I’m not a musician, but I love music. I played the tuba in the band in high school and college, so I have a bit of musical knowledge, but no real expertise. I decided that I wanted to know more about popular music in America, so I am going to listen to all the Billboard Top 100 songs from the beginning until now. I’ll try to do one year every two weeks, so it will take me about three years to get from 1941 to 2023. That’s 83 years of top 100s, so around 8300 songs! It will be less than 8300 because many of the early years do not list 100 songs, alas.

I’m going to just listen to the song with no research ahead of time and write my reactions in stream of consciousness. Don’t judge me too harshly: these are my honest reactions and are not a judgement of the objective quality of the song. If you disagree, let me know in the comments. Better yet, listen to all of the songs and write your reactions on your own blog!

One of the first things I learned was that the earliest listed Billboard Top 100, for 1940, isn’t listing songs just from that year. The 1940 listing has songs released from later in the 1940s, so it appears to be a decadal award list. The other years all seem to actually be limited to that year, so this is only the case for the 1940 Top 100. Although I started on 1940, I realized I would likely revisit many of these songs as I went through the individual years, so I’m going to skip that one.

As I go through the songs each year, I will note the race and gender of the artists, so I can track how representation changes over the years. You might expect 50% of songs to be sung by women if they were a random sample of the population. Based on the racial mix of the USA in the 1940s, you would expect about ten of the top 100 songs to be by a Black artist or artists and maybe one by another non-White racial group. Similarly, you would expect one or two songs by Latinx artists.

I’m going to go through the songs in reverse order, because a quick perusal of the lists suggests that the top songs tend to be familiar and the lower songs are deeper cuts that will bring something new. This way we’ll count down to the big hits each year.

After my debacle with the 1940 list, I was relieved to see that these songs really are from 1941, so with this batch of (only 80!) songs, we’ll get a flavor of that year. Because only 80 songs are listed, the expected number for black artists is about eight, and still about one for another non-White racial group and one by Latinx artists.

I’ll put my summary of observations here, so you don’t have to read all of the song reflections.

• The intros on vocal songs are often very long, up to a third of the whole length of the track. That’s not at all typical of songs today.
• There is a clear transition here between earlier crooning, slower music, and the “solid four” beat that the Andrews Sisters sing about in their #73 hit.
• Many of these songs already reflect the War in Europe, such as #77 “The Last Time I Saw Paris” and #32 “When That Man is Dead & Gone”. Several songs also refer to the American military experience, like #76 “(Lights Out) Til Reveille”.
• There are several examples of songs that charted with multiple different artists, which I think is rare now. One inscrutable example is “The Hut Sut Song” which charted at 65 and 52.
• There are a lot of Latinx artists here: nine of 80. I’m not complaining: I like their tunes, but they are interestingly over-represented. The binomial probability of 9 out of 80, given an expected of one percent is extremely small: this is not the result of random sampling error.
• The black artists are underrepresented, with only six of eighty songs. The binomial probability of this result is only about 0.3, so that’s not significantly underrepresented: you would expect that number as a result of random sampling error about one time in three. There are some racist lyrics in some of the songs, and please read the note I wrote about the #1 song, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”.
• Between five and seven women were credited in these 80 songs (depending on #80 and #69). There were women singing on many of the tracks, but going by the person’s name who is attached to the record, it’s only five (or six or seven?). I don’t need to do the binomial probability there: women were significantly underrepresented on this chart. Also, only one of the six black artists was a woman.

Here are my thoughts of the Top 100 (really 80) songs of 1941:

1. Anjos do Inferno “Voce Ja Foi a Bahia?” – This is a Brazilian song, and it has a clear Brazilian sound. It seems to be in Portugese, so I can only guess at the lyrics with my basic Spanish. It’s catchy, though, and I would listen to it again. It definitely has a Bossa Nova sound that I associate with songs like “Girl from Ipanema”. After writing about how we would expect one Latinx song if we had a random sample of Americans, here it is at number 80. I hope the other songs are this good. I can’t find anything about the original recording online, but the version I found was sung by a woman, and we can credit it as Latinx.
2. Guy Lombardo “Intermezzo (Souvenir De Vienne)” – This song seems to be an instrumental. It opens with a clarinet backed with a typical 1930’s sound; very wah-wah with trumpets and woodwinds. Part of the sound is because of the quality of recording equipment at the time, which can give a tinny sound to these kinds of compositions. Overall it’s OK, but not catchy; it could serve as good ambient background to a city walking scene in a period movie. White male artist.
