This tune is one of the glories of the American songbook with its ravishing, dreamy melody line. No wonder every jazz artist of note recorded it.And then there's Dick Foran's lilting, lullaby voice: a sound like no other. Thanks for this priceless upload.
How about that... The original version of this great tune... ...and it's from an Abbot & Costello movie. Music by Gene de Paul, and lyrics by Patricia Johnston and Don Raye. (I had no idea Dick Foran could even sing, let alone this well, as the only other thing I have ever seen him in is "The Mummy's Hand.") I believe that the visual effect used here is called "day-for-night," and even though this film is in black and white, the cinematography makes this sequence positively glow. Absolutely lovely.
Love this song! I'm a May baby, but my dad and my oldest brother were both born in April. They still live in my heart every day. Happy Birthday, my guys! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Like so many that have commented here, I've always known this song as a jazz, or at least a bit jazzy piece. I discovered this original version about a month ago, thanks to The Real Changes! Seriously, thank you sooooo much for posting this! It is harmonic and choral elegance of the first order. My Mom was about to begin singing with the Ken Darby Singers back in the late 50's, but then she met my Dad and that was that. The choral arrangement reminds me very much of pieces the Ken Darby Singers sang back in the day. I've sung choral music my whole life, (in my blood) and this is, as someone else said, so unashamedly romantic - how refreshing! It is stunning. I can't stop listening to it. I'm obsessed!
Vocals at 1:25 This lovely day has lengthened into evening We'll sigh goodbye to all we've ever had Alone where we have walked together I'll remember April and be glad. I'll be content you loved me once in April Your lips were warm and love and spring were new But I'm not afraid of autumn, and no sorrow For I'll remember April and you The fire will dwindle into glowing ashes For flames and love live such a little while I won't forget but I won't be lonely I'll remember April and I'll smile
My God! The lyrics are pure poetry. They should be in a Hall of Fame. (There seems to be some controversy about the verse that begins "But I'm not afraid..." All of the contemporary singers I've heard, Including Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan, sing "But I'm not afraid of autumn and her sorrow...", not "autumn and no sorrow").
@@bronxboy47 I have to confess I didn't write it myself from listening, but cut and pasted it from a lyrics website. Reading it carefully I think the Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan versions "her sorrow" are wrong. In the original version above he is explaining that he won't be afraid of autumn: "no sorrow" means "I won't be sorry because I will have the happy memories of April."
¡Que linda canción! Es una de las mejores que he escuchado. "recordaré abril", es abril un mes primaveral, en el que brotan las flores y se escucha el canto de los pájaros. La canción dice que no teme la llegada de las tristezas de otoño, pues recordará abril y a su amante. Muy buena en realidad, cuando estamos viejos, recordamos la juventud, y nos alegramos.
This is the 1st version that I have heard that was not jazzy. I love it by George Shearing and Charlie Parker but this version is beautiful. It's officially my favorite version. Tremendous lyrics.
Really something, isn't it. The Broadway play "Very Warm For May"(1939), lasted for ONLY 59 performances. But one song from it, "All the Things you Are", is an American standard ballard down til today. Go figure.🤷
Beautiful song, I had heard in instrumental version long ago, and liked it, What is says is very good for old people like me, there are so many things, that trouble us like diseases, but we remember April, when we were young, when we had an energy we no longer have, when we met our life mate, and despite every old age problems, we smile, remembering the spring or our lives.
I have been playing this beautiful song on guitar in various jazz groups for more than sixty years, without knowing where the song came from, and having just stumbled upon this upload, I feel humbled by the beauty and unashamed sentimentality of the romance from which it was first sung. This version is without doubt the best of the best renditions, and I think that I have heard them all. Thank You.
I've already posted a comment on this sublimely arranged and mesmerizingly performed song, but if anyone is interested the location is the Soledad Canyon (Soledad Canyon Rd), accessible about 10 miles east of Santa Clarita, California, off Highway 14 at intersection 11, or 4 miles south of Agua Dulce and 15 miles north of Burbank. If this Covid misery is ever over I shall be heading there on my next trip to Los Angeles.
Woke up this morning with this song (jazz instrumental version) in my head. Did a RU-vid search and was surprised to learn it was from a movie Ride 'em Cowboy. I thought, "You gotta be kidding!". Then, I watched and heard this lovely ballad. Song makes perfect sense in this context. I stand corrected.
