Is Swing, Swing, Swing from 1941 original?

[karelm 2,792]

Though this work is obviously indebted to Benny Goodman's 1941 work, "Sing, Sing, Sing", notice that JW's "Swing, Swing, Swing" is actually original.

 

 

Some might see this as JW impersonation of music he grew up with but this is what really makes him brilliant.  His music is completely original and completely authentic to the style he was mimicking.  I think this is an excellent example of his stylistic flexibility.  Which one is better?  Which is more authentically Benny Goodman swing of that period?  I think I might actually prefer JW's score.

[Jay 35,463]

I like Mike's interpretation:

 

Quote

“Swing, Swing, Swing” is masterful in every way. The whole movie is kind of in an alternate universe, so it makes sense that they have a slightly different version of “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Williams crafts it as a standalone swing piece while still managing to match the action like a piece of underscoring. It’s magical, and reminds me of “TIE Fighter Attack” from Star Wars in how it feels like the film was edited to an existing piece of music rather than music that was written for a piece of edited film.

 

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=929

[Bryant Burnette 613]

I agree with Mike.

[filmmusic 1,693]

8 hours ago, Jay said:

I like Mike's interpretation:

 

 

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=929

Would it be possible to add a Matessino tag, so that we are able to easily find all his interviews?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,157]

9 hours ago, karelm said:

Though this work is obviously indebted to Benny Goodman's 1941 work, "Sing, Sing, Sing", notice that JW's "Swing, Swing, Swing" is actually original.

 

 

Some might see this as JW impersonation of music he grew up with but this is what really makes him brilliant.  His music is completely original and completely authentic to the style he was mimicking.  I think this is an excellent example of his stylistic flexibility.  Which one is better?  Which is more authentically Benny Goodman swing of that period?  I think I might actually prefer JW's score.

 

Doesn't that just look 'effing gorgeous?!

Bill Fraker did everyone proud, that day!

 

Why two versions, though?

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

9 hours ago, karelm said:

 

 

This rerecording is from the movie Swing Kids, and the soundtrack has several great rerecordings of 30s swing music! In addition to boring underscore by some guy named Horner.

 

21 minutes ago, Richard said:

Why two versions, though?

 

What do you mean, two versions?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,157]

The OST version, and the film version - complete with extra strings.

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

Ah, forgot about that. I guess he wanted it less "stringy" on the album to make it more bigband-like?

[karelm 2,792]

I also think they are doing this thing where it begins as source music but ends as score.  Remember by the military fight sequence at the end of the dance, it is full on score.

[Jay 35,463]

On 5/6/2018 at 4:54 AM, filmmusic said:

Would it be possible to add a Matessino tag, so that we are able to easily find all his interviews?

 

That's a great idea

 

In the meantime here is a list for you

 

• 1941: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=929
• Empire of the Sun (1): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6871
• Empire of the Sun (2): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6800
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=7726
• Home Alone, Jaws 2, Jaws: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=8269
• The Lost World, Jurassic Park, Stanley & Iris, ET: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=9994

 

I have not yet covered CE3K, Rosewood, The Fury, or his Twilight Time work (Tom Sawyer, How To Steal A Million, Conrack, Cinderella Liberty) yet...

 

And obviously the CDs for The Long Goodbye, Fitzwilly, Missouri Breaks, and Heidi were done without Mike's involvement.

Everything else was before my time

 

 

BONUS 1: Older interviews from before my time:

• Home Alone 2: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=3364
• Goodbye Mr. Chips (1): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=210
• Goodbye Mr. Chips (1): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=215
• Superman: The Music (1): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=4039
• Superman: The Music (2): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=4053
• Superman: The Music (3): http://www.jwfan.com/?p=4066

BONUS 2: My interview with Didier about Hook

• http://www.jwfan.com/?p=2545

[Nick Parker 3,041]

On 5/5/2018 at 5:24 PM, karelm said:

Which is more authentically Benny Goodman swing of that period? 

 

Say whaa?

 

As far as preference, it's tricky: clearly Swing, Swing, Swing owes a great debt of gratitude to the Prima original (can't remember who arranged the famous version we all know), but of course, John Williams is a master of creating, sustaining, building, and resolving drama on a musical level, which ultimately gives his tribute a dramatic contour that's more satisfying to me.

[Disco Stu 15,483]

Of course Williams recorded both with the Boston Pops  

 

 

[Jay 35,463]

Looks like a slice of bacon in the bottom right corner

[Disco Stu 15,483]

Some designer in the 80s trying to create 30s art deco graphics... which end up just looking super 80s in retrospect

[Ricardo Mortimer 43]

It's that Williams Swing swing swing? 

 

 

[Jay 35,463]

That is Hot Liquorice by Dick Walter

[karelm 2,792]

Who wrote this source music?  JW?

 

[Jay 35,463]

That is Dick Powel singing "I Only Have Eyes For You" by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. 

 

The orchestral backing is newly recorded by JW for the film. 

[Nick Parker 3,041]

On this subject, though, I do find it interesting to note: in a concert Henry Mancini once said that he was drawn to big band music as a youngster because it was dramatic and exciting music to him. There was a huge amount of overlap between composers and arrangers of big band music and film/television: Mancini, Williams, Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Nelson Riddle, Benny Golson, Pete Rugulo, etc. all had/have had a good number of film/TV credits to their name.

 

A generation or two later you see dudes like Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, Mark Mothersbaugh, Hans Zimmer, etc. get big in the scoring world, coming from an "outside" place of "popular" music. I wonder why we don't see that kind of intersectionality since the 2000's or so...Daft Punk did a one-off, as did M83 with that one Tom Cruise movie five years ago, but am I right in saying that this generation really hasn't produced a consistent overlap as in the past?

[Presto 4,765]

Well, we do have Justin Timberlake and Pitbull "composing" now...