3. Tommy Tucker “I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire” – I can’t find the Tommy Tucker version on Spotify, so I’ll listen to the Ink Spots version. Skip down to #13 to read my review. White male artist.
4. Tony Martin “The Last Time I Saw Paris” – A crooner song with full orchestra behind it, where the singer characterizes Paris as a woman who has disappeared. He’s sad because when he saw her last she was alive and gay, but she’s gone now (occupied by Nazis). While historically significant, this song isn’t catchy to my modern ear and I won’t be giving it a heart. White male artist.
5. Kay Kyser “(Lights Out) Til Reveille” – Begins with a singer yodeling over a bugle playing Reveille. Now more 1930s wah-wah trumpets playing the melody. It seems to be primarily an instrumental, and while it has a Big Band sound, it’s not catchy or memorable. Now we have a spoken word verse introducing the sung verse. From taps to reveille, he dreams of you. So it’s a soldier who cannot see his sweetheart at night because he’s living on base. It seems to invoke the peacetime military ramp up that the USA was experiencing as WWII was underway in Europe but not yet in America. White male artist.
6. Pedro Vargas “Besame Mucho” – Opens with applause and woodwinds setting up a backup track. It’s another Latinx song, in Spanish this time. It has a Latin feel, mixed with a crooner sound and what sounds like a pretty full orchestra backing the singer. Pedro Vargas was a Mexican singer and actor who had an accomplished career, and I’m surprised to only be learning about him now. I guess this Top-100 march is a success! So much learning! Latino male artist.
7. Harry James “You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It)” – Starts with wah-wah trumpet setting up the theme for the song. This seems to be an instrumental, which makes sense once I learn that Harry James is a famous trumpet-playing band leader. Overall, this has a good Big Band sound, but it’s slow and I like faster tunes. White male artist.
8. The Andrews Sisters “Bounce Me Brother” – This sounds very archetypically 1940s, with a fast-running choo-choo rhythm and the harmonizing of The Andrews Sisters. The song itself is about the new style of music with “a solid four” beat, so there’s a bit of meta here. I’ll heart this one: I would happily listen to it again. “The boogie-woogie was never like this, we got a new beat that no one can miss!” White female artists.
9. Tommy Dorsey “Do I Worry?” – Starts out with wah-wah muted trombone, backed with wah-wah non-muted trumpets. Maybe it’s Dorsey himself playing the trombone? Adds some “doo-doo” harmony. He’s singing about whether he worries that you’re stepping out and kissing other guys… Does he lose any sleep over you? “You can bet your life I do.” What is this song? He’s upset because his love has lost its spark: he’s staying home and you’re going out. Why doesn’t he just go out with his love?? There is no resolution in this song: it’s just a sad song about falling out of love. White male artist.
10. Glenn Miller “I Know Why” – I’m excited for the first Glenn Miller song to make it into my list. Big band opening, swelling to a crescendo. Musical theme established very quickly, with clarinets and trumpets doing the heavy lifting. It’s catchy, but a bit slow for my taste. I like fast-paced music. The singers don’t come in until almost halfway through the track. It’s a song about being lovestruck: “When you smile at me I hear Gypsy violins. When you dance with me, I’m in heaven when the music begins.” Basically, the singer sees only good things in life right now because she’s so in love. While the lead singer is a woman, only Glenn Miller is credited, so I’ll chalk this one up as a White male artist.
11. Jay McShann “Vine Street Blues” – Piano opens setting the musical theme, then transitions into a boogie-woogie rolling beat. It’s catchy. I like it and will give this one a heart. The piano seems to be backed up by a drum set playing the snare with a brush. It’s an instrumental. Black male artist.
12. Joel & Gaucho “Aurora” – Trumpets blast the introduction. It’s sounds pretty archetypally Mariachi to me. Another Latin song, sung in Spanish. It’s catchy and I like it. It gets a heart. I should listen to more Spanish-language music to improve my Spanish. I’m pleasantly surprised to see how many Latin songs are in the lineup. I can’t find any info on this artist, so I’ll credit them as Latinx male and female artists.
13. Xavier Cugat “Chica, Chica, Boom, Chic” – Piano starts out with rolling beat, then flute layers over top with maracas in the background and now trumpets. An interesting layered introduction. It has a good beat, but it hasn’t really established itself musically after a minute. The female singer comes in after over a minute of intro, singing about the way the “Chica, Chica, Boom, Chic” sound came from deep in the Amazon. I’ll give it a heart because of the urgency of the sound and the interesting layers. The credited bandleader, Xavier Cugat, is from Spain and developed his sound in Cuba, so I’ll credit this one as a Latino male artist.
