It All Belongs to Me
1927Sung by Ruth Etting
intro
Setting the Story Straight
For many vocalists of oopsie gaysies, their role was that of a narrator, sharing imagined characters’ stories of love and longing through the music.
Ruth Etting (1934)
Pop music is rather different today than it was almost one hundred years ago. Though catchy melodies, songs about desire, and the conveying of emotion are a common thread, one big difference is in the role of the vocalist.
In contrast to pop songs today in which singers may have a say in their creation or even author their own lyrics, even using them as a vehicle for self-expression, commercially in-demand singers of the 1920s and 1930s sang song after song written by the industry’s dedicated composers and lyricists.
The song structures themselves were also different, and a key part of the songs that is often forgotten today can tell us so much more about the stories behind the melodies.
LYRICS
INTRO VERSE
Take a look at the flower in my buttonhole
Take a look say and ask me why it’s there
Can’t you see that I’m all dressed up to take a stroll?
Can’t you tell that there’s something in the air?
I’ve got a date, can hardly wait
I’d like to bet she won’t be late
CHORUS
Here she comes, come on and meet
A hundred pounds of what is mighty sweet
And it all belongs to me
Flashing eyes and how they roll
A disposition like a sugar bowl
And it all belongs to me
That pretty baby face
That bunch of style and grace
Should be in Tiff’ny’s window
In a platinum jewel case
Hey there you
You’ll get in dutch
I’ll let you look but then you mustn’t touch
For it all belongs to me [...]
In this example, the narrator uses the personal pronouns “I” and “me” to situate the song from their point of view as the story proceeds. A non-gendered main character, the person describes the the attractive qualities of a woman they are about to go on a date with- and are rather possessive of! With Etting’s feminine voice taking on the role, the queerness of the song is made possible.
“Those lips that I desire, are like electric wire
She kissed a tree last summer oo she started a forest fire”
She kissed a tree last summer oo she started a forest fire”
Often the introductory verses establish the gender of the song’s characters, setting the scene early on as either casually queer or decidedly straight.
Consider the famous song ‘Ain’t She Sweet?’ from 1927, a song that has been recorded countless times in the decades since, and even by the Beatles. Though their 1960s version skips the intro verse, we can look to older recordings such as Lillie Delk Christian’s rendition to see the song structure most 1920s and early 1930s artists were singing.
“Just cast an eye
In her direction,
Oh me! Oh my!
Ain’t that perfection?”
Press play to listen along:
Front cover, with male vocal duo Van and Schenck featured along with a drawing representing the woman described in the song. Illustrated sheet music covers were designed to attract attention and increase sales.
Inside cover, containing previews of other songs also made by Ager.Yellen & Bornstein Inc. Music publishers used sheet music to promote other titles in their catalogue.
First page of the song. Notice on the second line where the word ‘voice’ is typed? This shows the beginning of the introductory verse.
Second page of the song. The ‘chorus’ denotes where the main part of the song begins, with the first A section of the AABA form. This structure was so popular in these decades, it is now known as the ‘American popular song form.’
Third and final page of the song. Though it is not labeled, the B section (somewhat analogous to what we would now call a bridge) begins at the words ‘Just cast an eye’ and ends at ‘ain’t that perfection?’ before returning to an A section, the catchiest part of the composition.
Last page of the sheet music; the perfect space to fit in some more advertisements!
'Ain't She Sweet?' (1927)
Sheet Music,
Mississippi State
University Libraries
In the verse, the narrator’s use of ‘me’ pronouns identifies them as the character who is infatuated with a woman walking down the street; it is perhaps for this reason that the song was more commonly recorded by men. Another interesting oopsie gaysie example can be found on film, however.
