First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success.
The song, with four beats to a bar, departed from the customary waltz-rhythms of European influence and fitted the new American passion for modern dances such as the fox-trot. Kern was also able to use elements of American styles, such as ragtime, as well as syncopation, in his lively dance tunes.[1] The song is also remarkable in its use of 'everyday' language in a love song. Theatre historian John Kenrick writes that, until this point, the majority of love songs had relied on flowery vocabulary to express romantic sentiments. The song put Kern in great demand on Broadway and established a pattern for musical comedy love songs that lasted through the 1960s.[2]
The timing of the song's arrival at the outbreak of World War I made it one of many songs adopted by soldiers – in this case as an ironic take on the allegedly "easy" life in the trenches. It is featured in this form (retitled "We'll Never Tell Them") at the end of Richard Attenborough's 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War.
^Bordman, Gerald (1 January 1985). "Jerome David Kern: Innovator/Traditionalist". The Musical Quarterly. LXXI (4): 468–473. doi:10.1093/mq/LXXI.4.468.
^Kenrick, John. "Jerome Kern: 'They Didn't Believe Me'", History of The Musical Stage, 1910-1919: Part I, The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film (2008)
^"A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
^Rick Anderson. "Steve Rochinski: A Bird in the Hand". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
December 18, 2023
they, didn, believe, song, with, music, jerome, kern, lyrics, herbert, reynolds, sheet, music, songfirst, introduced, 1914, musical, girl, from, utah, five, numbers, added, show, kern, reynolds, broadway, debut, knickerbocker, theatre, august, 1914, show, orig. They Didn t Believe Me is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds Sheet music for the songFirst introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14 1914 The show had originated in Britain but impresario Charles Frohman had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U S run It became Kern s first major song success The song with four beats to a bar departed from the customary waltz rhythms of European influence and fitted the new American passion for modern dances such as the fox trot Kern was also able to use elements of American styles such as ragtime as well as syncopation in his lively dance tunes 1 The song is also remarkable in its use of everyday language in a love song Theatre historian John Kenrick writes that until this point the majority of love songs had relied on flowery vocabulary to express romantic sentiments The song put Kern in great demand on Broadway and established a pattern for musical comedy love songs that lasted through the 1960s 2 They Didn t Believe Me became a standard featured in the 1949 MGM musical That Midnight Kiss as a duet by Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson It had been used in the movies as early as 1930 sung by Corinne Griffith in Back Pay Artists who have recorded it include Frank Sinatra Bing Crosby 3 George Sanders Dinah Washington Jeanette MacDonald Johnny Mercer Charlie Parker Elvis Costello Stan Kenton Bill Frisell Peter Stampfel Bud Powell Edward Woodward Harry Belafonte Leontyne Price and Marian McPartland The timing of the song s arrival at the outbreak of World War I made it one of many songs adopted by soldiers in this case as an ironic take on the allegedly easy life in the trenches It is featured in this form retitled We ll Never Tell Them at the end of Richard Attenborough s 1969 film Oh What a Lovely War Notable recordings editGeorge Grossmith Jr amp Haidee De Rance 8 June 1915 HMV 04129 Jack Morrison August 1915 Columbia 2593 Sam Ash February 1916 Little Wonder 321 Grace Kerns amp Reed Miller 18 March 1916 Columbia A 1982 Kathryn Grayson 16 December 1947 MGM 30210 Recorded shortly before the 1948 recording ban and not released until 1949 Mario Lanza 23 August 1949 Steve Rochinski A Bird in the Hand 1999 4 References edit Bordman Gerald 1 January 1985 Jerome David Kern Innovator Traditionalist The Musical Quarterly LXXI 4 468 473 doi 10 1093 mq LXXI 4 468 Kenrick John Jerome Kern They Didn t Believe Me History of The Musical Stage 1910 1919 Part I The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre TV and Film 2008 A Bing Crosby Discography BING magazine International Club Crosby Retrieved October 10 2017 Rick Anderson Steve Rochinski A Bird in the Hand AllMusic Retrieved 24 June 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title They Didn 27t Believe Me amp oldid 1152500397, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
