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In the years between the wars, | 0:00:06 | 0:00:08 | |
a musical revolution was under way | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
that would change the sound of Britain for ever. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
It marked the rise of British dance bands | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
and the birth of modern pop music. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
It was the golden age of dance bands | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
when band leaders were kings and millions of us danced our socks off. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:30 | |
It was the sound of my parents' generation | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
when the parlour became the place to party! | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
It was a time of celebrity and money, of radio and records, | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
when we absorbed black American jazz and gave it a unique British twist. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:46 | |
But it was also a time of conflict, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
of a love-hate relationship with America | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
that sent the BBC into a spin. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
So what was all the fuss about? | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
And what made Britain go dance band crazy? | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
And why, within two decades, | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
did our love affair with British dance bands begin to fall flat? | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
The heyday of dance band music may have been more than 80 years ago | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
but, as I'm discovering, | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
it seems the dance band craze never really went away. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
The Shellac Sisters play their 78s loud and scratchy. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
Tonight's '30s party is at the Rivoli Ballroom in South London. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:50 | |
If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
It's like something from a '30s musical. I love it. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
I love to see the ladies dressed up and the guys in their suits. | 0:01:55 | 0:02:00 | |
And the thing is, I always thought it was about the dancing, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
about foxtrots and quicksteps | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
but, no, as much as that, it's about the music. It is truly...wonderful. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:12 | |
MUSIC: Truckin' | 0:02:15 | 0:02:16 | |
# We had to get something new | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
# A dance to do up here in Harlem | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
# So someone started truckin' Yowser! # | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
What is it about this type of music and dressing up? | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
What is it about it that you like? | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
Well, you just can't not hear the music and start moving, you know. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
You can't help... Every step you take makes you want to smile | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
and the more steps you take, the bigger your smile gets. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
It's the energy, the fact that as a generation, | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
we don't have parlour dancing. It's nonexistent. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
And do you like the fact that they use original 78s | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
and you get a bit of scratching going on? | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
Yeah, yeah. It adds to the atmosphere. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
I love the clothes. The clothes are lovely. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
They are. They're proper clothes, right? | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
Exactly yeah, stylish, fashionable. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
What is this? Worsted? | 0:03:02 | 0:03:03 | |
12 ounce. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
12 ounce worsted? Look at it. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:06 | |
Impeccable. And, madam, may I say, elegance personified. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:12 | |
With the bob hair cut. Oh, shut up! | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
Our first flirtation with dance band music | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
came not long after the end of the Great War. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
After four years of desperate survival, | 0:03:28 | 0:03:30 | |
a wall of sound was heading across the Atlantic. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
And one band summed up the new optimistic mood. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:39 | |
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was a five-piece from New Orleans. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
They billed themselves as the Creators of Jazz | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
and, in 1919, they came to London, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
where music hall was still the dominant form of entertainment. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
These guys play - simultaneously - clarinet, cornet, trombone... | 0:04:02 | 0:04:08 | |
all playing melodies together. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
It sounded like an enormous row, they had a drum kit with them. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
The shock this caused was probably similar to punk rock in 1977. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:21 | |
Well, I guess music has always developed | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
and the next style always shocked the Establishment. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
Yeah, it shocked the Establishment, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
but a lot of people were ready for this style. It was the modern age. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:34 | |
With their radical new sound, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
the Original Dixieland Jazz Band were the talk of the town. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
Musicians thought, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
"Right, that's what we need to do, this is where we need to go." | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
And the dance bands really grew out of that. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
It was the birth of a new musical era | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
that would be the soundtrack to British life for the next 20 years. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
Across the land, | 0:05:09 | 0:05:10 | |
British musicians started to soak up those Stateside sound waves | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
and decided, "We can do that too." | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
As the bands tuned up, | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
a new wave of British musical talent began to emerge. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
And band leaders such as Bert Ambrose, Jack Hylton and Ray Noble | 0:05:25 | 0:05:31 | |
would become household names. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
BAND PLAYS: Midnight The Stars And You | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
Doesn't that sound fantastic? | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
# Midnight, brought us sweet romance | 0:05:56 | 0:06:04 | |
# I'll know for my whole life through | 0:06:04 | 0:06:11 | |
# I'll be remembering, dear | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
# Whatever else I do | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
# Midnight, with the stars and you. # | 0:06:19 | 0:06:25 | |
I was brought up listening to that type of music, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
because you listened to what your dad plays when you're a kid. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:42 | |
And my dad was always in the front room putting the old gramophone on, | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
playing all this type of music. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
And that's why I think I've always loved it. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
When people listened to this music, it was the latest thing. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
It was modern, you know, it was everything that was the future. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
Now, we hear things like Midnight And The Stars And You, | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
can anything be any more achingly nostalgic | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
than something like that? | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
But it wasn't at the time. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:06 | |
No. But that's music and I hope it always continues to develop and grow. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:13 | |
In early 1920s' London, | 0:07:33 | 0:07:34 | |
it was the high-end restaurants and hotels like the Savoy | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
that were among the first to cash in on the dance band explosion. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:42 | |
# Don't forget, dinner at eight... # | 0:07:42 | 0:07:47 | |
The days of swanky restaurants and hotels | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
hosting the finest bands in the land may be gone, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
but you can still see the places | 0:07:53 | 0:07:55 | |
where those wonderful orchestras played | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
and the diners danced the night away. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
