I’m an aging widower of 87, had the pleasure of hearing Benny Goodman in live concert back in the 1950s. Wish the big band era were still with us today.
Like you I grew up with this melody. My grown-ups listened to this music all the time. But it’s just a memory. Those times will never come back, that way of life will never be part of us, the simple heart inside each of us back then now transformed into a piece of metal. I long for the gone-by era, the times when we knew the value of the constitution and all else which represented our way of life. I’m sorry it’s gone, as I will too one day. I hope remembering this music helps you cope.
Try this Catalonian (youth) big band: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N8R6nLqujKw.html or this : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3xmkhPNOfC8.html
I envy my elders who had the opportunity to see these bands in concert. Nearly all of these great band leaders have passed on by now, but in a way the big band era is still with us today with these recordings. If it were not so I, at a relatively young 44, would not be so in love with this music. On a rare occasion I will revisit the music of my youth, but I always go right back to the music of the 30's and 40's.
I can picture my late parents dancing to this. Dad looking smart in his dark blue suit, white shirt, dark blue tie and dancing pumps. Mum in a lovely cream silk blouse, black pleated skirt. Black stocking and black dancing shoes. Both are young, healthy and happy. Life is good for them!
This is one of my favorite still photo videos & recordings. I was born in 1948 and am now 75 but my father raised me on just about all of the big bands and helped cultivate , encourage & manage my interests in music. I have played the Tenner Sax for the last 60 years & the Alto Sax 3 years before that. In addition I performed in numerous bands & fronted my own group. To me this recording showed the beauty of a young Helen Forest with a lovely voice to match her beauty along with the great sound of the celebrated sound of Benny Goodman. I have often wished that I wasn't so young and could have played in one Big Band Great Orchestras. Thank you for letting me see this again.
In the 1930s & 40s, there was a ballroom in my town that featured name big bands every Saturday night. People would come from all around, miles away. My mom and dad went dancing EVERY Saturday night until their death. Mom continued on after my father passed away. I loved the music, and still do. It reminds me of them.
The perfect sounds of a better world. I remember as a schoolboy playing the big bands on my uncle's 78 rpm wind up gramophone. I'm almost 82 and still enjoy some of the greatest sounds ever! Lifts the soul. Great times, great memories. Cheers
Helen has the type of voice from the 1940s that makes singing sound so easy and understandable without the yelling or high pitched shrieks heard nowadays. What a perfect recording from the big band era. 👍🥳😜
The music was plaid in a different tone as well. Then some "music experts" changed the tone frequency for instruments, and ever since the orchestra music (and every other music) is playing in a higher frequency, and THAT IS WHY today the singers also sing on a "high-pitch voice". I found that people got so used to this "changed system" that they not only sing, but also speak in a high-pitched voice! It's really annoying. Women had beautiful voice way back than. They talked on a much lover voice, they did sing on a lower voice, everything was just natural, until the "music experts" came and intervened. If you have old vinil records from the 20s 30s and early 40s, they have to be plaid on a different speed on your gramophone. If you have classical music from before the "change", and you have also the same classical music in a later addition (after the music experts...), play both of them, one after the another, and you will hear the difference! a very huge difference. The old system is very pleasant to listen, the new one is... something else, to put it mildly.
The exact difference made when a singer is trained for band work, plus simple talent. There has been a terrible trend for a few years to sound like, for instance Mariah Carey. There started a trend for yelling. Another was Janis Joplin. You could hardly imagine any of those singing successfully in any of the 40s big bands. A style was created and it overtook what had been previously known as musical skill.
82 years old and this song brings tears to my eyes reminds me of my dad he use to sing it in Spanish to my mom it was writen in spanish by ALBERTO DOMINGUEZ a Mexican composer in 1939
@@user-tt8yv7vq2x But the version which everyone is listening to here, is the English language version - with its very different lyrics. That is why I added that it was 'fortunate' that your dad sang the Spanish lyrics - for your mom would not have appreciated hearing these English lyrics! / But I think we can agree that it is a beautiful song in Spanish, and by a great Mexican composer. I send my good wishes to you, and for your beautiful memory of your parents.
