Re: Benny Goodman

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

Aside from the (overwhelmingly better known) "And the Angels Song" (referred 
to in a previous post), the Goodman band also recorded "My Little Cousin," 
with vocalist Peggy Lee, whose music is the music of "Der Greene Cousine," 
the classic Yiddish-theater song about a new/"green" immigrant.  The words 
are kind-of insipid English--a bland love song with no relationship to the 
original, rich lyric (in endless verses) of the journey of a new immigrant 
from intoxication with the promise of America to bitter disenchantment with 
the hard life he winds up with.

--Robert Cohen


>From: Susan Lerner <meydele (at) ix(dot)netcom(dot)com>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: Benny Goodman
>Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 08:16:49 -0800
>
>One of my bar mitsve students (I help prepare kids for their bar and bas 
>mitsves at a secular Jewish Sunday school here in LA) has chosen that 
>discreet and manageable topic "Jewish Musicians."  With a little prodding, 
>he's narrowed it down a bit to Benny Goodman and Leonard Bernstein.  We are 
>hoping the list can help with 2 questions we have about Benny Goodman:
>
>1. Is there any information about Goodman's feelings about his Jewishness?  
>Any comments he made or letters written that would be helpful, or a 
>particular bio which discusses this?
>
>2. Did he arrange or record any Jewish songs?


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