People who follow me on twitter will know that I’ve recently developed a bit of an obsession with 1920s and 30s popular music, and I’ve been quoting some of the most bizarre and charming lyrics all over the place. ‘The Cream in My Coffee’ being one of my favourites:

Annette Hanshaw

“You are the cream in my coffee
and you are the salt in my stew
You will always be
my necessity
I’d be lost without you.

You are the starch in my collar
and you are the lace in my shoe
You will always be
my necessity
Oh I’m wild about you!

You give life savour
bring out its flavour
so this is clear, dear
you’re my worcestershire dear.”

And ‘You Couldn’t Be Cuter’ (there’s a lovely version by Al Bowlly) being another:

Ivie Anderson

“You couldn’t be cuter
Plus that you couldn’t be smarter
Plus that intelligent face
You have disgraceful charm, for me.

You couldn’t be keener
You look so fresh from the cleaner
You are the little grand slam
I’ll bring to my family.”

Plus all those wonderful Fred Astaire numbers. And some Noel Cowards. And Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ivie Anderson, Mildred Bailey… Oh man it was a great time for popular music! And I haven’t even mentioned all the blues, that deserves its own post, clearly.

Just watch out for the creepy over-in-love lyrics from some quarters (guilty: ‘If I Had A Talking Picture of You’, ‘You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me’ and many many others…)

Also brace yourself for the occasional racist lyric. Ivie Anderson and Duke Ellington’s ‘Delta Bound’ is magnificent, but the throwaway mention of “darkies” in one line instantly transports me back to 1990s Cornwall and conversations with my gran. Ack.

But yes. Lots of people have been asking me where I found all the songs – I got most of them from a 3 CD set called ‘Top Hits of the 1930s’ which is available on Spotify. I’ve made a playlist of my favourites, with a few extra by Ivie Anderson and Annette Hanshaw thrown in. Incidentally, if you like Annette Hanshaw’s voice (I do, but it does start to grate after a little while) then you should definitely check out the superb Sita Sings The Blues. (Tiny niggle: if you’re talking about BLUES don’t go to Annette Hanshaw, you want Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey for that.)

There are also some *very* old phonograph recordings available on the utterly brilliant Free Music Archive. As you’d expect for recordings from 1917 there’s a lot of hiss in the background, but I just put it on loud in the next room and pretend I have a gramophone. Anyway, here are some of my favourites from the FMA: