MarsGal yes a gifted song writer - in the 30s she was at the end of the tradition where kids, most often orphan kids, were singing their hearts out on the streets of Paris for money - she experienced a tragic life - mother abandons her at birth and her grandmother takes her in where she is raised in a brothel - later, the love of her life was boxer Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane crash in 1949. Piaf wrote the song "Hymne à l'Amour" as a tribute to their love.

A great instrumental from 1967. This was originally performed in French by Vicky Leandros and was written for Luxembourg's entry in the 1967 Eurovision song contest.

A fun forgotten song from late 1949. This was covered by a few others in 1950 before fading into obscurity.

I vaguely remember "Said my Pajamas, Put on my Prayers".  One of the many novelty songs from that era, that didn't leave a lasting impression.  You hear them once, and once is enough.       The other song you posted, "Love is Blue" was very popular.  Beautiful melody, and good lyrics. 

Another forgotten novelty song. This was originally recorded by Esmereldy, who did a bunch of hillbilly novelty songs, in late 1947. This version is from early 1948. In addition to the original and this, three other versions appeared in 1948 - Rex Allen, Smokey Rogers and Patsy Montana. Despite the comic nature of the song, there's no way you'd get away with this today.

A nice cover of a John Denver/Peter Paul and Mary classic by Eddy Arnold. This was originally released in December of 1966 by John Denver. By the time this recording was released in early 1970, the song had already been recorded by over 20 artists.

A great one from British comedy group The Barron Knights.

"freakin funny fellows" was totally lost on me??  I couldn't understand any of the words? 

Quote from: Marilyne on January 19, 2025, 02:01:05 PM"freakin funny fellows" was totally lost on me??  I couldn't understand any of the words? 

Freakin Funny Fellows is the name of the album. The song is "The Golden Oldie Folks Home"

Here are the lyrics as best as I can understand them:

Quote(Sung to the tune of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John)
Welcome into the place
Where the stars of yesterday roam
We all know where their future lies
In the Golden Oldie Folks Home

(Sung to the tune of "Pinball Wizard" by The Who)
Now you take Roger Daltry, the wildest one of all
He sits there in the corner, of the dining hall
His prostate is a problem, but that just isn't all
He's deaf, dim and senile... now he's completely bald!

(Sung to the tune of "My Generation" by The Who)
I get all the people down (talkin' bout his operation)
Thought I wasn't comin' down (after his big operation)
They must be silly it doesn't fail (?)
They thought the will was ? (but all he had was constipation)
My operation... my operation hurts me
Why don't you just hide away (talkin bout his operation)
That's what my relations say (talkin bout his operation)
My operation... My operation hurts me

(Sung to the tune of "You've Got Your Troubles, I've Got Mine" by The Fortunes)
You've got that worried look upon your face
You need a bedpan, so do I-I
I lost my marbles yesterday
Cause Frankie Ifield came to stay... g'day!

(Sung to the tune of "I'll Remember You", in the style of Frank Ifield)
I can't remember whoooo
Lent me 20 quid now, was it you?
A few minutes ago

(Sung to the tune of "The Hippy Hippy Shake" as made popular by The Beatles and The Swinging Blue Jeans among others)
For goodness sake
I got the hip replacement shake
Oh I got the shakes
Ow! The hip replacement shake
Well I shook it to the left, I shook it to the right
My hip came out the socket and it rolled on out of sight!
Oh baby! Where's my ? baby?
Well, it's such a drag
Oh, the hip replacement shake

(Sung to the tune of "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard)
The implications, and applications
That I put up with every night and every day
They say that 'round the old folks' home I am a menace
When I first came here I still played lots of tennis
But now it seems to me the trouble with ?? is
The damned arthritis won't go away
So please don't mention, I pull a pension
I want the world to think that I'm still 23

(Sung to "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" again)
So goodbye to life on the road
And the things it's done to my bowels
Cause I've been given my own room
A bar of soap and a towel
Now I can travel for free on the bus
Get ten percent off the ?
Well I've finally found where my future lies
In the Golden Oldie Folks Home

I know all there is to know about my Zimmer frame

(Note: A "Zimmer frame" is a term for what we Americans call "walkers")

There's just nothing as good as some quality music        

A fun one from the 1965 movie The Great Race. Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Performed by Dorothy Provine.

