The movies have served as a musical education to me. They have constantly broadened and expanded my musical taste and knowledge and continue to do so. From the cowboy music of The Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers to the classical music of Fantasia to the musical standards of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals to the rock and roll of Elvis Presley and concert movies like The Last Waltz (1978) to jazz legends like Miles Davis, Paul Whiteman and Louis Armstrong to crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, movies have helped introduce me to so much great music. These Movie Music Monday posts I hope will give you some of the same experience the movies have given me.
Today's song is Let's Face the Music and Dance. This song was written by the one and only Irving Berlin for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, Follow the Fleet (1936). This song is a highlight in a film that is extremely entertaining from beginning to end. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were not only incredible together, but they created an art completely separate from any other movie dance teams. They make such beauty and art look so effortless and yet we can't look away. What also has to be said that is so often overlooked is how perfect Fred Astaire's voice is for the songs he sings. Fred is often looked at as a dancer, but he could vocally deliver a song with the best of them.
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| Picture Play Magazine, 1933 |
The same year Ted Fio Rito and his orchestra recorded a hit version of this song.
In 1940 Nat King Cole recorded one of the most famous version of this song.
In 1958 the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song for her album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook.
Frank Sinatra recorded the song in 1961.
Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters watch and dance to the scene in Follow the Fleet where this song is performed in the movie, Pennies From Heaven (1981).
Though Willie Nelson is best known for country music, he has always shown a fondness for old musical standards like the ones Irving Berlin wrote. This song served as the title track for a 2013 Willie Nelson album.
Seth McFarland sang this song on the Soundtrack for the animated movie, Sing (2016).
-Michael J. Ruhland
The reason so many songs fit Fred's voice so well is partly because so many great songs were written specifically for Fred's voice! That's a tautology, but it's also true. Ginger could do everything Fred did, but backwards and in heels! I'm not related to Ginger or Fred Rogers. But, man! What a legacy!
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