# ..Don't forget Dinner at eight... # | 0:08:01 | 0:08:05 | |
Ray Pallett runs a magazine devoted to the music of the old dance bands | 0:08:05 | 0:08:10 | |
and he knows all about their old stomping grounds. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
Oh, Ray...this...this is fantastic. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
It is splendid, isn't it, really? | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
As soon as you walk in, you get the feeling this is where it all went on. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
Where it all happened, yes. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
The ballroom at the Savoy. The stage over there. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
So, what would be going on here on a typical, say, Saturday night? | 0:08:30 | 0:08:35 | |
The band would be up there. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:36 | |
It would be the Savoy Havana Band or the Savoy Hotel Orpheans, | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
depending on what year it was, and who was on. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
They'd be playing up there | 0:08:43 | 0:08:44 | |
and you'd get the society people dancing around in here. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
There'd be like a cabaret style. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
Tables and chairs around the edge and the dance floor there. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
The band would be squashed up on the stage. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
The dance floor wouldn't be huge - | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
people danced very closely together then. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
That was one of the attractions. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
Absolutely, yes. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:17 | |
I suppose, in those days, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:18 | |
there'd have been the foxtrots and the waltzes. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
It was the foxtrot that started the whole thing off. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
That was popularised by Vernon and Irene Castle | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
and everyone wanted to dance the foxtrot. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
And that really brought the explosion of dance bands. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
There were dance bands all over the country, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
but the big dance bands, the main ones, were in the London hotels. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
The Savoy. The Mayfair. The Hotel Cecil. Places like that. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
# Because I still get a thrill thinking of you | 0:09:44 | 0:09:50 | |
# I recall that it ended too soon | 0:09:50 | 0:09:56 | |
# I can't believe you're gone | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
# Memories linger on | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
# Cos I still get a thrill thinking of you. # | 0:10:03 | 0:10:08 | |
One of the first stars to emerge from the fledgling dance band scene | 0:10:12 | 0:10:17 | |
was East Ender Bert Ambrose. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
With his top flight orchestra, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
he became a fixture in the West End, playing for high society audiences. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:27 | |
What Bert Ambrose managed to do was something truly magical. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:35 | |
He was able to pull together | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
the best musicians and the best writers that were available. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
However, he knew the best were in America. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
Ambrose had played in the States and absorbed what he'd heard. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
In London, he'd played at the very best places - | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
the Embassy Club and the Cafe de Paris - | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
and set the tone that many would follow. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
# I'm going to get you | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
# I'm going to get you... # | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
Sheila, tell me about Ambrose. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
What was it about his band | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
that made all the musicians want to be in his band? | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
First and foremost, because he paid more money than anyone else did. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
But he knew exactly what he wanted from his band | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
and insisted on getting it. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
And it was a very, very good band. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
He was the top band in the country. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
All royalty, all the aristocracy | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
went to hear - not to hear - to dance to Ambrose. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
And, of course, Edward used to take in Wallis Simpson, didn't he? | 0:11:32 | 0:11:37 | |
Billy Amstell, who was in Ambrose's band - saxophone player - he said, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
"He was a naughty boy, you know, he used to look down her dress." | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
"How do I know?" he said, "Because I was watching!" | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
With British toes tapping, subtle differences started to emerge | 0:11:51 | 0:11:56 | |
between the American and the home-grown sound. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
Well, Derek, can you give me an example | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
of the way the Americans would play a tune | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
and the way the British would back in the '20s and '30s? | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
We've chosen the tune Cryin' For The Carolines. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
It's one of those songs of a homesick guy | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
who's moved to the city for work. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
He's longing for the countryside again - | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
the birds, the green, the pines and so on. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
He's crying for the Carolines. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
We're going to begin with an American-style version of this. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
BEGINS TO PLAY | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
That's quite punchy, isn't it? It's got a little staccato-ey flavour. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
That's right. I think it's the force with which Kyle's hitting that reed. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
It's quite a tough reed, is it, you've got in there? | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
It's actually not a hard reed but it's a very American set-up. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
And it has what's called an American-cut reed on it. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
That would be more advanced than the British style of reed? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
Yes, there was a lot of evolution going on with saxophone mouthpieces, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
particularly in the '30s, | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
and things changing | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
in the way that players approached their equipment | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
and craftsmen coming in and actually saying, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
"Hey, you can have a mouthpiece | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
"that is not the one that comes in the box with the saxophone." | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
OK, so you'll want to change your mouthpiece for this one? | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
Yes, I'm going to put on - again, this is a modern mouthpiece - | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
but it's more similar | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
to what I think the players started from in the '20s. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
So it'll give us a different kind of sound. We'll see what you think. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:53 | |
I think also, I'm going to play it at a different tempo. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
Right. We're going to do a version that Ambrose might have approved of. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:01 | |
So, is this fast enough? | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
Yeah. That's smoother, isn't it? | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
It's got a smoothness about it. The other one was more punchy. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
Yes, but this has a kind of bounce. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
A sort of dance-y bounce about it. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:38 | |
It's a bit like the audiences | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
on Strictly Come Dancing and the American Dancing With The Stars. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
You know, the Americans are much more gregarious and standing ovations | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
and giving it all that. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:49 | |
Whereas the British, they're a bit more reserved. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
You think this is a bit tight-laced? But rhythmic all the same. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
And perhaps a bit sophisticated? | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
Oh, yes, it's got class! | 0:14:57 | 0:14:58 | |
Yeah. Oh, certainly has. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