14. Xavier Cugat “Green Eyes” – Another one by Xavier right away. Can’t complain. This one opens with harmonizing trumpets that then are backed up by swinging percussion and what sounds like a swanky sax or clarinet. Now we have muted trumpets taking up the musical theme. This song does a better job establishing itself than “Chica, Chica, Boom, Chic”. I’ll give it a heart, too. Now we have an electric organ coming in halfway through the run time, at the 1:30ish mark. It’s playing back and forth with a flute. At 2:00 we get a classical guitar taking up the theme. Then back to unmuted trumpets and I can tell we’re crescendoing to the conclusion. Latino male artist.
15. Kay Kyser “Alexander the Swoose (Half Swan, Half Goose)” – Here’s Kay Kyser’s second entry in the 1941 top chart. The male singer is doing call and response with a ?female voice playing the titular swoose. It’s backed up by a typical big band sound with a “solid four” sound. It’s a bit of a novelty song, but it’s catchy, so I’m going to heart it. It seems to be telling the story of how Alexander’s father was a vagabond swan who loved it up with his mother, a good goose. Could there be some racial undertones to this song? Perhaps. Poor Alexander doesn’t fit in anywhere. White Male artist.
16. Horace Heidt “The Hut Sut Song (A Swedish Serenade)” – OK, this title really has me curious. Lots of “Do-doot” in the introduction. Solid four big band backup. It’s a story song, telling the story of a Sweedish boy who was skipping school. He seems to be singing a song in Swedish to pass his time goofing off. The English lyrics then go on to translate the Swedish song, I think. I’m giving it a heart because I love this solid four big-band sound. I admit I’m a sucker for this kind of song, which is part of why I started this deep dive into the Billboard top 100. I dread when I get to the Disco era, but such is life. Horace Heidt is a White male artist who apparently switched to music after an accident in practice broke his back as a Cal Bear football player.
17. Ray Noble “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” – This is a straight up crooner song. It’s slow, with sugary vocals. It sounds like it may be a hangover from the 1930s. It’s funny because I’ve always hear crooners made fun of with rhymes about “the moon in June” and that’s this song, apparently. After 1:00, it switches to a more up-beat tempo that sounds more current for 1941. It doesn’t save it for me, though, so no heart. Now it’s gone into a long clarinet solo, followed by a big unison trumpet section with a drumroll in the background. OK, it’s become enough solid four that I’ll give it a heart after all. White male artist.
18. Harry James “By the Sleepy Lagoon” – Big unison opening swelling to a wah-wah trumpet introducing the musical theme. I think this is going to be an instrumental. It’s good, but slow, and while I would normally not heart a slow song, this one is musically interesting enough to listen to again. I can’t describe it better than saying it sounds like I expect 1941 to sound. I’m starting to get an idea of the Harry James sound: slow instrumentals with a lot of him on the trumpet. White male artist.
19. Jimmy Dorsey “Jim” – This song is hard to find, because it’s by Jimmy Dorsey (I’m sure you’ve heard of Jimmy Dorsey, right?) who did a lot of music, and its title is the short version of his name, so all the search engines are trying to help me out here and they’re actually not helping at all. YouTube to the rescue. It sounds pretty archetypally crooner, with the female vocalist asking why her life is so hard and the male singer telling her that it’s because Jim is a bad partner, not showing her any affection. All sung above a big band sound with wah-wah trumpets and clarinets weaving together. Jim sounds like a jerk. She should DTMFA. Do we really need to sing about it for three minutes? I think this is a whole category of popular music, isn’t it? People who stick in bad relationships. So sad. No heart from me: I dump this song. White male artist
20. Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra “Two in Love” – Wah-wah clarinets open this one. It sets the musical theme in the first 15 seconds. I’m getting a feeling that many of these songs take the first minute for instrumentals to set the theme, and that is the case again here. We don’t get Ol’ Blue Eyes until 1:20 in a 2:58 song. It sounds like the world can end and they won’t care because two in love can do anything. No love from me for this formulaic big band-crooner song. It’s just not my cup of tea. I’m surprised Sinatra gets so little of the time. White male artists.
21. Glenn Miller “Adios” – Oooh, more Glenn Miller! This one starts out slow with muted trumpets and a muted percussion section. Then translates into clarinets keeping the theme in harmony. It’s too slow for my taste, but it’s still musically interesting. It’s done more in one minute than the last song did in its full three (but that’s Glenn Miller for you). This one’s all an instrumental. It’s continuing with good musicality, but again, it’s too slow to get me excited. White male artist.