I can't believe the size of these auditoriums - I don't think we have anything that can match in size holding this many people. Regardless of size leave it to Andre Rieu to have fun

Andre Rieu - Always a great production.

Thanks bunches, Barb. Now I have to go listen to more of my old faves. I used to have volumes one and two of 101 Strings Soul of Spain, which, along with a few others I practically played to death. Now I have to go listen to more.

Quote from: BarbStAubrey on January 21, 2025, 12:18:43 AMI can't believe the size of these auditoriums - I don't think we have anything that can match in size holding this many people. Regardless of size leave it to Andre Rieu to have fun

Believe it or not, that place can only hold 17,000 people (not counting the seats on the "floor" probably). While there are some big arenas in Europe, most pro sports stadiums (and even a lot of college football stadiums) can hold more people than that.

Here's one I'm sure I've posted before, but is always worth watching again. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra doing a couple of songs from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Featuring Tuva Semmingsen doing "wa wa" vocals and whistling, with Christine Nonbo Anderson doing soprano vocals on "The Ecstasy of Gold".

A fun one from late 1949. This was originally recorded by Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra in March of 1949 and has since been recorded by a variety of artists. Louis Prima, Eddie Cantor and Doris Day all did it in 1949/1950. The song seems to have faded into obscurity after that but regained popularity after Jamaican artist Prince Buster recorded a ska version in 1963.

A funny one from Archie Campbell. I'm not quite sure what the history of this song is, but it was a staple of Hee Haw, which is where I first heard it as a kid. (For those not from the US, Hee Haw was an American country variety show that aired for decades and starred many famous country musicians - Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, Archie Campbell and more. This was typically sung by one of the stars and whoever happened to be guest starring that night.)

"Enjoy Yourself", always reminds me of my Dad.  One of his favorites.  I'm sure we had that 78 recording by Guy Lombardo.  It's probably down in the basement, with many other records from that era.

A fun one from 1968, parodying various big band medleys and radio shows. This one ended up hitting #25 in the UK and apparently sparked a revival of interest in big band music.

fun - interesting how it was a thing that we made so popular these silly songs - don't see that any longer but then for years now I'm not sure I could even name a popular sing-along tune except for country western music and nothing silly there.

This was performed in the film The Fleet's In by Dorothy Lamour, Bob Eberley and Helen O'Connell with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra in early 1942. A recording of the song was also released by Dorsey, and it was recorded by various other artists throughout the 40s and became popular again in the mid 50s. In 1962, Australian singer Frank Ifield got hold of it and turned it into an upbeat country tune with yodeling, scoring a big hit on both sides of the pond. Many other artists have recorded this arrangement since then, including Slim Whitman.

A classic from 1969. Sadly none of the original members of The Band are around anymore. The last surviving member, keyboardist Garth Hudson, died this past Tuesday at the age of 87. Levon Helm, who sang lead vocals on this and several other songs by the group, died in 2012 at the age of 71.

One of my favorites in memory of Levon Helm from that last concert with The Band

I'm thinking this may be overkill tonight however, found these gems with Doug Kershaw and just have to share them before I saw your inclusion Oldiesmann of music from The Band

and then this written by Kershaw about his own family and living

Barb, just listened to "Louisiana Man", and I like it!  I'm wondering if that is considered to be Zydeco?  Someone gave me a CD of Zydeco music a number of years ago . . . I played it a lot and wish I could remember the names of some of the songs I liked best?     I don't know whatever became of the CD?   
 

Speaking of Louisiana -

A Cajun classic from 1984. Two years later it was famously recorded by John Fogerty as a duet with Rockin' Sidney. Sidney ended up getting a Grammy for this performance.

An interesting take on "Puttin' on the Ritz" (with some other stuff thrown in) by a Dutch musical theater troupe. This randomly showed up in my YouTube feed tonight.

Marilyne much of Cajun Country music is zydeco - usually a zydeco band has an accordion player and most often a washboard - the music is heavy with rhythm, here we seldom hear the expression zydeco and speak of Cajun Country - the beat is also a give away. 

Here is a group playing traditional zydeco