Judy Garland

Judy Garland was in dozens of movies, made hundreds of recordings, was on every variety show on radio and TV. And she was Liza Minnlli’s mother. Her big years were before our period, which officially begins in 1955, but she recorded well into the 60s, and she did have one UK hit in 1955, though she is absent from Whitburn.

There was this box set at the WK Library, but the version of The Man That Got Away was a 1961 live recording, and that wouldn’t do, so I got a The Hits Of Judy Garland from the other library, and I fleshed this out with tracks from the Box Set, and that’s it.

---

Judy Garland:

• Over The Rainbow – This is what she sang of course in Wizard Of Oz. From 1939. The Demensions put this on the chart in the early 60s, and Harry Nilsson recorded for A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night, though it was available in the UK only for a long time.
• The Man That Got Away – a UK hit in the summer of ’55.
• The Trolley Song – She meets a guy on the streetcar. Cute. This is from 1944.
• Get Happy – This is from 1950. Kind of gospel.
• I’m Always Chasing Rainbows – From 1940. I guess Sammy Davis Jr. did this too.
• On The Atcheson, Topeka And The Santa Fe – A song about a train, very different from anything Johnny Cash ever did. This is from 1945
• Dear Mr. Gable / You Made Me Love You – This is cute, especially the spoken part in the middle. You Made Me Love You is a great old standard. Harry Nilsson did a great version.
• Put Your Arms Around Me Honey – It’s just about the time for makin’ love. From 1949.
• Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland – This is the flip of the last one.
• Who? – No relation to He. This is from 1946.
• Johnny One Note – I wonder if this is about someone real. Probably inspired Johnny One Time. From 1948.
• Fly Me To The Moon – Ah but this is a beautiful song. Bart Howard wrote it, and I don’t anything about Bart Howard, or what else he wrote. Tony Bennett did a nice version. It was written in 1954, so I guess this recording is later than that. It was a hit for Joe Harnell in 1963. Judy does it well.
• That’s Entertainment – Live.From 1961
• Smile – There’s that Charlie Chaplin song again. Nat King Cole did this.
• Alexander’s Ragtime Band – Best known by Bing Crosby, and Johnny Ray did it too.
• Chicago – The same one that Frank Sinatra put on the charts. I think she overdoes it a bit. Live
• Swanee – Another live track. Best known, of course, by Al Jolson.
• Come Rain Or Come Shine – Both this track and the last are from 1961.
• This Is The Time Of The Evening
• Last Night When We Were Young
• Little Girl Blue – Another great ballad. Janis Joplin covered it, but her version was quite different.
• Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart – This is another one that can’t lose. The Coasters did a wonderful version, with an arrangement that was copped by The Move, and then The Trammps.
• I Could Go On Singing (Till The Cows Come Home) – From 1962
• Old Devil Moon – I think Tony Bennett did this. From 1960.
• I’ve Confessed To The Breeze (I Love You) – from 1960.
• Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody – From the 1960 live album Judy In London. Jerry Lewis put this on the charts in 1956, and Aretha Franklin did it in 1962.
• The Party’s Over – The best version of this is by Julie London. I also have one by Lonnie Donegan. This is from 1962. Her voice gets a bit hoarse here, but appealingly so.
• Lucky Day – From 1960.
• Stormy Weather – compare Lou Rawls. Another live track from 1960.

- sound bite: Some Like It Hot - Theme from the movie with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon. A bit out of place here, as the movie was released in 1959. I took it from an album called Original Sound Tracks And Hit Music Form Great Motion Picture Themes, a title which doesn’t make much sense, but that’s what it’s called. It on United Artists and it was released in 1960.