22. Dorival Caymmi “O Mar” – Classical guitar to open, very nice. Another Latin song, sung in Portugese. Beautiful full vocals layered over the guitar. He’s singing about how beautiful the sea is, I think. I know un poco de español, but I get lost when it’s Portugese. It’s beautiful, though. I’ll give it a heart despite it’s slow pace. Latino male artist.
23. Washboard Sam “She Belongs to The Devil” – Twangy guitar to open; this sounds so bluesy. It’s refreshing in the face of all of this big-band sound. It gets a heart because I love me some blues. As the title suggests, he seems to be able to sing the blues because of the bad things that his woman done to him. I’m sad to say, this is how I learned of Washboard Sam, but he’s going into my Spotify rotation. Black male artist.
24. Gene Krupa “Let me off uptown” – Starts with a typical big band intro with clarinets and trumpets in unison. Looks like we get several Gene Krupa songs as we move up the charts. It’s good from a big-band perspective. It has a call-and-response between male and female vocalists, with the lady telling him how great it is uptown. This song gets a heart. Interestingly, Krupa seems to be responsible for the development of the modern drum set. White male artist.
25. Tommy Dorsey “Let’s Get Away From It All” – Frank Sinatra seems to be featured on this track as well. It starts, again, with a typical unison big-band intro, followed by call-and-response by clarinet and unison trumpets. It’s up-tempo and has a bouncy sound, so I’ll give it a heart. It sounds like the singers are tired of the rat race and want to go on vacation, perhaps forever. “I’ll repeat that I love you sweet in all the forty-eight”. (Remember there were only 48 states in 1941) Wow! This song’s almost five minutes long! White male artist.
26. Bing Crosby “Shepherd’s Serenade” – Start’s with Bing whistling; it’s clear the whistling will be a feature. It’s not on Spotify: I had to go to YouTube. It’s typical Bing, very croon-y. I’m not excited. He seems to be singing about a shepherd singing a catchy song, which is the musical theme to the piece. It’s trying to be meta, but it leaves me blah. White male artist.
27. Gene Krupa “It All Comes Back To Me Now” – Again, YouTube to the rescue. This isn’t very exciting; it’s a crooner bemoaning his sad condition, which at first he can’t explain but it all comes back to him (he’s in love). White male artist.
28. Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra “Oh Look At Me Now” – Big band opening with solid four percussion under a unison. Gets into Frank at the beginning: he never knew much before but look at him now. He seems to be a suave lover now, as explained in a call-and-response with a female vocalist. OK, it’s got enough pep and musicality that I can give it a heart. White male artist.
29. Freddy Martin “The Hut Sut Song (A Swedish Serenade)” – People in 1941 really liked this “Hut Sut Song” enough to chart two versions, apparently. I don’t think that happens too often now. This one starts out very similarly, except that it’s singing about several boys instead of one boy skipping school. I really think the Horace Heidt version is better, but this version charted higher. There’s no accounting for taste (I think that may become a refrain for this crawl through the charts). This one has a bridge that tries to sound Scandinavian, I think. White male artist.
30. Horace Heidt “G’bye Now” – Slow piano to open. Vocalist and clarinets. He’s singing his goodbye as he leaves a party. This song seems to be thematically about the moment when two lovers part after a fun time together. It’s not enough to get me to give it a heart. The bridge is harmony clarinets with the trumpets. White male artist.
31. Wayne King “Maria Elena” – Snappy musical theme intro abruptly changes to slow waltz. It seems to be a big band waltz. Now there’s a classical guitar solo. Or is that a banjo? The recording quality is lower than some of these 1941 tracks on Spotify. It seems to be an instrumental. Honestly, it’s too slow and flowery for my taste. I see that Wayne King was also known as the Waltz King. White male artist.
32. Jimmy Dorsey “Yours” – This sounds very typical of a big-band-crooner song. He’s pledging this song to you, dear, I think. He seems to have been born only to be yours, dear. Now we have the bridge to the saxophone solo, which is kinda obligatory on a Jimmy Dorsey song. Now we have a female vocalist singing in Spanish. That was an unexpected turn. Of course, with the Spanish lyrics come a Latin beat. White male artist.
33. Gene Krupa “High On A Windy Hill” – Gene Krupa’s third song on this top 80. Good job, Gene. Again, this version isn’t on Spotify, so YouTube to the rescue. It’s another crooner song. He’s standing on a high, windy hill, where he can hear you calling his name. Lots of wah-wah clarinets and muted trumpets to back him up. The mixing isn’t great: the backing instruments are covering up the vocalist in the dramatic swell in the middle of the tune. Now we have a clarinet harmony break, followed by some oboe, I think? It’s building to a big crescendo that doesn’t seem to fit with the smooth, understated crooning vocals. White male artist.