Some writing, huh? My favorite song. The changes make my skin shiver. All MsPeperonata could do was salute the lyrics, for what words could describe this tune? BTW, the young lass he sings to? is that his daughter? He looks like her grandfather! He'd be in jail today for that! She's jail bait! Is there no shame anymore? I need a drink!
stunning rendition of a beautiful masterpiece, sung unforgettably by dick foran--enhanced by the great black and white photography, the locale and the choral background. a true classic to be watched and listened to again and again.
Nice song, I was born in April, a spring month. The month itself is very much waited as the cold of winter is finally over, normally. And flowers bloom, and everywhere one can hear birds singing. 😀
I'LL REMEMBER APRIL - 'Cowboy' Dick Foran (1942) At the height of WWII - when most every movie was in black & white - there was an Abbott & Costello comedy that needed a pretty tune - for a dude ranch cowboy to sing to his girl on a 'midnight ride.' Gene de Paul, a gifted composer who would later write the Academy Award winning 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' with Johnny Mercer, wrote the haunting melody - to words composed by two of his friends (lyricists who would never be heard-from again). If you could only write one good song during WWII, why not a gem like this one; it's been treasured by jazz artists ever since. Simply put, it's still one of the greatest songs in the history of popular music. Years ago I remember seeing a three-minute segment of that comedy from exactly 80 years ago - when the song is introduced on a “moonlight mountain ride” from a nearby horse ranch. I've yet to see the film (TCM doesn't feature much Abbott & Costello among its "classics") but for reasons I can't put into words, I find this deeply affecting. And yes, my favorite version of I'LL REMEMBER APRIL. The intuitive genius of RU-vid sent this my way again tonight along with some perfect comments from kindred spirits like these: DAVINDAIR (3 years ago) “This tune is one of the glories of the American songbook with its ravishing, dreamy melody line. No wonder every jazz artist of note recorded it.And then there's Dick Foran's lilting, lullaby voice: a sound like no other. Thanks for this priceless upload. ANTHONY WILLIAMS (1 year ago) I have been playing this beautiful song on guitar in various jazz groups for more than sixty years, without knowing where the song came from, and having just stumbled upon this upload, I feel humbled by the beauty and unashamed sentimentality of the romance from which it was first sung. This version is without doubt the best of the best renditions, and I think that I have heard them all. Thank You. ---- Thanks The Real Changes for sharing. Celebrated elsewhere [search] " Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central "
I'm happy to see that i'm the only when still remembers dick foran. I LOVE this version. you know he introduced this song! girls who' s here singing to here in this film, anne gwynne, at universal was the "screamers" at universal, because her work in horror pictures.
In this world today… me and my honey do all the good ol things. Jack Benny, George n Gracie, Dragnet, the invaders, father knows best… all the good old stuff. A time when people had respect. For themselves, that is. I’ll remember April. 1969.
2:04 Moving his hands to clutch her tighter as he sings "your lips were warm"...this was hubba-hubba for the early 1940s! (Thought the pre-Hays code early 1930s certainly went a lot further.) It's still a nice directorial touch.
Despite having been playing 1930s and 40s music on the piano for 50 years somehow I'd never heard this song till I watched a Rhonda Fleming tribute film on RU-vid recently. Downloaded the sheet music immediately. It's a quintessentially period tune which is perfect and sounds best at this speed and with this kind of orchestration. The jazzy 50s versions are far too slow and completely lose the potential the 1940s arrangements demonstrate so well. In fact they almost kill it dead whereas in this version you're just carried away by it.
I clicked on this to see where a song I'd performed hundreds of times as jazz player, and occasionally in 'pops' concerts as a professional orchestral musician, came from, because I've never liked it, though I wanted to. I even did an arrangement of it for jazz choir when I was in high-school to come to terms with dislike of this jazz standard and its weak meandering melodic portamento. From a melodic perspective, it simply overuses a single device: scalar or stepwise motion for both the verse and the chorus. Its just too much of a muchness. As a result, its sounds unremittingly...drunk and intoxicated 'by' itself (less flattering), which clearly is experienced by many as being 'dreamy' . I prefer songs with more melodic gravitas, melodies with surprises that go somewhere. For instance...just to pull a couple out of a hat, Guy Woods 1953, My One And Only Love, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vGUAd2h2vBg.htmlsi=AkkXSvjfLKfqymA9 has a melody that is far ranging, or Richard Rogers, This Nearly Was Mine, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qjPUU9JkqhA.htmlsi=cN0BIzgv6Ka2_iPk&t=76, which is possibly unfair, because Rogers was not only one of the greatest melodist of all time, but a great musical craftsman.
Sinatra's (on the Point Of No Return album) is the closest I've heard to this original. Axel Stordahl clearly referred to the original to craft his arrangement for Sinatra.
