Pavane for a Dead Princess - Maurice Ravel

[pdxdjazz]

Lovely x2
)BOB

[engelbach]

Thanks much, Keith.

People may or may not remember the popular song based on Pavanne, called The Lamp Is Low, by Peter DeRose, Bert Shefter, and Mitchel Parish.

It was first recorded by Mildred Bailey in 1939. Later many people covered it, including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

When the song was written, Ravel was still alive, so I wonder how he felt about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i66wAEfeBYM

Cheers,
Jer

[Keith88]

Now that you bring it up…I do remember "The Lamp Is Low," although I didn't last year when you started this thread. Interestingly, Steve Kuhn did not name his performance of essentially the same musical material "The Lamp Is Low," but rather used "Pavane" as the title. Perhaps he did not remember the tune's existence, although he had the music in his memory.

A historical note: Ravel died in 1937, before DeRose's song was recorded and became popular.

[engelbach]

Now that you bring it up…I do remember "The Lamp Is Low," although I didn't last year when you started this thread. Interestingly, Steve Kuhn did not name his performance of essentially the same musical material "The Lamp Is Low," but rather used "Pavane" as the title. Perhaps he did not remember the tune's existence, although he had the music in his memory.

A historical note: Ravel died in 1937, before DeRose's song was recorded and became popular.

True.

But I read that the tune was written in 1930, so he may have known about it.

Cheers,
Jer

[Keith88]

In fact Jer, you were correct. There was a recording by Kay Kyser in 1930: https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/108131. I wrote before I had thoroughly done my research. Sorry.

[Keith88]

This is a strange situation. Supposedly, there was that recording by Kay Kyser in 1930. However, the copyright notice on the lead sheet in the New Real Book volume III is dated 1939; perhaps the copyright was registered years after the song was actually composed. I'll try to track this down the next time I go to the library as there is a reference book there [The Great Song Thesaurus by Roger Lax and Frederick Smith (Oxford U Press, 1984)] that might have definitive information about this issue.

[engelbach]

Keith,

Yes, I'm curious about that, too. Possibly 1939 is when it was copyrighted by the publisher.

Cheers,
Jer