Would you say that the American style is a little hotter | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
and the British style a little sweeter, a little bit more smooth? | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
I think so. The British style has to suit the luxury hotels, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:12 | |
high society and so on. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
Above all, it's what the British public wanted to hear. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
And the British public is different from the American public. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
And the British public loved | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
bouncey, cheerful, tuneful music. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
That's what they wanted. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
And the bands provided it, in spades. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
British music might have been sweeter on the ear, but was it cutting edge? | 0:15:33 | 0:15:38 | |
There were two styles of music, essentially, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
in the '20s through into the '30s. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
And they were called hot and sweet, kind of like peppers. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
So sweet music's quite sentimental, | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
it kept quite strictly to the melody. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:55 | |
Musicians didn't go off and do their own thing anywhere. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
Hot music was what we think of as jazz in that era. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
It was improvisatory, | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
the arrangements would leave plenty of space | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
for the trumpet player to just do something exciting. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:13 | |
Just take the melody and run with it, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
or two or three musicians to do that simultaneously. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
But for some, these hot new sounds were just a bit too racey. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
I think one of the biggest worries, after the First World War, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:36 | |
was Americanisation of British taste. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
The look of American cars, the rowdiness of American music. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:44 | |
The sober British values were being lost in this storm of vulgarity | 0:16:44 | 0:16:50 | |
from the other side of the Atlantic. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
There's this sort of divide in the inter-war period | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
between an intelligentsia very often | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
who are concerned about Americanised dance music | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
and Americanised popular culture, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
and the vast amount of the public who love it. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
There's a racial element for some individuals | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
who are concerned that the purity of the British race | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
is being challenged by this music | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
which has its roots in Africa and in black America. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
The well-known bit! There were worries by some institutions | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
and some theatres that this was vulgar, noisy, rowdy, | 0:17:32 | 0:17:37 | |
the patrons would not like it. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:39 | |
But then there were other places - cafes and nightclubs - | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
that would give work to those musicians. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
But one place where all musicians wanted to be heard, | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
was on the newly-formed BBC, | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
which launched its first radio service in 1922. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
The BBC's boss, John Reith, held a tight grip on the broadcaster, | 0:18:04 | 0:18:09 | |
guiding it with his own strong moral code. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
But he knew that dance music | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
would play a part in the future of the service | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
and it was soon included in the programme of entertainment. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
Right across the West End, the BBC were setting up their microphones | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
and warning the patrons there's going to be some noise. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
And, of course, there was some complaints, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
but all over Britain, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:33 | |
millions of people listening on the wireless had no complaints at all. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
In the heart of the West End, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
the cream of the British dance bands played this area - | 0:18:42 | 0:18:45 | |
Piccadilly, Leicester Square, the Strand, Regent Street. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:49 | |
This is where you came if you wanted to go out, | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
a night out dancing to the top bands. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
But when wireless came on in the late 1920s, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
the bands broadcast nationally | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
and they became famous throughout the nation, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
and the band leaders became stars. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
They were the pop stars of the day, driving around in Rolls-Royces. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
It's extraordinary to imagine the impact of these bands | 0:19:10 | 0:19:17 | |
and the boldness of the mighty BBC in saying, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
"We're going to have bands on every night of the week, except Sunday." | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
Sir John Reith wouldn't have dance bands on Sunday. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
Sir John Reith didn't like dance bands at all, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
but he recognised from his entertainment producers | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
that this was the sound of the day. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
You would change your meal times to sit down and listen to the wireless. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
You'd switch the wireless on | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
and you'd wait for quite some time for it to warm up. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
It took time for the valves to heat up | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
and for the sound to come through to listen to the magic of the music. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
Sunday Night at 10 with me, Clare Teal. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
And tonight we celebrate the Big 18 Studio Band | 0:19:59 | 0:20:04 | |
and the bands that inspired them, such as... | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
Today, there's still an audience for dance band music on the BBC, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
fronted by jazz singer Clare Teal. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
We can't even begin to think how massive the radio would have been. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
Suddenly, to be able to listen to music every day on the radio, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
it suddenly made it accessible to everyone, rich or poor. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:29 | |
And I think that's the great thing about music - it's a real leveller. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:33 | |
This was the first time that these guys became like music gods, | 0:20:33 | 0:20:38 | |
because so many people could see them. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
They could see them in magazines and they could hear them on the radio | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
and they could go out and buy their records. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
But nobody cared about the singers, or really about the bands early on, | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
it was all about the band leaders, and they were the kings. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
But, of course, in order to have a big band work, | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
it's all about the arrangements, it's all about the players, | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
it's all about the singers, it's about the tempo. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
Well, you know you can't dance to things that are in the wrong tempo. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
But, no, a magical time. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
Yeah, and they had such style, didn't they? The band leaders in their... | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
Yeah, their tails... | 0:21:12 | 0:21:13 | |
A lot of them, people like Roy Fox who wore his, you know, white tails. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
And you look at the photos and Jack Hylton always had his boys | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
dressed beautifully in Savile Row suits and many different outfits. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
Some of the band leaders would make their guys pay for their own suits. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:30 | |
