Stardust (1927 song)

1927 Gennett 78

According to Carmichael, the inspiration for "Stardust" (the song's original title was "Star Dust", which has long since been compounded into "Stardust")[3] came to him while he was on the campus of his alma mater, Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. He began whistling the tune, then rushed to the Book Nook, a popular student hangout, and started composing. He worked to refine the melody over the course of the next several months, likely in Bloomington or Indianapolis (sources cite various locations, and Carmichael himself liked to embellish the facts about the song's origins).[4] "Stardust" was first recorded in Richmond, Indiana, for Gennett by Carmichael with Emil Seidel and his Orchestra and the Dorsey brothers as "Hoagy Carmichael and His Pals" on October 31, 1927, as a peppy but mid-tempo jazz instrumental.[5] Carmichael said he was inspired by the improvisations of Bix Beiderbecke.[6] The tune at first attracted only moderate attention, mostly from fellow musicians, a few of whom (including Don Redman) recorded their own versions.

Mitchell Parish wrote lyrics for the song, which were published in 1929, based on his and Carmichael's ideas. A slower version had been recorded in October 1928, but the transformation came on May 16, 1930, when bandleader Isham Jones recorded it as a sentimental ballad.[7] "Stardust" is a 32-bar melody with a slightly unusual ABAC structure preceded by a 16-bar verse. Although the verse is often omitted in recordings, Frank Sinatra made a recording in 1961 (released the next year on Sinatra and Strings) of just the verse. The verse and chorus have the same final cadence, though other than that they are musically distinct.

The original sheet music publication of "Stardust" was published under the title "Star Dust" by Mills Music with a copyright date of 1929.[8] The first recording of the song (Gennett 78, 6311-B.), which was made by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927 before the writing of the song's lyrics, was titled "Stardust". Carmichael referred to his song as "Stardust" in a 1936 letter to M.B. Yarling of the Sears & Roebuck Company's Radio and Publicity Dept.[9] He also referred to the song as "Stardust" in his memoir The Stardust Road while relating the story of its composition.[10] In his book Stardust Melodies: The Biography of Twelve of America's Most Popular Songs, Will Friedwald states, "the correct title is given as two words, 'Star Dust'".[11]

Glenn Miller and the AAFTC Orchestra recording issued as V-Disc 65A in December 1943

• Versions have been recorded by Art Tatum, Harry James, Django Reinhardt, Warren Wolf, Louis Prima, Tex Beneke with the Glenn Miller Orchestra,[12]
• Louis Armstrong – November 4, 1931[13] and on an alternate take inserted the lyric 'oh, memory' before an instrumental break.[14]
• David Benoit – Standards (2006)[15]
• Boswell Sisters – May 25, 1931 with Victor Young And The Brunswick Orchestra [16]
• Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond – 1975: The Duets (1975)[13]
• The Chocolate Dandies with Don Redman and Lonnie Johnson (1928)[13]
• Nat King Cole – Love Is the Thing (1956)[13] With the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra. Often cited as the finest rendition of the song.
• John Coltrane – Stardust (1958)[13]
• Nino Tempo & April Stevens recorded their version in 1964. This recording went to #32 on the Hot 100 and #13 on the Middle-Road Singles chart.[17]
• Larry Coryell – Fallen Angel (1993)[18]
• Bing Crosby – August 19, 1931 with studio orchestra directed by Victor Young[19]
• Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra – (1940)[13]
• Fred Flintstone (Alan Reed), albeit with mangled lyrics in The Flintstones episode "The Hit Songwriters".
• Benny Goodman – (1936)[13]
• Don Byas featuring Thelonious Monk and Helen Humes in 1941 album Midnight at Minton's, which was also one the earliest known recordings of Thelonious Monk[20][21]
• Willie Nelson's version[13] was used to wake up the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-97 on their second flight day.[22]
• Steve Rochinski – A Bird in the Hand (1998)[23]
• Artie Shaw[13] with solos by Billy Butterfield (trumpet) and Jack Jenney (trombone) (1941)[24]
• Wynton Marsalis – Hot House Flowers (1984)[25]
• George Shearing and Mel Tormé – Top Drawer (1983)[13]
• The Shadows - Jigsaw (1967) - instrumental cover version with similar structure to Louis Armstrong's 1931 version.
• The early portion of the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre included a rendition of the song played by the fictional "Ramón Raquello and his Orchestra". The band performing in the broadcast included a young Mitch Miller.[26]

The 1927 recording on Gennett by Hoagy Carmichael and His Pals was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995. In 1999, "Stardust" was included in the NPR 100, a list compiled by National Public Radio of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.[27] In 2004, Carmichael's 1927 recording of the song was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry. Attempting to explain the song's "eternal popularity", Carmichael biographer Richard M. Sudhalter credits "some combination of young Carmichael's heartland upbringing, Bix's uniquely bardic sensibility, and the unself-conscious emotional directness that characterizes much non-urban American pop music."[28]

• List of 1920s jazz standards

• Forte, Allen (1995). "Ballads of Hoagy Carmichael, Arthur Schwartz, Vernon Duke, John Green, Burton Lane, and Jimmy Van Heusen". The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924–1950. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04399-X.
• Sudhalter, Richard M. (2002). Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516898-4.

• Stardust on Sold on Song (BBC)