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Thread: I'll String Along With You - Dubin-Warren

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Keith88 View Post
    Hi guys--
    .... solving the basic problem in music: How does one fill time?
    [and]
    ... how to get from [point A to point B in the tune] ...different solutions to address the same musical issue.

    Keith
    Ah, the bassist's dilemma. So many choices/paths available.
    Pedal, then jump. Chromatic up (or down). Via tritone. Follow the circle. Feel the Force....
    Always hoping the musical slot machine will pay-off when you pull the handle.
    Ecstatic when it does, mystified when it doesn't. Always striving to make *it* happen.
    When it comes together, the players just know it. It's difficult to explain that feeling to 'civillians'.
    )BOB
    Last edited by pdxdjazz; 09-14-2017 at 02:06 PM.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by pdxdjazz View Post
    Always striving to make *it* happen.
    When it comes together, the players just know it. It's difficult to explain that feeling to 'civillians'.
    )BOB
    Ain't it the truth!

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    351

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    Quote Originally Posted by Keith88 View Post
    Hi guys--

    I just don't hear this tune as a slow ballad, and my chart reflects that. Differences between Jerry's chart and mine should provide good illustrations for newcomers who write chord charts. Songs at faster tempos often have fewer chord changes because each chord has less time (in the absolute sense) to fill. In Jerry's chart of the Krall version, there is a bunch of chords that fill the first two measures; my chart has but one chord for these two measures. The same goes for the turnaround in the first ending. It's all a matter of solving the basic problem in music: How does one fill time? Another good tidbit can be found in the third and fourth measures: how to get from the tonic to the V of ii? I do it chromatically, Jerry does it I, VIIb7, iii (or V7sus of ii), V of ii. Two different solutions to address the same musical issue.

    I love Diana Krall. I happen to think her version of this tune drags and is overly sentimental. That being said, you are listening to her version on Youtube and not mine!

    Regards,
    Keith
    If you check out the lyrics to the song, you'll see that it's meant to be a ballad, not a swing tune. To my ears, the melody would sound hokey as a swing tune.

  4. #14

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    Not exactly a ballad starting about 3:00 min in.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hVZpItG5gpY

    Definitely not a ballad
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjgmmkzxE

    BB King
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTROSBShME

    Louis givin' it the Satchmo treatment
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k

    1934
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EZAyKfQvFeo

    My opinion, a good tune just has "legs. And can stand however it's performed.
    that's reflected in the multiple styles and variable tempo settings in this wonderful app.
    )BOB
    Last edited by pdxdjazz; 09-15-2017 at 07:38 PM.

  5. #15
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    Jan 2013
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    I learned the lyrics to this tune almost 60 years ago. There is nothing about them that suggests a tempo for this song. The lyrics are not "wordy" making them difficult to sing at a medium tempo, in contrast to those of a song like "Midnight Sun." If you examine my chord chart, you would note that I list the style as a medium ballad and suggest a tempo of 120 bpm.

    Early recordings of the song do not take a slow tempo. Dick Powell, who introduced the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1OZ14N_WZ4), in a 1934 performance sings it at a tempo of about 102 bpm. Al Bowlly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjgmmkzxE) in what sounds like a 1930s performance, comfortably sings the tune at 160 bpm. A 1934 performance by Smith Ballew (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_5-dLQ3Wc) goes a little more slowly at about 148 bpm. Another 1930s performance, this one by Harry Roy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k) goes at about 126 bpm.

    To be sure, there are slower performances. Louis Armstrong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k) sings it about 104 bpm and Frank Sinatra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFRwXYyQ_FQ) sings it at about 88 bpm. Both Nat Cole and Dean Martin sing it about 70 bpm. However, she sings it at about 60 bpm, which is even slower.

    All this is to show that this tune can be comfortably sung at many different tempos, and that nothing in the lyrics suggests a particular choice. I stand by my own opinion that her rendition drags and is overly sentimental, and that 120 bpm is a reasonable tempo for both a vocal and instrumental performance of it. You are free to disagree.
    Last edited by Keith88; 09-16-2017 at 11:33 PM.

  6. #16
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  7. #17
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    First recording (1934):

    I'll String Along With You - Dubin-Warren (Ted Fio Rito - 1934)
    Last edited by CyrilleB; 01-30-2024 at 12:36 AM.

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