They'd have to buy a new suit every year, which is a bit harsh, I think. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
But, yeah, white Rolls Royces crop up a lot. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
And obviously this music just went crazy. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
One of my favourite songs that Jack Hylton did | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
is a kind of novelty number called Me And Jane In A Plane. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
I know the song... | 0:21:45 | 0:21:46 | |
# Me and Jane in a plane Flying over the clouds... # | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
-Yes! -And in 1927, the boys were up at Blackpool Tower | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
and as a publicity stunt, they flew a plane over Blackpool | 0:21:55 | 0:21:59 | |
and threw sheet music of the song | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
over to the bewildered holiday-makers below. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
-You wouldn't be allowed to do that these days. -Probably not, yeah. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
# Me and Jane in a plane | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
# Soaring up to the clouds | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
# Me and Jane in a plane | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
# Far away from the crowds | 0:22:14 | 0:22:18 | |
# In my two seater What could be sweeter? | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
# I'll have St Peter step inside and bless the bride... # | 0:22:22 | 0:22:27 | |
It's just a short hop from Blackpool to Lancaster University. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:31 | |
This is Jack Hylton Junior, | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
the son of perhaps Britain's most successful dance band leader. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:38 | |
The university is home to an enormous archive | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
of his father's papers, photos and music. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
I think it is remarkable. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
It is a unique record of the popular music of its period. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
Hylton sold 3.2 million records in 1929, | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
he managed, over his life, to entertain so many people. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:12 | |
Pete Faint is a professional musician | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
who studied Jack Hylton's work at Lancaster | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
and he was astonished at the depth of the university's collection. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:23 | |
What we've got here | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
is an extraordinarily vast archive of music. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
So each of these folders contains | 0:23:30 | 0:23:35 | |
individually hand-written parts for the entire band. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:41 | |
There's something in the region of 4,000 sets of parts, | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
so tens of thousands of hand-written pieces of music. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
You can listen to the record, | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
but to understand the process of orchestration, you know, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
this is the most valuable resource. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
For 19 years, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:01 | |
he was probably consistently the biggest attraction in this country. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:07 | |
And in Europe. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:08 | |
And, eventually, pretty big in America, too. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
At one stage, Jack Hylton was shifting seven records a minute. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:20 | |
And with the fortune, came the fame. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
Now, Jack, your dad...what I can't believe is how popular they were | 0:24:23 | 0:24:29 | |
and what megastars these band leaders become. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
Oh, yes, if you walked outside the house and somebody spotted you... | 0:24:33 | 0:24:38 | |
You didn't get mobbed in those days, | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
but what was amazing was everybody knew your face, | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
even though you were on the radio or only in concert halls. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
I mean they were, if you like, the Beatles or the Stones of their day. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
# She was a good girl and I can never understand | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
# Why did she fall for the leader of the band? # | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
Jack Hylton was certainly a busy man with recording sessions | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
and a touring schedule that would make your eyes water. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:09 | |
1929 was the famous year. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
They did over 700 concerts, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
travelled 63,000 miles | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
and sold 3.2 million records. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
And what sort of money was your dad on? | 0:25:26 | 0:25:31 | |
In 1931, the Empire Ballroom, Leicester Square, | 0:25:31 | 0:25:37 | |
offered £40,000 a week to employ the band. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:42 | |
£40,000 a week? | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
And that was turned down. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
So they offered Jack Hylton himself | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
£10,000 a week to come in three nights and conduct their house band. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:56 | |
And I guess this was when the average wage was £3 or £4 a week? | 0:25:56 | 0:26:02 | |
When £10,000 was a lot of money. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
# We're in the money | 0:26:06 | 0:26:07 | |
# Come on, my honey | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
# Let's spend it, lend it, send it rolling along... # | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
Jack was a clever businessman as well as a brilliant showman. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:18 | |
And when this Lancashire lad had money, he knew what to do with it. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:22 | |
He earned plenty of money, but he spent plenty of money as well. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:26 | |
-You know, he enjoyed himself. -Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
But he said to me, "I may not leave you much, | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
"but you really will enjoy getting rid of it with me." | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
As their fortunes grew, the band leaders indulged expensive tastes. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:44 | |
Billy Cotton had a passion for fast cars. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
Others preferred fast animals. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
'You all know Roy Fox as one of the most popular and best-known | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
'dance band leaders on the air. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
'Well, here he is and, sad to relate, he's gone to the dogs.' | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
And when they toured the Continent, some preferred the casinos. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:07 | |
Now, Ambrose was a great gambler. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
In Biarritz, he lost £28,000 in one night. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:16 | |
And we're talking about the '30s. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
And they didn't have enough money to pay the band, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:24 | |
so the singer had to come back to London, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
to get some money to pay the band. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
While the bands made and lost a mint, over at the BBC, | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
there was nervousness about their money-making techniques. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:43 | |
And it gave Auntie the heebie-jeebies. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
# I'm going to sit write down and write myself a letter... # | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
Right, well, here we are, Len, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:53 | |
welcome to the BBC's Written Archives Centre. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
# I'm going to write words oh, so sweet | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
# They're going to knock me off my feet... # | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
I can't believe how huge it is. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
-It's surprising, isn't it? -Yeah, I know. That's right. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:09 | |
-You've got written correspondence about dance bands? -We have, yes. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:14 | |
We've got dance band material going back to the '20s | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
and throughout the whole dance band era, | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
showing how the BBC responded | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
to the desire to have dance band music put on the radio. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
It's amazing that every paper has been kept. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
It's like the British Library. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
It's a bit like that, isn't it? | 0:28:29 | 0:28:31 | |
Well, here's a file on dance music and dance bands, going back to 1926. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:41 | |
