Monday, June 7, 2010

Lud Gluskin - Ice Cream


Some enterprising souls have posted a flotilla of Lud Gluskin records to YouTube, and here's one of our very favorites - the original source of the phrase "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream," still uttered today by people who are clueless that its origin lies in this once-popular tune. Other versions were recorded by Harry Reser, Fred Waring, Chris Barber and there's also a piano roll of it done by one Alex Taylor.

(Not to mention the great scene in Down By Law with Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits, and John Lurie.)

Gluskin, born in Russia in 1898, recorded over 700 songs in the 1920s and 1930s. He went on to be the musical director for CBS television. He retired in the 1960s, after directing incidental musical scores for TV shows such as The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, and Perry Mason.

Lud Gluskin - Ice Cream (YouTube)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Ho Mei Fan - China Night


According to this site:

When I first arrived in Korea I was told the most popular song there was "China Night". This was a Japanese song that was picked up by the GI's on R&R and brought back to Korea. All you hear on this site is the melody. The words, in japanese sound like: "she has no yoyo". When I moved to Japan a year later it was still popular. I found this music on a Japanese site of old popular songs. It was titled as: "The Night of China" or in japanese: "Shina No Yoru". The japanese character for the letter "r" is pronounced not as we would but has a softer sound so the word "yoru" does sound a bit like yoyo.


The original provider of this track to the Internet Archive didn't know the vocalist, but a commenter on the post positively identified it as Ho Mei Fan and the Columbia Orchestra and also provided the lyrics:

Minato no akari murasaki no yo ni
Noboru Junk no yume no fune
Ah-ah wasurare nu kokyu no ne-e
Shina no yoru yume no koru

Shina no yoru Shina no yoru yo
Yanagi no madoni rantan yurete
Aka torikago Shina Musume
Ah-ah yarusenai-i ai no utah
Shina no yora yume no yoru

Shina no yoru Shina no yoru yo
Kimi matsu yoi wa obashima no ame ani
Hana mo chiru chiru beni mo chiru
Ah-ah wakarete mo wasuraryoh ka
Shina no yoru yume no yoru


Ho Mei Fan - China Night (mp3)