I was born in '59, and therefore was too young to be in on the age of swing. However - as a child - many radio stations still played a LOT of big band, which I loved. I slept in the lower unit of a bunk-bed, and would strap my tiny transistor radio to the spring of the upper and play big band very low at bed time. If I fell asleep before turning in off, my batteries would be dead in the morning!
“Perfidia” has stood as one of the most cherished and enduring songs in the Latin American songbook. Composed more than 80 years ago by Mexico’s Alberto Dominguez, it is enshrined as one of those timeless standards that continues to inspire artists and resonate with music lovers, young and old.
Just turned 69 yr old and always felt I was born a generation to late. Great times for music. I love the Big Band music, and am very glad mom introduced me to it. I sing in a Barbershop Chorus and Quartet, and we have a WW2 set with a lot of these songs. That generation loves the songs..
I was born in July 1954 and often wondered if my previous life was in this era, as I love the music. Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Ella Mae Morse, Buddy Johnson......etc
i thank my dad a ww11 veteran who used to play swing music while i was growing up. i love swing , boogie woogie etc as they say the greatest generation, i agree. swing will never die
Hace 70 años esta música se escuchaba en un programa de las 10 pm en la xew que llegaba hasta el pueblo. Las Grandes Bandas, Lest Elgart, Artie Shaw y muchos otros. Gracias
I’m now 63, love music of all genres and decided to try listening to tunes from my Dad’s era. He was an excellent drummer and played in a band in the 1930s. I really love the purity of this type of music and wished I had listened to it with him when he was still alive.
I feel the same with this music I have been discovering throughout 2020, now at 62 I go from one gem to another thanks to YT ! Your father as a musician was part of something fantastic !
Ms.Forest sang with the three foremost Bands in the Swing Era, viz, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. No other singer could compare with that. She was immensely popular with audiences, and even the Band players loved her, referring to her as "one take Helen", thereby making recordings a delight, rather than a chore. This is a stunning recording, by the way. One of my favourite's.
Happily agree with everything you said about the timeless talent and achievements of Helen Forrest. Another immensely gifted singer I rate up there with Ms. Forrest is Jo Stafford, my all-time favorite.
The 40s will never die. I was a late child and my mother and aunts always talked about the big bands, the movies, everything that made the 30s and 40s so joyful even with the Depression and WW2.
Back in the 60's I had the great pleasure of performing with Helen Forrest, when I was backing Mary Beth Hughes in her lounge work. Helen would sit in with us, and she always insisted she be introduced as "Hele Twelvetrees". She wa a doll! And so easy to work with. Great natural musician.
I also grew up with the big bands, played alto sax in high school band. Miss them all. Female vocalists were the best of all. Stille going strong at 86
Along with the amazing artistry of Goodman's clarinet and the singer, listen at about 2:07 to the drummer kick in with that high hat cymbol. The trap set just pushed the whole orchestra forward and made everyone want to dance! These orchestras had huge competition, and they really had to have Snap in thier arrangements.