34. Big Maceo Merriweather “Worried Life Blues” – Bluesy piano backed up by twangy guitar. Nice, gravelly blues vocals. I like this tune already: you, like me, may have heard one of the many covers. I really like this track, and it may be my favorite of the batch I’m listening to today. Definitely gets a heart. Black male artist.
35. Tommy Dorsey “Yes Indeed” – Looks like four Tommy Dorsey tunes so far in the 1941 list. Starts out with Tommy on the trombone, backed by a bass and drums, setting up the theme. Then tranisitions into big-band loud harmony playing with the theme. This tune has a classic 1940s feel to it. It’s a walking pace, so not as fast as I like music, but OK. Now, at the 1:40 mark, we have a chorus singing “Yes indeed!” and then transition to a call-and-answer between a male and female vocalist. They seem to be singing about being moved by the spirit of the jive to holler “Yes indeed!” Now we’re closing it out with trumpets leading the way. OK, but no heart from me. White male artist.
36. Carlos Galhardo “Ala Li La” – Big band sound introduces us and then leads to Spanish-language lyrics sung by a chorus. They lead up to a crooner-sounding lead singer, all over a very bouncy big-band sound. I like it, but it’s not on Spotify. If it were on spotify, I would give it a heart. Latino male artist.
37. Joe Loss Orchestra “‘V’ Stands For Victory” – Starts with a drumroll. Sounds very military. Then into trumpets sounding like bugles, and on to a big band playing in big harmony setting up the musical theme. Now a chorus singing with the title as the refrain. It’s pretty square, and while I can’t disagree with the sentiment, it sounds a bit jingoistic to my modern ears. It’s interesting that it’s charting in 1941, because we didn’t go to war until basically after the 1941 charts would have closed in December. White male artist.
38. Jimmy Dorsey “High On A Windy Hill” – Oh, interesting: will Jimmy do a better cover of this song than Gene? I have to hope so: the bar isn’t very high in my estimation. Again, YouTube to the rescue. This cover starts as inauspiciously as the other one. The production on this version is better than the Krupa version. These 1941 songs like to have an instrumental introduction that goes over one minute and takes up a full third of the song’s run time. Fascinating. OK, I just don’t like “High on a Windy Hill”. I hope there aren’t any more covers of it in my future. White male artist.
39. Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra “This Love of Mine” – Starts with a xylophone, I think. Then ol’ Blue Eyes gets to crooning, so we’re not wasting him this time. He’s singing about how his love is on his mind but out of sight. He has to make it through lonesome days and nights. Crooning over a muted oom-pah back up band with muted trumpets playing a counter-melody. OK, this kind of song isn’t my favorite, so I’ll stick it out but it won’t get a heart. I think we have a clarinet-section musical break, backed up by the xylophone (maybe a glockenspiel?).
40. Wayne King “You Are My Sunshine” – I know this song well, but this is the first time I’ve heard the Wayne King cover. It starts with whiny violins, then transitions into the rest of the band. The recording quality is very poor, with no bass and very reedy/tinny sound from the instruments. At one minute, we have a twangy guitar come in, and then finally, after 1:20 we get the vocalists. I’m not sold on this cover; it lacks energy and I just want it to be over. White male artist.
41. Artie Shaw “Summit Ridge Drive” – Starts with unison guitar and band. Wait, that’s a harpsichord. Now we have harpsichord playing with wailing saxophone backed by upright bass. Interesting. OK, I’ll heart this one because of the rapid beat and the novelty of the harpsichord. Now a muted trumpet has taken up the lead. This is a pretty jazzy number. Now a clarinet is leading, still with the harpsichord and the upright base in the background. It’s an instrumental. White male artist
42. Artie Shaw “Dancing in the Dark” – Another by renowned clarinetist Shaw. This one starts out with suspenseful strings and segues into smoothly gliding strings backing muted trumpets and woodwinds. Now Artie has come in solo on the clarinet, and it’s very good. This song has solid musicality and I will gladly listen to it again. It gets a heart. White male artist.
