1942 Popular Music, Songs and Artists

1942’s Most Popular and Influential Songs

Bing Crosby
Be careful It’s My Heart
This song, written by Irving Berlin, was originally performed by Bing Crosby in the film Holiday Inn. The film told the story of a performer who gets fed up with life as a stage performer and buys a farm. When he realizes farming is not for him, he turns the farm into an Inn only opened on Holidays so he could be off the rest of the year. This song was written for Valentine’s Day. Three other songs would also come out of this motion picture The title song Holiday Inn also known as Happy Holidays, Easter Parade, and arguably the most popular of all Christmas songs, White Christmas.

Glenn Miller
Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me
The history of Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree is long and varied. Its origins begin in an eighteenth Century English folk song entitled Long Long Ago. Long Long Ago was then transformed into a song entitled Anywhere the Bluebird Goes. Sam H. Stept wrote the song with the lyrics by Lew Brown and Charles Tobias. At the outbreak of World War II, the lyricists came back together to create the song we now know. Glenn Miller made the original recording but several artists would record the song. Though not the original vocalists, The Andrews Sisters would team with Glenn Miller and make the song their own.

Frank Sinatra
Night and Day
Written by Cole Porter for a 1932 musical called the Gay Divorce, the song was first performed by Fred Astaire, and would be performed by him again in the 1934 film version of the show. One of Porter’s claims is that it was the Islamic call to worship that inspired the song, but there are other stories as well. Night and Day would become the title of Cole Porter’s first motion picture Biography.

Kay Kyser
There’ll Be Blue Birds Over The White Cliffs of Dover
This song was written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton in 1941. The song was written during the period of WW II when the Nazi’s and Allies were fighting over Dover during The Battle of Britain and looked forward to the time when there would be peace again. The song was written and first performed before The United States entered the war.

Merry Macs
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
This song was written in direct response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There were many stories that surround the writing of the lyrics. The music was written by Frank Loesser. One of the stories is as follows: An officer in charge of an ammunition line on the USS New Orleans during the attack on Pearl Harbor said that “I heard a voice behind me saying, ‘Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.’ I turned and saw Chaplain Forgy walking toward me, along the line of men. He was patting them on the back and making that remark to cheer and keep them going. I know it helped me a lot, too.” (Wikipedia)

Mills Brothers
Paper Doll
The song was written by Johnny S Black in 1915 but was not published until 1930. It took another 12 years until the song would become a hit. Unfortunately for Mr. Black, he would die 6 years before his song became the hit he had dreamed of.

Peggy Lee
Somebody Else Is Taking My Place
Ross Morgan is listed as one of the writers of this song, but its real significance is it’s putting Miss Peggy Lee on the charts. With Benny Goodman’s Orchestra and Miss Lee’s vocals the song would stay on the charts at number one for three weeks during 1942. In 1948 when the song was released it became a top thirty song all over again.

Spike Jones
The Fuhrer’s Face

Spike Jones released his song in the early part of 1942 and it became very popular that same year the Walt Disney Studio released a cartoon by the same name that has a version of the song and starred Donald Duck. The cartoon was war propaganda for the selling of war bonds and won The Academy Award for best animated short that year.

Jimmy Dorsey
Tangerine
The song was published in 1941 and written by Victor Schertzinger with lyrics by Johnny Mercer but it was introduced in the 1942 film The Fleets In, which starred Dorothy Lamour and William Holden. Jimmy Dorsey’s version of the song would be the one to make it the charts and it would peak at number one.

Woody Herman
Blues in the Night
Written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, Blues in the Night was written as the title song for a film by the same name. The song was written very quickly and was played at a dinner party hosted by Margaret Whiting whose guests included, Judy Garland Mickey Rooney Mel Torme and Martha Raye. The song was a hit with everyone at the party and would quickly take its place in American Music history.

Top 25 Songs FRom 1942