Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 25th Jul 2023

It's All in the Game is a hit pop song and this week's Phantom Dancer feature. It's the only pop song written by a US Vice President and Nobel Prize laureate. His name is Charles G Dawes and he ended up hating the song. The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. LISTEN to this week's Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 25 July) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLb1-JJsSkk[/embed]

CHARLES G

"It's All in the Game" became a pop song in the 1950s when a new title and lyrics were added to an instrumental composition, "Melody in A Major", written by Charles G. Dawes, written in 1911. Dawes was Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Dawes was both). The song has become a pop standard, with cover versions by dozens of artists, including this week's 1953 live radio Phantom Dancer version.

DAWES

Dawes, a Chicago bank president and amateur pianist and flautist, composed the tune in a single sitting at his lakeshore home in Evanston. He played it for a friend, the violinist Francis MacMillen, who took Dawes's sheet music to a publisher. Dawes, known for his federal appointments and a United States Senate candidacy, was surprised to find a portrait of himself in a music shop window with copies of the tune for sale. Dawes quipped, "I know that I will be the target of my punster friends. They will say that if all the notes in my bank are as bad as my musical ones, they are not worth the paper they were written on." The tune, often dubbed "Dawes's Melody", followed him into politics, and he grew to detest hearing it wherever he appeared. It was a favorite of violinist Fritz Kreisler, who used it as his closing number, and in the 1940s it was picked up by musicians such as Tommy Dorsey. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGguBa19ngk[/embed]

IT'S ALL IN THE GAME

In mid-1951, the year Dawes died, (in April), songwriter Carl Sigman had an idea for a song, and Dawes's "Melody" struck him as suitable for his sentimental lyrics. It was recorded that year by Dinah Shore, Sammy Kaye and Carmen Cavallaro, but the first release was by Tommy Edwards in August. Edwards's version reached No. 18 on the Billboard Records Most Played by Disc Jockeys survey dated September 15, 1951. The range of the melody would have been "difficult to sing", so required rearrangement. A jazz arrangement was recorded by Louis Armstrong (vocals) and arranger Gordon Jenkins, with "some of Armstrong's most honey-tinged singing". In 1956, Jenkins would produce a version with Nat King Cole along the same lines. In 1958, Edwards had only one session left on his MGM contract. Stereophonic sound recording was becoming viable and it was decided to cut a stereo version of "It's All in the Game" with a rock and roll arrangement. The single was released in July and became a hit, reaching number one for six weeks beginning September 29, 1958, making Edwards the first African-American to chart at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It would also be the last song to hit number one on the R&B Best Seller list. In November, the song hit No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtizr2G_7Bk[/embed]

25 July PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #608
107.3 2SER Tuesday 25 July 2023 12:04 - 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program 5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 - 3:30am 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 - 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 - 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 - 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 - 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 - 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 - 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 - 4am 7RPH Hobart Monday 3 - 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 3am - 4 and 6 -7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 - 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 - 11am and Sunday 11pm Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1am - 2 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am - 12 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 - 2pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4am - 5am Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 - 6pm 2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 - 10pm
Set 1	Eddy Howard
Open + Love Every Moment You Live	Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard & Trio	'One Night Stand' Aragon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 1955
Easy to Love	Eddy Howard Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Aragon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 1955
Where You Are	Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard & Trio	'One Night Stand' Aragon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 1955
Caravan + Alexander's Ragtime Band	Eddy Howard Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Aragon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 1955
Set 2	Country
Open + Sweethearts Forever (theme) + Tell Him I'm Blue	Red Foley and the Dawn Busters (voc) Eva	'Quick Elastic Show' WLS Chicago 12 May 1945
Poor Little Me	Red Foley and the Dawn Busters (voc) Eva	'Quick Elastic Show' WLS Chicago 12 May 1945
I'm in Love with the Mother of My Best Girl	Red Foley and the Dawn Busters (voc) Red Foley	'Quick Elastic Show' WLS Chicago 12 May 1945
Song of the West + Just a Prayer Away + Sweethearts Forever (theme)	Red Foley and the Dawn Busters (voc) Red Foley & Eva	'Quick Elastic Show' WLS Chicago 12 May 1945
Set 3	Feature Song
IT'S ALL IN THE GAME	The Early Birds Orchestra	'The Early Birds' WFAA Dallas 29 Apr 1953
A Kid Named Joe	The Early Birds Orchestra with vocal	'The Early Birds' WFAA Dallas 29 Apr 1953
The Bells of St Mary's + Close	Piano solo	'The Early Birds' WFAA Dallas 29 Apr 1953
Set 4	Duke Ellington
West Indian Dance	Duke Ellington Orchestra	'A Date with the Duke' Boston ABC 14 Jun 1945
Tonight I Shall Sleep	Duke Ellington Orchestra (piano) Billy Strayhorn (voc) Al Hibbler	'A Date with the Duke' Boston ABC 14 Jun 1945
Stomp, Look and Listen	Duke Ellington Orchestra	'A Date with the Duke' Boston ABC 14 Jun 1945
I'm Beginning to See the Light (theme)	Duke Ellington Orchestra	'A Date with the Duke' Boston ABC 14 Jun 1945
Set 5	Tony Bennett
Dark Eyes	Gene Krupa Quartet (voc) Tony Bennett	'Guard Session' Radio Transcription 1963
Have I Told You Lately?	Gene Krupa Quartet (voc) Tony Bennett	'Guard Session' Radio Transcription 1963
April in Paris	Gene Krupa Quartet (voc) Tony Bennett	'Guard Session' Radio Transcription 1963
Flying Home	Gene Krupa Quartet	'Guard Session' Radio Transcription 1963
Set 6	Billie Holiday
Fine and Mellow	Billie Holiday	'Art Ford Jazz Party' WNTA TV NYC 18 Jul 1958
I Cover the Waterfront	Billie Holiday	Storyville Copley Square hotel WHDH Boston Oct 1953
You Better Go Now	Billie Holiday (voc) Percy Faith Orchestra	'Woolworth Hour' KNX CBS LA 1950s
Them There Eyes	Billie Holiday (voc) Percy Faith Orchestra	'Woolworth Hour' KNX CBS LA 1950s
Set 7	This is Jazz
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (theme) + Sensation Rag	Muggsy Spanier	'This is Jazz' WOR Mutual NYC 22 Mar 1947
You're Some Pretty Doll	Muggsy Spanier	'This is Jazz' WOR Mutual NYC 22 Mar 1947
Twelth Street Rag	Art Hodes	'This is Jazz' WOR Mutual NYC 22 Mar 1947
Buddy Bolden's Blues	Muggsy Spanier	'This is Jazz' WOR Mutual NYC 22 Mar 1947
Set 8	Modern Jazz
Twilight in Teheran	Buck Ram All Stars	Comm Rec NYC 18 Sep 1944
Nuts to Notes	Hot Lips Page	Comm Rec NYC 12 Sep 1944
Moppin' the Blues	Pete Brown Quintette	Comm Rec NYC 11 Jul 1944