43. Bing Crosby “Dolores” – Starts with spoken word introduction: he’s glad this song is coming back into style so he can record it again. It seems to be a crooner singing that he only has eyes for Dolores. The name has big open vowels, so it lends itself to the mooooon in juuuuune kind of singing that marks this genre. I’m not a big fan of crooning, so no heart from me. White male artist
44. Charlie Barnet “I Hear A Rhapsody” – Starts out with a big Big-band opening, then into wah-wah clarinets. It’s clearly a crooner song, so it’s leaving me behind. Apparently when his love calls him, he doesn’t hear a call at all: he hears a rhapsody. It goes on like this for some time. He seems to be sad when his love’s away. White male artist.
45. The Andrews Sisters “I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time” – Opens with piano and wah-wah trombones. The Andrews Sisters begin singing with the title of the song… It sounds like a crooner song, but sung by these female vocalists. It’s pretty slow, with an oom-pah beat, and the lyrics aren’t really creative and it’s not keeping my interest. No heart for this one. White female artists.
46. Glenn Miller “I Dreamt I Dwelt In Harlem” – Opens like a Glenn Miller piece should, with good musicality and a strong theme. This has a solid four beat, which I’ve come to discover is my preferred genre of 1940’s music. I’ll give it a heart. White male artist.
47. Glenn Miller “Anvil Chorus” – Is this the famous Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s opera Aida? It’s a solid four, opens with a drum solo and unison horns. Now the bass and the rest of the band comes in. It is the Anvil Chorus! Neat-o! I’ll give this one a heart, because I already love Verdi, and I love Glenn Miller when he’s conducting a solid four tune. It’s a long track: almost five minutes. White male artist.
48. Ernest Tubb “Walking the Floor Over You” – This is a country music song, starting with twangy guitar and leading into Ernest Tubb’s twangy voice. It’s not exciting to me, but the guitar playing does sound a bit rock-and-roll. White male artist.
49. Al Bowlly “When That Man is Dead & Gone” – Brisk, zither-y intro, leads to light lyrics. It is clear that “the man” they want dead & gone is Hitler. “Satan dressed as a man.” “What a heaven it will be when that man is dead & gone.” Ok, I can get behind this song. Any bouncy, happy songs about the death of Hitler get a heart from me. (Of course, the Alw Bowlly version isn’t on Spotify, so I’ll have to heart the Glenn Miller version). White male artist.
50. George Formby “Bless ’em All (The Service Song)” – Unison horns and clarinets to open, directly into British-accented lyrics. It’s very sing-song. “Bless the long and the short and the tall…” It’s about the servicemen who are going off to war overseas and how tough the job is. I’ll heart it because of the musicality, good motion of the music and the sentiment. White male artist.
51. Francisco Alves “Canta Brasil” – Bass solo to open! Strings layer over the top, then flutes. What is it building to? After 1:30 it breaks into a Rhumba beat and carries that through to the end. This is a 5 minute track, so you’re in for a long listen. Latino male artist.
52. Judy Garland “It’s a Great Day for the Irish” – Oh, my. With this title, I can’t be sure this song won’t be offensive nowadays. I’ll give Judy the benefit of the doubt. It starts quickly, and Judy makes it a bright, happy song with her voice. It’s clear the song is about how great St. Patrick’s Day is, and, on the whole, I don’t think anyone could be upset about it. The song has a big-band sound, but with an Irish lilt added on top of it. I’ll heart it.
53. The Tic-Toc Rhythm Orchestra “Ferryboat Serenade” – I love the name of this band. Let’s see how good they are. The song begins with ambient ferryboat sounds, then gets into a solid-four sound and a four-part harmony. The song is about how much fun it is to ride on the ferryboat. It’s not on Spotify, but it’s on YouTube, so there’s that. White Male artists.
54. The Jesters “It’s a Great Day for the Irish” – Another cover of a song that has already charted. I really think the world of popular music was different in 1941. This is especially interesting because this song was written as a vehicle for Judy Garland, but The Jesters seem to have charted higher. Because it’s the future and this is from the deep past, I cannot be sure that this isn’t just the band that backed Judy Garland and something was garbled in the chart list I got. There is not much info on the Jesters online, so I’m going to leave this one a mystery.
55. Dick Robertson “Ferryboat Serenade” – Another duplicate charter, and another song not on Spotify. It’s on YouTube, though. It’s very similar to the previous one, but the singing track is clearly layered over the instrumental, so it’s easier to understand. White male artist.
56. Vera Lynn “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” – Begins with a flute making a birdsong-like riff, then Vera comes in singing a strong line. She seems to be remembering a particular night. It’s a slow, ballady tune, so not to my taste. She’s pronouncing Berkeley the British way, “Bar-clay”. It seems she is singing about a location in London, so that makes sense. I’m not sure I can sit through a four-minute love ballad. No, I can’t. (I did note that Vera lived for 103 years and only died in June, 2020!) White female artist.
