My Old Flame

"My Old Flame" is a 1934 song composed by Arthur Johnston with lyrics by Sam Coslow for the film Belle of the Nineties. It has since become a jazz standard.

History

"My Old Flame" first appeared in the 1934 film Belle of the Nineties when it was sung by Mae West, backed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.[1] Six weeks after filming wrapped with West, Ellington recorded the tune with singer Ivie Anderson,[2] released on Commadore 585.[3] It became a No. 7 hit for Guy Lombardo later that year but it was not until the early 1940s that the tune re-emerged, entering the repertoire of the orchestras of Benny Goodman and Count Basie.[2]

"My Old Flame" has since become a jazz standard, and sung by the likes of Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington and Helen Humes, with instrumental interpretations by Charlie Parker for the Dial label in 1947, Gerry Mulligan with Chet Baker in 1953, trombonist J.J. Johnson on his 1957 album Trombone Master, Sonny Rollins on his 1993 album Old Flames and many others.[1] The tune was also recorded by the Stan Kenton orchestra,[2] and Zoot Sims in a "sensitive rendition" according to Jazz Improv magazine.[4]

Lyrics and structure

The music has an AABA structure.[5] It is written in the key of G major, and features a change to B♭ in the 'B' section.[5][6]

As a vehicle for West, while the lyric contains "characteristically flippant lines – 'My old flame/ I can't even remember his name' – it suggests that her brazen sexuality is the carapace for a lost youthful love": 'But their attempts at love/ Were only imitations of/ My old flame'.[7]

References
  1. "My Old Flame". Jazzstandards.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  2. Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. Oxford University Press. p. 283. ISBN 9780199769155.
  3. Bratkovich, Colin (8 May 2014). Just Remember This. p. 421. ISBN 9781483645193.
  4. "Jazz Improv, Volume 7, Issues 3-4". E.S. Proteus. 2007. p. 215.
  5. "My Old Flame: Music and Lyrics Analysis". Jazzstandards.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  6. Townsend, Peter (2007). Pearl Harbor Jazz: Change in Popular Music in the Early 1940s. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-57806-924-8.
  7. Furia, Philip; Patterson, Laurie (2010). The Songs of Hollywood. Oxford University Press. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-0-19-533708-2.
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