I have posted about this long out-of-print album here, here, here, and here.
Finally, a commenter has noted that the entire album is available for downloading online.
Enjoy.
Tag: Little Songs on Big Subjects
Little Songs on Big Subjects–Sung by Bibb & Gilbert
Earlier this year I mentioned there were at least two cover records of the Jesters’ version of Little Songs on Big Subjects. In addition to a version by the Bachelors:
There was also a Leon Bibb/Ronnie Gilbert album called It Could Be a Wonderful World that included many (or all…I have more research to do) of these Zaret/Singer tunes. Subtitled Little Songs on Big Subjects (look at the album cover’s upper left corner), it was released in the ’50s, but it is barely mentioned on the Internet.
I now have the album. Sent to me recently by Dan Horowitz, it has all the Jesters’ tunes, plus three more by Zaret and Singer which I had never before heard:
‘Round the World Polka
I Want to Live in a Friendly World
We’re Building a Happier World
Bibb and Gilbert (she, one of the original Weavers) have beautiful voices, but I still prefer the Jesters’ versions. These are songs for kids…and the Jesters’ arrangements are more kid-friendly.
Little Songs on Big Subjects–Cover Records
Under US Copyright Law, once a tune is recorded and released, others may record and release their own versions without explicit permission from the writers or the publisher. The process is simple: pay for a compulsory license. The rate is preset by statute.
I recently learned that in addition to the Jesters’ very successful 1948 album, Little Songs on Big Subjects (described by me here and here), there was an almost identical album released on Vox Records by the Bachelors. I have not yet Continue reading “Little Songs on Big Subjects–Cover Records”
Little Songs on Big Subjects
When we were very little, my brother and I had a record entitled Little Songs on Big Subjects. Sung by The Jesters, one of the first groups to record commercial jingles, the tunes, written by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer, emphasized tolerance. Zaret, who died in 2007 just a month shy of 100, told me in 2002 that he thought of the songs as short, catchy jingles.
We played the LP until the grooves wore out.
Little Songs on Big Subjects was a big hit. In 1949, The New Yorker, in a Talk of the Town Continue reading “Little Songs on Big Subjects”