When American actor Lillian Roth performed the hit in 1933 as a sing-a-long track, she used the verse as an opportunity to adjust the pronouns, keeping the more famous chorus untouched while changing the pronouns in the intro verse to “you.” Here, she literally “sets the story straight”, placing the role of the amorous gazer onto the audience. (Note the placement of the verse is later than usual in the song, starting at around 00:50)
Press play to watch, listen, and even sing along:
Lillian Roth in ‘Ain’t She Sweet?’ (1933)
Short Film
With this simple switch, she reveals the power of pronouns in changing the perspectives in the song, emphasising her role as a narrator and distancing herself from the lust expressed for the woman she is singing about.
By skipping intro verses altogether, recording artists could change the meaning of songs dramatically.
By the time swing was the most popular style of jazz in the 1930s, large bands largely omitted the less danceable drifting intros and focused on rhythmic choruses. Even in the mid-1920s when introductory verses were still commonplace in ballads and recordings by smaller ensembles, many dance band orchestras playing foxtrot or Charleston numbers used them sparingly.
Let us consider the song “Charley My Boy.” Written in 1924, it was a popular song for dance band orchestras, which at the time mainly featured male vocalists. With the word ‘boy’ in the title, there is no ambiguity about the object of affection, who the narrator seems to be positively giddy for:
Bennie Kreuger and His Orchestra (date unknown)
“They tell me Romeo was some lover too,
But boy he should have taken lessons from you!”
But boy he should have taken lessons from you!”
‘Charley My Boy’ (1924)
Sheet Music
Note the illustration depicting an artist’s version of the titular character. He is well-coiffed and youthful in appearance, dressed in fashionable US collegiate style clothing. Sensitive, well-groomed men were seen as very desirable during this decade.
Listen to the verseless Bennie Kreuger’s Orchestra version below sung by Billy Jones, a popular dance band vocalist in the mid 1920s:
Press play to listen along:
LYRICS
Charley my Boy,
Oh Charley my Boy
You thrill me, you kill me
With shivers of joy
You've got the kinda sorta
Bit of a way
That makes me takes me
Tell me what shall I say?
And when we dance
I read in your glance
Whole pages and ages
Of love and romance
They tell me Romeo was
Some lover too
But boy he should have
Taken lessons from you
You seem to start
Where others get through
Oh Charley my Boy.
Other versions of this common oopsie gaysie, however, leave the verse intact. These recordings reveal that the song, despite the use of the gender-neutral “I” pronouns in the chorus, was written from the perspective of Charley’s girlfriend.
In the version below, the exposition at the start of the song sets up the singer, Eddie Cantor, as playing the part of ‘Flo’. Just a few lines give context to the song that would otherwise not be clear, setting up the vocalist as relaying the story of a female character in a heterosexual relationship:
Press play to listen along:
Cantor’s sometimes subtly gendered vocal affectations as he relays Flo’s perspective are clues that he had a penchant for portraying over the top characterisations across race, gender, and ethnicity; like many popular singers of his day Cantor’s pre-radio and recording career started on the vaudeville circuit.
LYRICS
INTRO VERSE
Charley is an ordinary fellow to most everyone but Flo, his Flo
She’s convinced that Charley is a very extraordinary beau, some beau
And every evening in the dim light
She has a way of putting him right
CHORUS
Charley my Boy,
Oh Charley my Boy
You thrill me, you kill me
With shivers of joy [...]
There, he was best known for his comedy skits, portraying stereotypical depictions of Jewish people, spoofing his own heritage. Concurrently, he was an especially big name in the disturbingly enduring stage tradition of blackface. Although ‘Charley My Boy’ is not specifically racialised, having a third-person verse at the beginning of the song allows listener to understand the context of the singer’s act, and solidifies his role as a comedic storyteller- rather than a queer man in love.
Next time you hear an oopsie gaysie, listen out for an introductory verse. Does it set the story straight, and how would the perspective shift if I was skipped?
Listen to more recordings with a significant intro verse that shares who is singing the song, or continue to the next exhibit to discover how the people being sung about significantly shaped the meaning of the music.