57. Guy Lombardo “And the Band Played On” – A waltz! Yum-pum-pum. It’s nicely put together, but not noteworthy. The vocalist starts after 40 seconds of intro. It’s catchy enough that I’ll heart it. White male artist.
58. Jimmy Dorsey “I Hear A Rhapsody” – Crooning from just about the outset. When she calls him, he doesn’t hear a call: he hears a rhapsody. It’s not notably different from the Charlie Barnet version. White male artist.
59. Xavier Cugat “Perfidia (Tonight)” – Strings, sad strings to open. Then some Latin drums and whiny trumpet. It has a Latin beat and I like it. Now we have a mellophone? It doesn’t get to it’s main musical theme until 50 seconds into the 3 minute track. Long intros seem to be the style in 1941. It’s an instrumental. I like this one, and I’ll give it a heart. Latino male artist.
60. The Sons of the Pioneers “Cool Water” – Strings, distant trumpet, and a singer singing “Water” to start. Now we have a crooner/ Western vocalist, singing about how he misses water because he’s, I dunno, trapped in the desert? I don’t like it at all. It has all of the whiny, bump-a-dump sounds of the kinds of Western songs I don’t enjoy. I’m sure it’s for someone, but not me. No heart. Hmm: Wikipedia says The Sons of the Pioneers were one of the first “Western” groups. Go figure. White male artists.
61. Benny Goodman “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” – Immediately opens to a wall of Big Band, Solid Four sound, with Benny on the clarinet. I like it, and I’ve given it a heart before 30 seconds. The vocals don’t come in until 1:30 in a 2:45 track. This is really a piece for the clarinet and trumpet, with some vocals thrown in for variety. White male artist.
62. Glenn Miller “You & I” – I can only find a 2016 cover by the Glenn Miller Orchestra on YouTube. It’s a pretty typical slow big-band song, with lots of vibrato and muted trombones. Again, the vocalist comes in after a full minute on a 2:45 track. It’s a crooner song, so I’m pretty much done at 1:30. White male artist.
63. Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra “Dolores” – Let’s see how this compares to Bing Crosby’s version. It has a strong intro. We get Sinatra and his back up singers by 10 seconds in. It’s still very much a crooner’s song, no surprise. Again, I’m done before it’s halfway through. White male artists.
64. Harry James “You Made Me Love You” – Wah-wah trumpet opens with strings backing it. This goes on for some time. And it’s still going on. Now the strings have taken up the theme by themselves, but no vocals. It’s past a minute, so I suspect it’s an instrumental. It’s slow, like molasses, and I’m not getting very excited about it. No heart. White male artist.
65. Jimmy Dorsey “My Sister & I” – Another one not on Spotify, but YouTube to the rescue. Slow, musical intro. We have vocals only 20 seconds in. His sister and him remember still a tulip garden by an old Dutch mill… They don’t talk about what happened. Are they Dutch refugees? I think so, because they seem to have escaped on fishing boats. Wow, this song is about PTSD from getting bombed by the Germans. Remember, this charted at 16 in 1941, before the USA was at war. White male artist.
66. Glenn Miller “Song of the Volga Boatmen” – I played the Volga Boatmen song on the tuba as an etude in High School Band, so this takes me back. It’s not what you would expect to become the theme for a swing-y Big Band tune, but it works. Of course it works, it’s Glenn Miller. It starts small and builds to the whole band hitting the very simple Volga Boatmen theme. A big heart from me. White male artist.
67. Jimmy Dorsey “Blue Champagne” – Muted trumpets backed by a string bass open, leading to wah-wah clarinets, all on a slow running beat. I like it, but it’s about as slow as I like music. While my mind wanders in this slow song, I… Holy moly, the vocals come in after 1:30 in a 3 minute song! Anyway, I’ve read on Wikipedia that Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey were brothers. How about that. The vocals do not improve this song, but instead do the opposite, so no heart. White male artist.
68. The Ink Spots “I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire” – This is pretty good. It has a crooner sound, with a soloist backed by a piano and twangy guitar. He’s singing about how he doesn’t want to set the world on fire, he just wants you to love him. His ambition is gone because all he wants is you now. It’s a beautifully innocent love song. Now we have a spoken verse by a bass, who wants “…to start a great big flame down in your heart.” I’ll give this one a heart; I’d listen to it again. Black male artists.