And it contains certain of the department's policy documents | 0:28:41 | 0:28:46 | |
-on such things as song plugging. That was a big... -Song plugging? | 0:28:46 | 0:28:50 | |
Yes, from 1929. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
"In order to eliminate this practice as far as possible, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:56 | |
"the following arrangements will come into force. | 0:28:56 | 0:29:00 | |
"The announcer's microphone is to be removed from each dance band | 0:29:00 | 0:29:05 | |
"and only the balance microphone used." | 0:29:05 | 0:29:08 | |
So, in other words, the poor old band leader couldn't plug anything. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
He couldn't say, "Well, here we go | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
"with my latest record, ladies and gentlemen. Blah, blah, blah." | 0:29:14 | 0:29:18 | |
No, he was effectively gagged. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
The BBC were incredibly strict | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
and they were very aware of their role in the promotion of dance music | 0:29:22 | 0:29:27 | |
and I think it terrified them. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
# When you gotta sing You gotta sing... # | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
There had always been song plugging | 0:29:33 | 0:29:36 | |
and once radio began, the record companies realised that, | 0:29:36 | 0:29:40 | |
if Ambrose played the latest song | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
in his hour-and-a-half on Saturday night on the BBC, | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
people would then rush out and buy that record, in their droves. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:52 | |
So song announcements were not allowed any more | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
and they instructed singers | 0:29:55 | 0:29:57 | |
not to sing the title of the song in the chorus, | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
so it was very difficult to know what the song was called | 0:30:00 | 0:30:04 | |
and therefore very difficult to go to the record shop the next day | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
and say, "Can I buy this song, please?" | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
And predictably - uproar. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:12 | |
People across the country were completely furious | 0:30:12 | 0:30:16 | |
and a few months later, the BBC just had to retract. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
The BBC was prepared to stop at nothing to prevent song plugging. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:24 | |
In 1929, they even banned singing. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
This way, no-one would get a plug and the instrumental music | 0:30:26 | 0:30:31 | |
could be enjoyed by those who simply wanted to dance. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:35 | |
"On no account will singing be allowed during the broadcast. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
"This quite definitely affects adversely the broadcast." | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
So, it was just pure music, there was no singing. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
Yes, I think the idea was people used to roll up their carpets | 0:30:49 | 0:30:53 | |
and dance to the radio. That's what it was all about. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:58 | |
And the popularity of the records, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
or the music as it was published, were very much secondary. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:04 | |
How different to nowadays, because it's all about the vocals. | 0:31:04 | 0:31:08 | |
Quite right. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:09 | |
And in those days, it was all about the band and the music. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
# Roll up the carpet | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
# Push back the chairs | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
# Get some music on the radio... # | 0:31:16 | 0:31:20 | |
The BBC's attempt to stifle singing was short lived, | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
which was music to the ears | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
of those working hard in recording studios across the land. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:29 | |
78s were made in their millions | 0:31:29 | 0:31:33 | |
and the record industry boomed. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:37 | |
# Boom! Why did my heart go boom... # | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
The sound of the dance bands was everywhere. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
For £6 10 shillings, you could buy a gramophone, | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
or even hire one from shops on the high street, | 0:31:45 | 0:31:48 | |
and the home entertainment industry took off. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
There was also changes in recording techniques | 0:31:51 | 0:31:54 | |
which meant the bands sounded better than ever. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:57 | |
'We will just take a peep into the recording studio | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
'where Jack Hylton and his band are rehearsing.' | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
In the mid-'20s, new electrical microphones gave a much clearer sound | 0:32:05 | 0:32:10 | |
but recording still required an inventive approach. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
If you look at some of those photographs | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
of early studio recordings, it looks very odd to us. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:20 | |
Everybody's crammed in together to get the sound concentrated | 0:32:20 | 0:32:24 | |
so the microphone can pick them up. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
You don't set them out like you would a normal orchestra, | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
widely spaced from each other. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
There would be one or, at the most, two microphones. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
And what the engineers were doing - which was very subtle - | 0:32:37 | 0:32:42 | |
was placing all these musicians in relation to the main microphone. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:47 | |
# I get blue when I hear the wheels of the choo choo... # | 0:32:50 | 0:32:55 | |
Everything else would be relationships to the microphone. | 0:32:55 | 0:33:00 | |
Which sometimes involved sending the trumpets out onto the fire escape. | 0:33:00 | 0:33:05 | |
In some of the studios, they even ended up | 0:33:08 | 0:33:11 | |
having a small platform on wheels with ropes attached to it | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
where some of the studio workers | 0:33:15 | 0:33:17 | |
could pull sections of the orchestra away to alter the balance | 0:33:17 | 0:33:21 | |
and then push them back when it was their solo. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
And, of course, one take only. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
You couldn't go back and cut it together as you could now. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
There'd be no remixing. There's no role for a producer here. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
You know, this is it, it's live. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
But once they'd got it, there it was. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:47 | |
It's being carved out on the shellac as they do it. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:53 | |
And then that's the master and you distribute it. It's so simple. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:58 | |
And, again, the feeling you get from the records of this era | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
is that everyone involved in it is having a whale of a good time. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:07 | |
But the hottest tunes weren't coming from here. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
They were coming from across the pond. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
It was time for band leaders like Roy Fox to take centre stage. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:20 | |
They called him the Whispering Cornettist, | 0:34:20 | 0:34:23 | |
he was an American who'd made London his home. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
And he was very much in demand. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
The hotels and restaurants wanted Yanks in the band, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
and British audiences wanted to see them. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:35 | |
With the growing influence of Duke Ellington | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
and the sounds of the Cotton Club, | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
it seemed that America was the real artistic powerhouse | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
and, before long, it was British musicians who were feeling the heat. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:50 | |
The Musicians Union here started arguing | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
that jobs were being taken away from British musicians | 0:34:53 | 0:34:56 | |
because so many American musicians were being used | 0:34:56 | 0:35:00 | |
as session musicians in recordings | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
and they started putting limits | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
on the number of American musicians who could play in Britain. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:09 | |
The American Musicians Union | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
basically created the same rule in the mid-'30s as well. | 0:35:11 | 0:35:16 | |
So that cross-fertilisation stopped happening. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
Even without the direct American influence, | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
the British dance band scene continued to prosper. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
Away from the mainstream, | 0:35:34 | 0:35:35 | |
