I kind of knew who Paul Weston was, but never really paid attention to his work until I bought the album "Music for the Fireside" at Goodwill. You know it was completely for the cover art, which depicts flame-hands conducting music for a young couple on a loveseatt. Or possibly casting some kind of evil fire spell over them.
You can hear the record on YouTube:
Paul Weston and His Orchestra were famous in the 1950s for "mood music" records on the Capitol label. Over at RCA, there were also themed albums ("Music for Dining," "Music for Reading," and so son) but the Weston LPs were strictly for romance.
The cover for "Music for Sweethearts" has us peeking in at the young couple trhrough a keyhole. That's not weird or anything.
In that strange time after the Second World War ended and as the Korean conflict had sent American soldiers overseas again -- and just before the earliest rock-and-roll and doo-wop hits, Paul Weston had a hit with "Nevertheless." The record featured trumpeter Harry James and singers from The Norman Luboff Choir. James, a big-name bandleader, was well-known for signing Frank Sinatra as a vocalist, The Norman Luboff Choir, on their own, made a lot of records clearly marketed to young men hoping to put the moves on a new girlfriend.
Besides "Nevertheless," Paul Weston had other hits, and they were all remrkrably different from each other. Here, for instance, is a sentimental folk tune, "O Mein Papa." It was another Weston hit featuring both Harry James and The Nomran Luboff Choir. (Eddie Fisher would do an English version that went high in the charts in 1954.)
Next we have a novelty record, offering bird sound effects on the violin, which features Paul Nero. Nero composed the song and then recorded it with backing by Weston's orchestra. The jazzy pop hit "The Hot Canary" has been popular as a perfomrance piece since it first came out.
Paul Weston, a pianist as well as a bandleader, was married to singer Jo Stafford. The couple did a comedy act as "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards." Here they are on Jack Benny's television program, in an early version of the bit as themselves.
Among his other talents, Paul Weston composed serious music, including "Crescent City Suite." Bless the person who uploaded the album to YouTube, allowing us to listen.
To finish today's post, here's my favorite Paul Weston composition, "Day By Day," as sung by the person I think did it best, TV comedienne and talented vocalist Jaye P. Morgan.
Two weeks from today: a blog post about books!
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