69. Freddy Martin “Piano Concerto in B Flat” – This seems to be a straight performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in B Flat. That is, one of the top songs of 1941’s pop charts is a classical music instrumental piece. It definitely has a bit of big band/jazz fell to it, but the original Tchaikovsky is there, driving the piece. Fascinating. According to Wikipedia, the version that was a real hit had words added. White male artist.
70. Horace Heidt “I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire” – Three versions of this song seem to have charted in 1941, so it must be good, right? I have to admit that it’s caught me: I find myself singing this while cooking and cleaning now. The Horace Heidt version is not as good as the Ink Spots version, in my opinion, but it charted slightly higher in 1941. I can’t heart it because it’s not on Spotify: I found it on YouTube. White male artist.
71. Jimmy Dorsey “Maria Elena” – Starts with a piano run, then straight into crooning. This is nothing like the Wayne King version I listened to above. I’m not struck by it, though: it’s still pretty much typical crooning. White male artist.
72. Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” – Starts with harmonizing male vocalists, then into a flute solo carrying the motif. Now we get Billie, and the song starts to be worth something. What a great voice. I’m not sold on this particular song, but Billie Holiday is great. Black female artist.
73. Duke Ellington “Take The ‘A’ Train” – Starts out with a rollicking piano backed by a high-hat and a string bass. It’s clear this song is going somewhere, and I like that. We get some great layered themes from the saxophones and trumpets with the trombones and bass keeping time. I’m happy to give this song a heart. I’ll listen to it again. This is, surprisingly, the only Ellington tune in the 1941 chart. Black male artist.
74. Glenn Miller “Elmer’s Tune” – Trumpets backed by the bass set up the theme at the beginning, bringing in the sax and now the rest of the band. It’s a slow, walking-beat tune. It’s slower than I usually like, but it has that Glenn Miller magic, so I’m going to heart it. The vocalist doesn’t come in until a whole minute into this three minute song.
75. Jimmy Dorsey “Green Eyes” – Saxophone and horns to start, then shifts into wah-wah crooning. Not for me. It’s a sappy love song about his dream to be with his green eyed girl. Can I be excused if I don’t listen all the way through? Ooops. Almost missed its transition to a jazzy solid-four beat at 1:30. It’s like a totally different song now, with a female vocalist reflecting the crooning from the earlier section. Still no heart from me. White male artist.
76. Jimmy Dorsey “Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)” – Unison trumpets playing the theme to start, with a kind of tango beat. It pretty quickly devolves into crooning and I’ve lost interest. Wait. Again, it transitions to a solid four at about 2:00 of the 3:30 track. Also, we have a female vocalist reflecting the crooning in more Big-Band sound. I see a trend here. White male artist.
77. The Andrews Sisters “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” – Starts with a bugle solo, of course. Then quickly into a solid four beat with the Andrews Sisters harmonizing about the hip musician who got drafted and is now playing the bugle in Company B. It has some similar sounds and feel to the #1 song. I like this sound, so it gets a heart. White female artists.
78. Artie Shaw “Stardust” – Starts with a trumpet solo, into smooth horns and strings to back it up. While musically competent, it doesn’t really have anything to distinguish it, and I’m not giving it a heart. We get an extended Artie Shaw clarinet solo near the midpoint of the track, but it still isn’t getting me excited. I don’t see how this is the #3 track, but they didn’t ask me. White male artist.
79. Sammy Kaye “Daddy” – Starts with a chorus singing a “La-da-dat” then into a storytelling song about a gal named Daisy Mae. Ok, now we have a song-in-a-song, where Daisy is singing about how she wants her “Daddy” to buy her lots of expensive things. It reminds me of that Beatles song, “I Feel Fine” where I think they were also digging at the shallowness of such a relationship. This song is overall not good. White male artist.
80. Glenn Miller “Chattanooga Choo Choo” – The song starts with a solid-four beat that’s used to suggest the rhythm of travelling by train. It has a great balance of Big Band instruments and well-balanced vocals. I really like this song, and I have since I was young, growing up in Tennessee. I remember playing it for Tennessee fans in Chattanooga when we traveled through on band trips while I was in college. I like the song (like everything Glenn Miller did), and I’ll give it a heart. White male artist. I need to note that this song is racist in a way I didn’t realize until this year (2020). It’s at the core of the song, when they sing, “Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?” I never realized this growing up: I just assumed he was asking some teenager at the train station which train to take. No, he’s addressing one of the Pullman Porters, a Black man, as “boy,” which has long been used as a racial slight against Black men. I think this is an example of institutional racism and how it reverberates through the system, so that folks now sing this song and perpetuate the slight. I suggest singing “Pardon me, sir, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?”