a few bands were already heading in some surprising directions | 0:35:35 | 0:35:39 | |
and the British public were happy to follow. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
Oi! Excuse me, I'm trying to find out | 0:35:42 | 0:35:45 | |
what people like in the way of entertainment. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
Now, you must have your favourite. What is it - a jazz band? | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
No. I don't go much for jazz bands. I like something with a tune in it. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:53 | |
As Britain, in one sense, becomes isolationist in music, | 0:35:55 | 0:36:01 | |
in that you're relying more and more | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
on players who are within the United Kingdom, | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
they kind of reach out in the themes of the music. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:12 | |
You do get Hawaiian bands... | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
you get Gaucho tango bands. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
Then you get a massive variety of different types of specialist bands. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:25 | |
Ukulele bands. Banjo bands. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
Accordion bands. Primo Scala and his Accordion Band. Primo Scala. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:34 | |
Of course it sounds exotic. His name was Harry Bidgood. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
'National Programme from London. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
'Now you're going to hear the first performance | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
'of the new BBC Dance Orchestra directed by Henry Hall.' | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
# It's just the time for dancing | 0:36:46 | 0:36:50 | |
# Tomorrow is today... # | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
Over at the BBC, | 0:36:53 | 0:36:54 | |
the Corporation had its own take on what the British sound should be. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:59 | |
The in-house band was the BBC Dance Orchestra | 0:37:00 | 0:37:05 | |
and, by 1932, it was led by Henry Hall. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:09 | |
Bespectacled and mild mannered, | 0:37:09 | 0:37:11 | |
Hall had a background in the Salvation Army. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
He might have been the BBC's chosen one, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
but some rivals thought it all sounded a bit safe. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
You're hearing the signature tune of the BBC Dance Orchestra. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
The tune is called It's Just The Time For Dancing. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:28 | |
The critics may have been a bit sniffy, but the public loved it. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:33 | |
'And so to song. A light song, a bright song, the right song | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
'for that most entertaining of ether experts, Gerry Fitzgerald.' | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
And as Britain lapped up the dance band sound, | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
a new star began to emerge. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
# So rare | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
# You're like the fragrance of flowers fair... # | 0:37:49 | 0:37:54 | |
Stepping out of the shadows was the vocalist, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
with a new intimate style that became known as crooning. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:01 | |
# ..With the morning dew... # | 0:38:01 | 0:38:05 | |
But it was all made possible by another technical innovation - | 0:38:05 | 0:38:10 | |
better microphones. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:11 | |
Hello, control room. This is Transmission Studio No 3. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:16 | |
How's this for quality? One, two, three, four... | 0:38:16 | 0:38:20 | |
When broadcasting in this country started, | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
they used a microphone called a Peel-Conner, | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
which was designed to be built into a telephone. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:27 | |
Now, this is a Sterling microphone of a similar era. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
-TINNY TONE -The quality when you speak into it | 0:38:30 | 0:38:34 | |
is particularly appalling. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
It is not really any good for music. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
And this is the sort of quality you would have heard... | 0:38:38 | 0:38:42 | |
during the first few years of broadcasting. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:44 | |
In fact, the quality you would have heard in the home | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
would have been worse than that | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
because the domestic receiver was also not of very good quality. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
But by the 1930s, microphones were much more sensitive. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
The singer no longer had to project to be heard | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
and, for some, stardom beckoned. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
And the biggest star of all | 0:39:01 | 0:39:03 | |
was a musician whose swarthy good looks and velvet voice | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
made him the nation's favourite. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:08 | |
Al Bowlly was the closest the British ever got | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
to competing with American crooners like Bing Crosby. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:15 | |
Al had the golden tone that every band leader wanted. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
And he soon became the poster boy for the dance band generation. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
Bowlly started off playing banjo and guitar in the bands. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:36 | |
I mean, you didn't have a specific vocalist, | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
the vocalist would be somebody in the band | 0:39:39 | 0:39:41 | |
who was sort of brave enough to stand in front with a megaphone | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
and sort of belt out a verse. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:46 | |
'Listeners will remember | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
'Roy Fox's famous broadcasting band in the Monseigneur London, | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
'with Lew Stone and Al Bowlly, who played and sang.' | 0:39:52 | 0:39:56 | |
He's often called one of the first pop stars | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
because he was one of the first people | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
to actually have his name on the record. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
Before that, it would just be, "With vocal refrain." | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
# Learn to croon | 0:40:07 | 0:40:12 | |
# You'll eliminate each rival soon... # | 0:40:12 | 0:40:17 | |
Bowlly was the first one to | 0:40:17 | 0:40:19 | |
actually have his name on there as a vocalist in his own right. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
# Learn to croon... # | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
One of the things about Bowlly, | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
he definitely did have that, sort of, sex appeal. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
When Al Bowlly started to sing, | 0:40:31 | 0:40:34 | |
it was Al Bowlly that they looked at, not the dance band leader. | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
Folks, Pathe have got me at last. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
Now, where's my piano player? | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
Monia! Come on. Sit up. Go on, get playing. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
# I don't need your photograph | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
# To keep by my bed... # | 0:41:00 | 0:41:02 | |
If you listen to Bowlly, he hardly ever hits a straight note, at all. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:07 | |
He always has that slight slide | 0:41:07 | 0:41:09 | |
so, even if it's the very thought of you, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
it's sort of the very thought of yo-ou and you've got that very... | 0:41:12 | 0:41:17 | |
which makes it... It's like sort of satin sheets. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
# ..The very thought of you | 0:41:20 | 0:41:25 | |
# And I forget to do | 0:41:25 | 0:41:28 | |
# The little ordinary things... | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
# That everyone ought to do | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
# I'm living in a kind of daydream | 0:41:36 | 0:41:41 | |
# And I'm happy as a king... # | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
I mean his voice, it's like dripping honey, it really is. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:49 | |
# Why to me, that's everything... # | 0:41:49 | 0:41:52 | |
And such a distinctive voice. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:56 | |
So it's very slidey, so very slidey | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
comes from just behind the teeth. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:01 | |
# ..You'll never know how slow the moments go | 0:42:01 | 0:42:06 | |
# Till I'm near to you... | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
# I see your face in every flower | 0:42:09 | 0:42:14 | |
# Your eyes in stars above | 0:42:14 | 0:42:18 | |
# It's just the thought of you | 0:42:18 | 0:42:20 | |
# The very thought of you my love. # | 0:42:20 | 0:42:25 | |
He's got a very, if I may say so, strange voice. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:34 | |
It was a very unique voice. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:35 | |
His father was Greek, his mother was Lebanese, | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
they met on the way to Australia, | 0:42:38 | 0:42:40 | |
he was brought up in South Africa, professed to be British, | 0:42:40 | 0:42:43 | |
but spoke with this sort of pseudo-American accent. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:45 | |
And it's not only his technique with the microphone, | 0:42:45 | 0:42:50 | |
but it's that sort of unique tone to the voice as well that just... | 0:42:50 | 0:42:54 | |
That's why he's my favourite. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:56 | |
-He's your favourite as well? -Yes. He's my absolute favourite. | 0:42:56 | 0:43:00 | |
# Come to me, my melancholy baby | 0:43:00 | 0:43:08 | |
# Just cuddle up and don't be blue... | 0:43:08 | 0:43:14 | |
# All your fears are foolish fancy maybes | 0:43:14 | 0:43:20 | |
-# And you know, honey I'm in love with you... -# | 0:43:20 | 0:43:25 | |
-Can I have a go? -Oh, please do. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:30 | |
# Come to me, my melancholy baby | 0:43:34 | 0:43:42 | |
# Cuddle up and don't be blue... # | 0:43:42 | 0:43:50 | |
-How was it? -Great. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:53 | |
Does it take you back? Did you think Bowlly's in the hall? | 0:43:53 | 0:43:57 | |
# Every cloud must have its silver lining... # | 0:43:57 | 0:44:01 | |
With any of the really successful crooners, it was about the subtlety. | 0:44:01 | 0:44:06 | |
Knowing that you had a microphone in front of you, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:08 | |
you weren't bellowing at people. | 0:44:08 | 0:44:10 | |
You had, for the first time, a sensitivity, | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
so people could approach lyrics and tell a story. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
# Kiss away each tear... # | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
People used to say whenever Al sang, | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
you thought he was singing directly to you. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:27 | |
# Melancholy too... # | 0:44:27 | 0:44:32 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:33 | |
It seemed Britain was going crooning crazy, but not everyone liked it. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:38 | |
The BBC found the idea of crooning horrifying. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
I think they probably thought it was a bit too sexy, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
it was going to entice wrong feelings in their listeners. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:50 | |
So, throughout the mid-'30s, there are newspaper articles | 0:44:50 | 0:44:54 | |
asking what's the BBC going to do about crooning? | 0:44:54 | 0:44:57 | |
The press had an absolute field day. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
You know, they love to stoke up these controversies | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
and this is the Daily Despatch and it says here, | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
"Please, Sir John, suppress this nightly wailing," | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
and it goes on down here, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:16 | |
"Practically every radio critic throughout the country | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
"has expressed his personal abhorrence to crooning. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:23 | |
"What has been the effect on the BBC? Absolutely none." | 0:45:23 | 0:45:27 | |
# How could we be wrong...? # | 0:45:27 | 0:45:33 | |
Once again the BBC was having issues with vocalists. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:36 | |
As well as worries about crooning, | 0:45:36 | 0:45:38 | |
there were now complaints about hot new jazz sounds from black America. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
The Director General, Sir John Reith, found his in-tray filling up. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:47 | |
"I've been having one or two complaints | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
"about hot jazz and crooning, | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
"have you not altered the policy about this in some way?" | 0:45:52 | 0:45:56 | |
One of his lieutenants wrote back that, | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
although he realised that crooning was very popular, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
this is what he wrote... | 0:46:02 | 0:46:04 | |
"We are all to a degree in sympathy with what the Daily Dispatch says. | 0:46:04 | 0:46:08 | |
"But I do not think we need to take the criticisms too seriously." | 0:46:08 | 0:46:12 | |
But when it came to letting hot jazz loose on the airwaves, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
music inspired by the likes of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
well, that was simply going too far. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
"I can assure you there is no sympathy | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
"with what I again term the negroid type of music." | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
I ask you! | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
Hot jazz was just too spicy for some at the BBC. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
The Corporation felt the need for a broader approach. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:42 | |
They preferred the sound of Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra | 0:46:42 | 0:46:46 | |
and either straightforward, sentimental songs or novelty numbers. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:51 | |
# My kid's a crooner | 0:46:51 | 0:46:52 | |
# Though he's only two | 0:46:52 | 0:46:54 | |
# He sings Boo-boo-boo-boo... # | 0:46:54 | 0:46:56 | |
Hot jazz might have been off the menu, | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
but the BBC continued to get itself in a pickle over crooning. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:03 | |
By 1936, Auntie Beeb found herself | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
torn between the popularity of crooning | 0:47:05 | 0:47:08 | |
and the personal taste of some of those in charge. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
# ..To stop my kid from crooning Boo-boo-boo-boo... # | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
This memo is fascinating. | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
It shows the battle that the BBC bosses had with crooners. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:21 | |
If you read this, you won't believe it. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:25 | |
It says, "I can see no reason why crooning, | 0:47:25 | 0:47:28 | |
"which is a particularly odious form of singing, | 0:47:28 | 0:47:33 | |
"should not be obliterated straightaway." | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
Basically, they thought that singing spoilt the tune | 0:47:36 | 0:47:41 | |
and they didn't want it in there. Incredible. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:45 | |
As I see it, all that was happening was that the singers were singing | 0:47:45 | 0:47:51 | |
with a directness and with a sensitivity | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
that they hadn't been allowed to before | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
because they'd been having to belt it out. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
At Broadcasting House, the BBC decided | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
that strict quotas would sort out crooning once and for all. | 0:48:06 | 0:48:10 | |
The battle lines were drawn. It was war! | 0:48:10 | 0:48:14 | |
The BBC decided that they'd only have a song with vocals every third tune. | 0:48:14 | 0:48:19 | |
But the crafty band leaders, | 0:48:19 | 0:48:22 | |
they made those into a medley which went on and on. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:25 | |
# I'm gonna wash my hands of you... # | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
The BBC continued to try to restrict and regulate | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
the amount of vocal numbers. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:35 | |
The publishers and band leaders were appalled. | 0:48:35 | 0:48:39 | |
# ..And I'm gonna wash my hands, babe, of you... # | 0:48:39 | 0:48:41 | |
They demanded a swift about turn | 0:48:42 | 0:48:44 | |
and accused the BBC of trying to put them out of business. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:48 | |
Eventually, the BBC defused the row by running separate music programmes, | 0:48:48 | 0:48:53 | |
with and without vocals. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:55 | |
It sounds ridiculous, | 0:48:55 | 0:48:57 | |
but it was coming out of an atmosphere that radio | 0:48:57 | 0:49:00 | |
and the BBC as led by John Reith, | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
was really for edification, it wasn't for entertainment. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:06 | |
Dance music was held to be edifying and entertaining, | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
but the moment it became purely entertaining, | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
things needed to be done to clamp it down. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:17 | |
Away from the row with the BBC, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:30 | |
the dance band industry continued to grow. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
The Melody Maker in 1930 estimated | 0:49:34 | 0:49:36 | |
that there were 12,500 to 20,000 dance bands in Britain alone, | 0:49:36 | 0:49:41 | |
made up partly of semi-pro | 0:49:41 | 0:49:43 | |
but many professional musicians in those bands. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
So, yes, a big industry. A great appetite for dancing. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:51 | |
# Now you may think our job is fun | 0:49:51 | 0:49:53 | |
# To play sweet tunes when the day is done | 0:49:53 | 0:49:55 | |
# A dance band's life must be a happy lot... # | 0:49:55 | 0:49:58 | |
On any Saturday night, in Britain in the 1930s, | 0:49:58 | 0:50:03 | |
there'd be about 100,000 people playing in dance bands, | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
which is huge numbers. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:07 | |
