioning Bing, is ''The Humphrey Bogart Rhumba'' as performed by Betty Garrett and the Crew Chiefs, if only for the number of stars of the time that are mentioned, including Betty herself and husband Larry Parks, plus a passable phrase from a Bogart impersonator - of maybe it was really Bogart.

 

21/8/2012 6:42 pm  #7


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Judy Garland in Summer Stock sang...

If You Feel Like Singing Sing ("everyone can't be a Bing")

 

13/9/2012 11:53 am  #8


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

And the lyrics in Housewives' Choice:

You can hear the latest fling recorded by Crosby
Or that fairy sugar dancing thing by Tchaikovsky

 

03/10/2012 12:03 pm  #9


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

I am going through an Andrews Sisters phase - listening to many of their CDs in my car, going to and from work, and I noticed Bing mentioned in one of their lyrics. The recordings was "Put Em In A Box" which the sisters recorded with Danny Kaye. They mentioned Sinatra and then added "and our own Mr. C" in reference to Bing recording at their same studio - Decca Records. It's a lively recording and not one of the sisters more remembered ones.

 

04/10/2012 1:09 am  #10


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

One of my favorite songwriters, who is also a fine jazz pianist and vocalist, is Matt Dennis, who wrote great songs such as "Everything Happens to Me" and "The Night We Called It a Day." One of his songs, the very witty "Will You Still Be Mine," mentions Bing in the same breath as Johnnie Ray, impersonating both of them:

When all the Crosbys disappear
Milwaukee stops producing beer
When Johnny Ray sheds not a tear
Will you still be mine?

The song was also recorded by Sammy Davis, Jr., with slightly different lyrics, and his version also mentions Der Bingle:

When Frank Sinatra doesn't sing
And when Count Basie doesn't swing
When Merry Christmas has no Bing
Will you still be mine?

 

01/6/2013 10:18 pm  #11


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Here's an old list online from the BCIM:

http://www.stevenlewis.info/crosby/songsaboutbing.htm

I remembered this thread when I was listening to a Pied Pipers song called "Goodbye Romance." Part of the lyrics are "and he yodels cowboy ditties like Der Bingle."

I have another example but my memory's murky. There's a number in the Betty Grable/Dick Haymes musical Diamond Horseshoe - must be what imdb calls "The Old and the New Prelude." Hmmm, I think I saw it on youtube at one point and I rather enjoyed the film, but I can't really be more specific.

 

18/7/2013 1:47 am  #12


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

I'd not heard Michael P Smith's 'I brought my father with me' with its line 'And he sounded just like Bing' until this morning on our community radio station when one of the presenters played it. One just can't escape from Bing, can one? Not that one would wish to.

 

10/9/2013 5:04 am  #13


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

I cannot even keep track of the times I have heard Bing's name mentioned within the context of a song.  Just this week, while watching a film at Cinecon at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, one of the singers sang, "Sing like Bing!"  I think it was Jane Withers in "The Holy Terror" (1937).   There are so many references to him in songs from the 1930s till now, that it would be a task to find them all......and also take years of movie research.  Wouldn't that be fun!   ~~~~~ Maureen

 

18/9/2013 2:46 pm  #14


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Graham, Smith wrote another song that might be of interest to Crosby fans. The song, titled "Move Over Mr. Gauguin," repeatedly includes the 12-or-more syllable name of a tiny Polynesian island, something that Bing might have just as masterfully and jazzilly sung. The song's humorous theme of wanting to escape present life for some wondrous place would be right at home alongside some of Bing's other songs or among his several Hawaiian favorites. There is a youtube video, I think of Smith performing it, but since I can't stream video I don't know if offers the song as clearly as the cd version I listen to.  Here's the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9EKAolIYq4  If we had a thread listing songs we wish Bing had lived long enough to record, it would be among my nominations.

 

Last edited by Steve Fay (18/9/2013 2:48 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

17/3/2015 1:51 am  #15


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

Bing was also mentioned in the lyrics of a rock group, Sparks, back in 1974.  The song is called "Achoo."

"Who knows what the wind's gonna bring when the invalids sing
"La las" with a powerful sting that'll stop any opera or any Bing"

It seems to be about a woman leaving her gentleman friend to take up with a handsome doctor who has been caring for her. (?)  There sure is a lot of sneezing on the record!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar3lV8SFBa4

Arch

 

15/6/2015 1:37 pm  #16


Re: BING named in other people's song lyrics!

I can almost hear Bob Hope singing lyrics like those!

platnip wrote:

Bing was also mentioned in the lyrics of a rock group, Sparks, back in 1974.  The song is called "Achoo."

"Who knows what the wind's gonna bring when the invalids sing
"La las" with a powerful sting that'll stop any opera or any Bing"

It seems to be about a woman leaving her gentleman friend to take up with a handsome doctor who has been caring for her. (?)  There sure is a lot of sneezing on the record!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar3lV8SFBa4

Arch

 

     Thread Starter
 

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