Bottom Line: Would I buy Black Sabbath? I don’t think so. It’s an uneven mix of good, goofy, and peculiar.
He said:
“I’d give the world to be
Among the folks in
D-I-X-I-Even now my mammy’s
Waiting for me
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee” -- George Gershwin
In 1920, “Swanee” became Gershwin’s all-time best-selling composition. It stayed on the charts for eighteen week (nine at number one), sold a million sheet copies and an estimated two million records. “Swanee” is covered by Aretha Franklin on Black Sabbath --The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations, a presentation of the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation. This organization passionately believes “Jewish history is best told by the music we have loved and lost.”
This compilation consists of fifteen tracks of Jewish songs (from the 1930s through the 1960s) performed by African-American artists. The purpose of this project is to use “popular music to shed light on the historical, political, spiritual, economic, and cultural connections between African-Americans and Jewish-Americans.”
As a Louisiana (Dixie) native and long-time fan of Aretha, her rendition of “Swanee” was a show-stopper for me. Cab Calloway’s “Utt Da Zay” (that’s the way) was simply delightful and brought a quick smile. Fifteen artists offer up a variety of Jewish songs from the traditional “My Yiddishe Momme” (Billie Holiday), to popular “That Old Black Magic” (Johnny Hartman), to the religious “Sabbath Prayer” (Cannonball Adderley). The Temptations perform a medley from Fiddler on the Roof and Johnny Mathis closes with the prayer song, “Kol Nidre”.
Both members of a famous sports/interracial friendship would be pleased. Bill Russell and Red Auerbach set a great example that dates back to 1956. As Cab Calloway ad libs before a really cool scat, “Are you hip to this jive I’m laying on you?”
Article comments