Helen and I were very close friends for more than 25 years. Of course I am prejudiced--but virtually all the notable writers and critics of era consider her the greatest of all the band singers--a moniker she often regarded with ambivalence in her later years. Knowing her as intimately as I did I'm certain she was unaware of the true extent of her talent and the impact she had on her listeners. Artie Shaw--a man not known for his compliments--who was the 1st of her three big band leaders said: "I love the way Helen interprets any song...she never got the credit she deserved". Her tenure with Benny Goodman (approx. 20 months) ranks among the highest of all his notable singers. There is much evidence in the form of commentaries from several musicians and singers who worked for him--that he was a strange man--as Helen described him--to say the least. He was not given to sharing the spotlight with any member of his band who would threaten his top dog status. And he would not hesitate to take appropriate measures to remedy such matters accordingly--often leaving the victim of his apparent disapproval wondering what they did or didn't do to displease him. He would regularly "noodle" behind Helen while she sang--making it difficult for her to concentrate on the melody line--all the while fighting to be heard over a 17 piece powerhouse orchestra behind her! This all notwithstanding--it is Benny Goodman's band during the period when Helen Forrest with him (1939-1941)--that I contend to be his most skilled, innovative and brilliant. Benny Goodman's foremost historian D. Russell Connor concurs. For substantiation all one needs to do is listen to their recording of "When The Sun Comes Out". After listening to it one day with Helen I remarked I thought it was the best record she AND Benny ever made...and the finest interplay between band and singer bar none. But her heart, happiness and fulfillment came at the peak of her career when she was with Harry James. So she discarded her years with Goodman--as he did her--shortly after she left the band. It did not end well. However, she gave the man his due the true professional she was. "Everyone wanted to play with Benny's band--it was never anything less than great and I gained a lot of experience and recognition during my time with him. In retrospect--the quality of the music is still indisputably outstanding and I hold no regrets or grudges". Aside: I have been writing "The Big Band Singer...The Helen Forrest Story" for many years and my conclusion is it would thrive best in a screenplay format. It's full of lovely and moving vignettes including related interactions and commentaries from Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore, Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, etc. Anyone out there interested and qualified with the resources to bring this project to life? I'll be waiting....
Helen Forrest is able to sing an uptempo tune with all the relaxation and space of a rubato number, always with exquisite diction and phrasing.. She's a giant. The trick with doing a film is. who would you get to play all the stars, let alone find someone to sing anything as they do or even in the vein?
I love hearing Helen Forrest sing, never grow tired ... enjoy her and Benny while taking long trips, along with my favorite passenger riding shotgun --- meatloaf !!!!
I was lucky enough to grow up with this wonderful music in the forties and fifties. So happy it is now availble via the internet at the push of a button. Benny could never have imagined that his music would still be discovered so many years after his death. As for Heln, well, was there ever a finer big band singer?
Benny and Helen waxed one of the greatest tunes of the last 100 years. "To you, my heart cries out Perfidia, cuz I saw you, the love my life, in somebody elses arms.
The early 1960s saw the end of this musical era. I watched and listened for a short while in horror as music began to deteriorate, with men singing like girls, and the old bands breaking up. Thank heaven I can still see and hear them here.
PERFIDIA (TONIGHT) To you my heart cries out Perfidia, For I found you, the love of my life, In somebody else's arms Your eyes are echoing Perfidia, Forgetful of our promise of love, You're sharing another's charms With a sad lament, my dreams Have faded like a broken melody; While the gods of love look down and laugh At what romantic fools we mortals be And now I know my love was not for you And so I'll take it back with a sigh, Perfidious one, good-bye.
HELEN FORREST & BENNY GOODMAN : ÍDOLOS del canto,y las grandes Perfomances,dejaron sus cualidades,para "siempre",ya qué estas melodías son inmortales.¡GRACIAS,POR HABER NACIDO !
What a fantastic recording. Swing at it's best. Helen Forrest was a truly remarkable singer, fronting the three greatest Bands of all time-- Artie Shaw,Benny Goodman and Harry James. She was a class act,one of a kind.
@@palamambron By the time she was singing professionally, she was all grown up -- a woman, not a girl. (Do you refer to accomplished adult males as "boys"? Is Benny Goodman a "boy bandleader"?)
@@MissKarenB Also, the musicians of an orchestra were commonly referred to as "the boys in the band". And, how few songs are there about _women_ and how many about _girls?_
Had the chance to see him in 1986, one week before he died. He was still the King of Swing! I was 29. All the old people were like "what are you doing here?"
I saw/heard and met Benny right around that time too. He sounded incredible on the clarinet, was a strange guy but knew exactly what he wanted from his band. Unforgettable experience. I was about 22.
