Strange Fruit
1939
A Bronx schoolteacher's poem about lynching, sung in a single spotlight, still the bravest three minutes on record.
★ 9.6
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1939
Showing 6 songs from 1939
Over the Rainbow
1939
MGM cut it from the film twice until Arthur Freed threatened to quit; Garland was sixteen.
★ 9.0
Body and Soul
1939
Hawkins barely states the melody, improvises two choruses instead, and the 1939 Bluebird side pointed jazz toward bebop.
★ 7.7
In the Mood
1939
Joe Garland's tune cut to three minutes to fit a 78, and those false endings that never quite stop.
★ 7.5
If I Didn't CareThe Ink Spots
If I Didn't Care
1939
Kenny's tenor floats, Jones talks the lyric back in bass, and doo-wop inherited that top-and-bottom trick wholesale.
★ 6.8
Moonlight Serenade
1939
Composed under Joseph Schillinger's tuition, and the band was playing it as a theme before it had a title.
★ 6.7