# ..Every night I go to bed | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
# Music's going around my head | 0:50:10 | 0:50:13 | |
# I'm counting crotchets in my sleep | 0:50:13 | 0:50:17 | |
# One two three four One two three four... # | 0:50:17 | 0:50:19 | |
Obviously a small elite | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
would be full-time professional dance band musicians. | 0:50:22 | 0:50:25 | |
The vast majority, though, are semi-professionals - | 0:50:25 | 0:50:28 | |
people who have a full-time day job, | 0:50:28 | 0:50:31 | |
but play maybe on Saturdays or two or three other nights of the week. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:36 | |
Learnt to play a brass instrument in a brass band, | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
perhaps learnt to play in the Forces. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
Excited by these new possibilities that they'd play in dance bands. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:47 | |
# ..Counting crotchets in my sleep. # | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
As the bands' profiles increased, they toured the country constantly. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:55 | |
And no-one did more miles than Jack Hylton. | 0:50:55 | 0:50:59 | |
Jack wasn't content with huge success in Britain. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
The band leader took his boys across the Channel | 0:51:04 | 0:51:07 | |
and became famous in every corner of the Continent. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
Just one look at Jack Hylton's passport | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
is enough to make you travel sick. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
Let's just have a look. 1930. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:20 | |
So this is full, full of stamps from all over Europe. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:26 | |
And there's countless trips. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
Hungary, Austria. | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
Sweden. Denmark. Holland. France. Germany. Italy. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:37 | |
Spain. Yes, huge. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:39 | |
Paris, Prague and Vienna all rocked to the Jack Hylton sound. In 1938, | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
Hylton's Band did a month's residency at the Scala Theatre in Berlin. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:50 | |
The Nazis never discovered that some of the musicians were Jewish. | 0:51:52 | 0:51:57 | |
To Hylton's surprise, | 0:51:58 | 0:52:00 | |
one night the audience included, unannounced, Goebbels and Goering. | 0:52:00 | 0:52:04 | |
Yeah, well, he came in | 0:52:06 | 0:52:07 | |
and there was a swastika hanging at the back of the stage | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
which he knew nothing about. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
Everybody was marching around Berlin saying, "Heil Hitler!" | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
And every time they looked directly at any of the band members and said, | 0:52:15 | 0:52:18 | |
"Heil Hitler," they used to say, "Heil Hylton!" | 0:52:18 | 0:52:22 | |
# Sweetheart goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen, | 0:52:22 | 0:52:26 | |
# Auf Wiedersehen, my dear... # | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
The Germans may have loved the British sound, | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
but with the outbreak of war, | 0:52:32 | 0:52:33 | |
the dance band scene was about to change, for ever. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:37 | |
In an attempt to keep morale high, | 0:52:41 | 0:52:43 | |
musicians were recruited into the Central Band of the Royal Air Force. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:47 | |
Many stepped straight from classical orchestras, | 0:52:47 | 0:52:51 | |
others from big time West End bands. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
Out of this came The Squadronaires - one of the best bands of the 1940s. | 0:52:54 | 0:53:00 | |
'No 1 Balloon Centre RAF, turn on a dance at their camp. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
'Audience and orchestra is 100% Air Force. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
'The band leader is Corporal George Beaumont, | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
'once well-known to London's Prince of Wales theatre-goers. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:13 | |
'Now meet the boys of the band. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:14 | |
'Paul Fenoulet was one of Carroll Gibbons' boys | 0:53:14 | 0:53:17 | |
'before he wore uniform. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:19 | |
'Rhythm merchant Jack Dobbs was in Oscar Rabin's outfit, | 0:53:19 | 0:53:23 | |
'now he's nursemaid to a barrage balloon.' | 0:53:23 | 0:53:25 | |
Inevitably, the Second World War really did for the dance bands. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:40 | |
A lot of the musicians were called up. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
Little things like shellac that was used to make records | 0:53:43 | 0:53:48 | |
was also used to make armaments. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
If it's a choice between armaments and records in 1940, | 0:53:50 | 0:53:54 | |
you're going to choose armaments. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:57 | |
# When that man is dead and gone | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
# When that man is dead and gone... # | 0:54:04 | 0:54:10 | |
As London took the full force of the Blitz, Britain's top crooner | 0:54:10 | 0:54:15 | |
lay in bed in his little flat here in Jermyn Street in central London. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:19 | |
The blast from a German bomb blew his bedroom door on top of him, | 0:54:19 | 0:54:23 | |
killing him instantly. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:26 | |
It was Al Bowlly. But in the chaos of war, few people noticed his passing. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:31 | |
He may have been crooning's shining light, | 0:54:48 | 0:54:51 | |
but Al Bowlly's final resting place was this mass grave | 0:54:51 | 0:54:55 | |
for victims of the Blitz at Hanwell Cemetery in West London. | 0:54:55 | 0:54:59 | |
In many ways though, it was a symbolic moment. | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
It was more than the death of Al Bowlly, | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
it was the beginning of the end for British dance band music. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
Al, goodnight, sweetheart. | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
# The echo of a song you used to sing | 0:55:31 | 0:55:38 | |
# When hearts were young | 0:55:38 | 0:55:43 | |
# And everything | 0:55:43 | 0:55:45 | |
# Was one long summer's day... # | 0:55:45 | 0:55:49 | |
They had style, elegance, sophistication. | 0:55:49 | 0:55:53 | |
It was wonderful, wonderful music and it was British music. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:57 | |
It had a particular feel to it and we should cherish it and enjoy it | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
and it should be celebrated, I think. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
The trouble is that people look at it through the lens of modern jazz | 0:56:02 | 0:56:06 | |
or swing music and think, | 0:56:06 | 0:56:07 | |
"Oh, it's just not very good jazz or not very good swing music." | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
But it's none of those things, it's brilliant in itself. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:13 | |
It's great music. | 0:56:13 | 0:56:14 | |
This bringing together of the whole nation, | 0:56:14 | 0:56:18 | |
to have an interest in this music, hadn't happened before | 0:56:18 | 0:56:23 | |
and I don't think it's happened since in the same way. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:28 | |
People talk about the Golden Age of the British dance bands, but it was. | 0:56:29 | 0:56:34 | |
It was exactly that. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:35 | |
It's very easy to just see it as old people's music, nostalgia. | 0:56:42 | 0:56:46 | |
Actually, if we think of it as a continuum, I think it really laid | 0:56:46 | 0:56:51 | |
the blueprint for everything that happened in mid-20th century pop. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:55 | |
That idea of taking what black musicians were doing, | 0:56:55 | 0:56:58 | |
what African-American musicians were doing - that started in the '20s. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:03 | |
You know, the roots of that are in the dance bands. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:06 | |
And that's what the Rolling Stones did. | 0:57:06 | 0:57:08 | |
Absolutely. Absolutely. It's what Bill Haley and Elvis did. | 0:57:08 | 0:57:12 | |
The dust of the war finally settled on a new world order. | 0:57:14 | 0:57:17 | |
Things had moved on | 0:57:17 | 0:57:18 | |
and a new generation wanted to listen to something different. | 0:57:18 | 0:57:22 | |
The bands struggled on, but it was never the same again. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:26 | |
# Tonight I mustn't think of her | 0:57:26 | 0:57:30 | |
# No more memories | 0:57:30 | 0:57:34 | |
# Swing out | 0:57:34 | 0:57:37 | |
# Tonight I must forget | 0:57:37 | 0:57:39 | |
# Music, maestro, please. # | 0:57:39 | 0:57:42 | |
If you think modern pop music began in the '50s, well, think again. | 0:57:42 | 0:57:49 | |
It came from the '20s and '30s, from those fantastic characters - | 0:57:49 | 0:57:54 | |
Bert Ambrose, Al Bowlly. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:57 | |
They were the foundation of the pop music scene that we have today. | 0:57:57 | 0:58:02 | |
Our love affair with British dance bands was short, but oh so sweet. | 0:58:02 | 0:58:07 | |
The music and the dance were a match made in heaven. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:12 | |
And I understand why my parents found it so appealing. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:16 | |
It was a golden era. | 0:58:16 | 0:58:18 | |
It was a time when Britain found its dancing shoes | 0:58:18 | 0:58:22 | |
and British musicians found their musical feet. | 0:58:22 | 0:58:25 | |
I just wish I'd have been there. | 0:58:25 | 0:58:28 | |
# Swing out | 0:58:42 | 0:58:43 | |
# Tonight I must forget | 0:58:43 | 0:58:47 | |
# Music, maestro, please. # | 0:58:47 | 0:58:55 |