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"Play a Simple Melody " is a song from the 1914 musical, Watch Your Step , words and music by Irving Berlin . The show was the first stage musical that Berlin wrote. It ran for 175 performances at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City . The one song from it that is well-remembered today is "Play a Simple Melody," one of the few true examples of counterpoint in American popular music — a melody running against a second melody, each with independent lyrics. Two other of Berlin's so-called "double" songs are "You're Just in Love ," and "An Old-Fashioned Wedding".
In the printed music, first the "simple melody" plays alone. Then comes the contrasting melody. Finally, the two play together.[ 1]
The lyrics of "Play a Simple Melody" also track the counterpoint duet in that one singer yearns for the music which mother sang (the style of a bygone generation), but the other singer disdains such classic fare as lacking interest and rhythm. When "Play a Simple Melody" was published, ragtime was in its heyday, led by its most consummate composer, Scott Joplin . In a famous 1916 recording of the song,[ 2] while Elsie Baker (using her stage name "Edna Brown") wants what she considers simplicity, Billy Murray explicitly asks for "rag". Also recorded by Walter Van Brunt & Mary Carson in 1915.[ 3]
A duet by Bing and Gary Crosby with Matty Matlock 's All Stars (listed on the label as "Gary Crosby and Friend with Matty Matlock's All Stars") was recorded on June 23, 1950[ 4] and became a hit recording in 1950 reaching the No. 2 position in the Billboard charts.[ 5] It was released by Decca Records as catalog number 27112 with the flip side "Sam's Song ."[ 6] Other charted versions in 1950 were by Jo Stafford (#18), Georgia Gibbs with Bob Crosby (#25) and Phil Harris (#30).[ 5]
"Play a Simple Melody" was then featured in the 1954 movie There's No Business Like Show Business , a movie starring Ethel Merman , Dan Dailey , Donald O'Connor , Johnnie Ray , Mitzi Gaynor , and Marilyn Monroe showcasing Irving Berlin songs from the whole of his career. In the movie, Merman and Dailey sang the song in a vaudeville sequence.
Horst Jankowski revived the song for a 1966 run on Billboard's "Easy Listening" chart.
In the 1960s, the song was the basis of a sketch on the Morecambe & Wise show featuring their writers Dick Hills and Sid Green ; it was later reprised on their 1976 Christmas Show with Elton John .[ 7] [ 8]
Jean Stapleton performed the song with Fozzie Bear on episode 306 of The Muppet Show , premiered on October 5, 1978.
References
External links
For links to a 1916 (public domain) recording of Billy Murray and Elsie Baker dueting on "Play a Simple Melody" go to the Internet Archive of Murray & Baker's "Simple Melody" duet.
Albums
Music of Hawaii (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
Cowboy Songs (Bing Crosby's first solo album) (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
Ballad for Americans (Bing Crosby's first solo studio album)(1940)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
Christmas Music (1940)
Star Dust (1940)
Hawaii Calls (1941)
Small Fry (1941)
Crosbyana (1941)
Under Western Skies (1941)
Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire ) (1942)
Merry Christmas (1945)
Selections from Going My Way (1945)
Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
Don't Fence Me In (w/ The Andrews Sisters ) (1946)
The Happy Prince (1946)
Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
Bing Crosby – Stephen Foster (1946)
What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin ) (1946)
Bing Crosby – Jerome Kern (1946)
St. Patrick's Day (1947)
Bing Crosby – Victor Herbert (1947)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
Our Common Heritage (1947)
El Bingo (1947)
The Small One (1947)
The Man Without a Country (1947)
Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
Blue of the Night (1948)
Selections from Showboat (1948)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
St. Valentine's Day (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from Broadway Shows (1948)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
Auld Lang Syne (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin (1949)
South Pacific (1949)
Christmas Greetings (1949)
Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1950)
Songs from Mr. Music (w/ Dorothy Kirsten and The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Go West Young Man (w/ The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Collectors' Classics, Vols. 1–8 (1951)
Way Back Home (1951)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from... (1951)
Bing and the Dixieland Bands (1951)
Yours Is My Heart Alone (1951)
Country Style (1951)
Beloved Hymns (1951)
Bing and Connee (w/ Connee Boswell ) (1952)
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1952)
Themes and Songs from The Quiet Man (w/ Victor Young ) (1952)
Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (w/ Jane Wyman and The Andrews Sisters ) (1952)
Road to Bali (w/ Bob Hope and Peggy Lee ) (1952)
Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
Bing Sings the Hits (1954)