Robert W Yes, I got to basically briefly meet and greet him on a three day recording session, one of his very last. He was recording at my college, just my pure dumb luck, and the truly great drummer Louis Bellson was on the dates-one of the greatest drummers I’ve ever witnessed and heard. The whole band was just sheer professionalism and swing. Then I met Benny ... weird cat! I was basically a starving college student, and when the band finished eating I would go to the catering table and covertly grab leftover scraps. Benny made a snide remark to me about me continually stealing food, something along those lines. I couldn’t tell if he was joking. I recently read that made people incredibly uncomfortable in a lot of situations, so looking back, it all makes sense. But wow, what a musician. He was truly great, and that’s how I remember him primarily. So about that date with the girl at your Benny Goodman concert: understandable… If a chick is bored by that, she’s the wrong one.
Alberto Dominguez's brothers were musucians and composers too. Abel and Armando were 2 of 5 Dominguez Brothers...I live in El Centro,Ca. USA( birthplace of CHER the singer and actress). 🇲🇽🤷♀️👨🦱🧔👏👌🙌🚘🫂⛪️💯🎶🏙💖⛩️❤️ .🎉
What a great arrangement this is, very full and muscular. And of course, the great singing of Helen Forrest, the best of the big band singers, just makes this a wonderful treat for the ears.
I love this tune, it really gets into your head, and there are so many great takes on it like: Trini Lopez; The Ventures; Los Panchos & of course Helen & Benny.
When Goodman first comes in with his clarinet, the tune just begins to open up like a rose. Helen Forrest emphasizes all the right words while keeping it swinging. She only gets to sing through it once which is my only gripe. I wish he brought her back in for another go around. What a great tune!
Goodman was a real scene stealer, hogging the limelight. Helen was not allowed, by him, to finish a song. Harry James, on the other hand, knew what he had, and built his Band around her. They were fabulously successful.
Great uptempo swinging version of Perfidia from BG...Helen Forrest is one of my all time favorites...along with the big band work that Doris Day did with Les Brown and also Jo Stafford. What an era!
Benny will always King of the Clarinet. Helen Forrest was a big band singer. She sang with the best of the big bands. Great music was created during this time.
This one take me back to my childhood days. What a song! What a singer! What a band! What a delight to hear it again. Thank you so much for sharing this great posting.
Verdaderamente me encanta esta canción mexicana en la versión en ingles, encantadora, un ritmo de grandes bandas que le da prestigio y elegancia, saludos desde Toluca, México.
she had everything u need 2 b a terrific big band singer & to this day her DICTION is unparallelled-she NEVER slurs a lyric.....there's a reason why she worked with bg,artie shaw & harry james...
Well,there's plenty of her recordings out there. Amazon,Play,Spotify,etc. Ms.Forrest was a real classy singer,and great looking with it. Musicians loved her.
Lawrence Godek You can hear her singing several songs with the wonderful Dick Haymes right here on RU-vid. Just look for "Long Ago and Far Away", for instance. Happy hunting! She's worth the search.
@@teresaguerra7532 There were so many beautiful songs by Latin-American composers in those days. "You are Always In My Heart", "South of the Border", "Time Was (Duerme)", "Orchids in the Moonlight", etc., etc. Such gorgous music to dance to. I'm so glad to hear that Frenesi was also written by Dominguez.
Never got to see the big name singers Except one, in the 40's my Uncle took me to the Chicago theater to see a guy I never heard of called Frank Sinatra. I was in grade School Then but was old enough to go to the Aragon and the Melody mill ballrooms in the late 50's and dance to big band music. The last time was NEW YEARS EVE 1959. It was getting to be the end of an era that never came back until You Tube.
BELÍSSIMA, ENCANTADORA, APAIXONANTE ! NOS REMETE AOS BONS TEMPOS EM QUE BRILHAVAM AS GRANDES ORQUESTRAS ! PARABÉNS PELA POSTAGEM E PELO BOM GOSTO ! (Jorge Mota - São Paulo)
Big Band were part of my life. I danced to these bands in high school and undergraduate school. Glen Island was 2 miles from my home and all the big bands played there.
I never knew the meaning of Perfidia. So......."Perfidia" (Spanish for "perfidy", meaning faithlessness, treachery or betrayal) is a song written by Alberto Domínguez (1911-1975), a Mexican composer and arranger born in the state of Chiapas. Composer: Alberto Domínguez" Now I know.
