Stories of Standards—Them There Eyes

Tune in weekday mornings for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of “Them There Eyes.”  Rodney Franks presents Stories of Standards Monday through Friday at 7:50 and 8:50 a.m. starting Monday, April 20!

Stories of Standards is sponsored by ListenUp – If you love music, you’ll love ListenUp.

“Them There Eyes”, published in 1930, was written by Maceo Pinkard and Doris Tauber, with lyrics by William Tracey. Louis Armstrong recorded a version in 1931, while Billie Holiday’s 1939 recording for Vocation Records established it as a jazz standard. Among other popular recordings were those by Bing Crosby (Nov 20, 1930), Duke Ellington (1931), Lester Young (1938), Varetta Dillard (1952), Frank Sinatra (1956), Benny Goodman (1957), Ernie Ford (1960, #18 on the UK Singles Chart), Peggy Lee (1961), Carmen McRae (1961), Sarah Vaughan (1961), Chaka Khan (1982), Oscar Peterson (1995), Etta Jones (2001) and Aretha Franklin (2004).

Maceo Pinkard (Jun 27, 1897 – Jul 21, 1962) was s composer, lyricist, bandleader and music publisher, who is also known for writing “Sweet Georgia Brown” (1925) with Ben Bernie, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey. Pinkard was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. He had moved to New York City from Bluefield, West Virginia in 1919.He met Duke Ellington at Barron’s Nightclub and introduced him to the music publishing district (Tin Pan Alley). He wrote and produced the Broadway show “Liza”, the first all-black show to play on Broadway during the regular season, where it ran for 172 performances at a time when 100 performances was considered good. Each year since his death, Bluefield State College, his Alma mater, has held a week-long festival in his honor. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, the same year as Billy Strayhorn.

Doris Tauber (Jun 27, 1897 – Jul 21, 1962) also wrote “Drinkin’ Again” with Johnny Mercer in 1962 and “I Was Made to Love You” in 1930 with Charles Tobias.

William Tracey (July 19, 1883 – Sept 5, 1957) began his career as a staffer for a number of publishing companies, where he worked with various composers, eventually focusing on writing lyrics. He was a charter member of ASCAP and was Maceo Pinkard’s most frequent collaborator. He went on stage as a singer in 1921 with “A Trip to Hitland”, featuring song writers performing their hits. He co-hosted a radio show in 1926 with Dan Dougherty, with whom he had worked since 1922. In the 1940s he wrote radio plays for Shapiro, Bernstein & Co, with titles based on popular songs.