Selections from White Christmas (w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye ) (1954)
Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost (1955)
Merry Christmas (later version of 1945 78rpm album) (1955)
Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1956)
Home on the Range (1956)
Blue Hawaii (1956)
High Tor (w/ Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane ) (1956)
A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World (1956)
Anything Goes (w/ Donald O'Connor , Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire ) (1956)
High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra , Grace Kelly , and Louis Armstrong ) (1956)
Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
Bing with a Beat (1957)
A Christmas Story (1957)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
New Tricks (1957)
The Bible Story of Christmas (1957)
Never Be Afraid (1958)
Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1958)
Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1958)
Around the World with Bing! (1958)
Bing in Paris (1958)
That Christmas Feeling (1958)
In a Little Spanish Town (1958)
Bing’s Buddies and Beaus (1959)
Say One for Me (w/ Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner ) (1959)
How the West Was Won (w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1960)
Join Bing and Sing Along (1960)
Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong ) (1960)
Songs of Christmas (1960)
101 Gang Songs (1961)
El Señor Bing (1961)
My Golden Favorites (1961)
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
Bing's Hollywood (set of 15 albums) (1962)
On the Happy Side (1962)
I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
Holiday in Europe (1962)
Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring ) (1964)
Robin and the 7 Hoods (w/ Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin , and Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1964)
12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring ) (1964)
Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1965)
That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1965)
The Summit (w/ Dean Martin , Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1966)
Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1966)
Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boychoir Sing Family Christmas Favorites (w/ The Columbus Boychoir ) (1967)
Thoroughly Modern Bing (1968)
Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love (1968 version) (1968)
Hey Jude/Hey Bing! (1969)
Goldilocks (1970)
A Time to Be Jolly (1971)
Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie ) (1972)
Rhythm on the Range (1972)
I’ll Sing You a Song of the Islands (1972)
A Southern Memoir (1975)
That's What Life Is All About (1975)
A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire ) (1975)
Tom Sawyer (1976)
At My Time of Life (1976)
Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium (1976)
Feels Good, Feels Right (1976)
Beautiful Memories (1977)
Bingo Viejo (1977)
Seasons (Bing Crosby's last studio album released during his lifetime) (1977)
A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
On the Sentimental Side (posthumous edition, recorded in 1962; Bing Crosby's latest studio album) (2010)
Family Related
Songs
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"Alexander's Ragtime Band "
"Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye "
"Any Little Girl, That's a Nice Little Girl, Is the Right Little Girl for Me "
"At the Moving Picture Ball "
"Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee "
"Because I'm Married Now "
"Blue Feather "
"Bon Bon Buddy "
"Charley, My Boy "
"Cheyenne "
"Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley! "
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"Come Josephine in My Flying Machine "
"Cordelia Malone "
"Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine "
"Daddy, Come Home "
"Dear Sing Sing "
"Dixie "
"Don't Bring Lulu "
"Everybody Works but Father "
"Forty-five Minutes from Broadway "
"Gasoline Gus "
"Give My Regards to Broadway "
"Harrigan "
"He'd Have to Get Under – Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile) "
"He Goes to Church on Sunday "
"He May Be Old, But He's Got Young Ideas "
"Hello, Hawaii, How Are You? "
"I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark "
"In My Merry Oldsmobile "
"In the Good Old Summer Time "
"In the Land of the Buffalo "
"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree "
"It's a Long Way to Tipperary "
"It's the Same Old Shillelagh "
"It Takes the Irish to Beat the Dutch "
"I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River "
"I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now "
"I've Got Rings On My Fingers "
"I Want to Go Back to Michigan "
"I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now "
"K-K-K-Katy "
"Moonlight Bay "
"Oh! By Jingo "
"Oh, You Beautiful Doll "
"On the 5:15 "
"On the Old Fall River Line "
"Over There "
"Play a Simple Melody
"Pretty Baby "
"Pride of the Prairie "
"School Days "
"Shine On, Harvest Moon "
"Some Sunday Morning "
"Tipperary "
"Under the Anheuser Bush "
"The Worst Is Yet to Come "
"The Yankee Doodle Boy "
"You'd Be Surprised "
"You're a Grand Old Flag "