No. 172 – Play It Again, Sam, Playlist

Casablanca image ©Warner Bros.

Prog 294’s (1982) Robo-Hunter cover [detail] drawn by Ian Gibson for the story Play It Again, Sam^[1]: A Comic Opera (16 episodes: progs 292–307 (1982–1983)) written by John Wagner and Alan Grant v pianist Sam (Dooley Wilson, 1886–1953) from Casablanca (1942) [but really he’s just a metaphor in this HoH entry for music in general]

Wagner and Grant’s magnum opus references the following songs – sung with adapted lyrics by various characters throughout – in order of their occurrence in the story:

1. Whistle While You Work (1937) by Frank Churchill (1901–1942) and lyrics written by Larry Morey (1905–1971) from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (RKO Pictures, 1937)
2. Mexican Hat Dance [Jarabe Tapatío] 18th century Mexican traditional
3. Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ (1943) by Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) [Rodgers and Hammerstein] from the Broadway musical Oklahoma!
4. My Favourite Things (1959) by Rodgers and Hammerstein from the Broadway musical The Sound of Music
5. The Toreador Song [Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre] (1875) from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet (1838–1875) to a libretto by Henri Meilhac (1830–1897) and Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908)
6. The Lambeth Walk (1937) from the musical Me and My Girl, lyrics by Douglas Furber (1885–1961) and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay (1898–1954)
7. The Teddy Bears’ Picnic (1907) melody by John Walter Bratton (1867–1947), lyrics added in 1932 by James Kennedy OBE^[2] (1902–1984)
8. Cousin Kevin from Tommy (Decca/MCA, 1969) by The Who
9. Barbara Ann (1961) written by Fred Fassert, first recorded by The Regents as Barbara-Ann (1961)
10. Onward, Christian Soldiers 19th-century English hymn, lyrics written by Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) in 1865, and the music composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan MVO^[3] (1842–1900) in 1871
11. Sh-Boom [also known as Life Could Be a Dream] (Cat Records, 1954) by The Chords
12. The Wanderer (1961) written by Ernie Maresca (1938–2015) and originally recorded by Dion [Dion Francis DiMucci]
13. Roll Out the Barrel [also known as Beer Barrel Polka or The Barrel Polka, from the original Czech tune Modřanská polka (Polka of Modřany)] (1927) by Jaromír Vejvoda (1902–1988) and Eduard Ingriš (1905–1991), lyrics added in 1934 by Václav Zeman with the title Škoda lásky (Wasted Love), but perhaps the best known in English is the version recorded by Bobby Vinton in 1975
14. Chattanooga Choo Choo (1941) written by Mack Gordon (1904–1959) and composed by Harry Warren (1893– 1981), recorded by Glenn Miller (1904–missing in action 1944) and His Orchestra and featured in the film Sun Valley Serenade (20th Century Fox, 1941)
15. Hello, Dolly! (1964) written by Jerry Herman from the musical of the same name, famously recorded by Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong (1901–1971) but originally sung by Carol Channing
16. We Ain’t Got the Dames (1949) probably referring to the song There Is Nothing Like a Dame by Rodgers and Hammerstein from the Broadway musical South Pacific
17. Delilah (December 1967) written by Leslie Reed with lyrics by Barry Mason and Sylvan Whittingham, and famously recorded by Tom Jones OBE [originally recorded by P. J. Proby – who hated it – in November, 1967]
18. Hokey Cokey British folk dance and music hall song. One-hit-wonders The Snowmen recorded a version that reached No. 18 in the UK charts in 1981, and Slade released a version of the song called Okey Cokey as a single in 1979
19. Save the Last Dance For Me by Doc Pomus (Jerome Solon Felder, 1925–1991) and Mort Shuman (1938–1991) and first recorded in 1960 by The Drifters with Ben E. King (1938–2015) on lead vocals
20. Bye Bye Blackbird (1926) by Ray Henderson (1896–1970) and lyricist Mort Dixon (1892–1956) and first recorded by Sam Lanin’s (1891–1977) Dance Orchestra
21. Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp) (1963) by Allan Sherman (1924–1973) and Lou Busch (1910–1979)
22. Land of Hope and Glory (1902) by Sir Edward Elgar OM, GCVO^[4] (1857–1934) and lyrics by A. C. Benson (1862–1925)
23. House of the Rising Sun [or Rising Sun Blues] traditional New Orleans folk song, made famous by The Animals in 1964
24. Summer Holiday (1963) by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, from the film of the same name (ABPC/AIP, 1963)
25. I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (1907) British music hall song written by John A. Glover-Kind (†1918) and made famous by music hall singer Mark Sheridan (1864–1918) who first recorded it in 1909
26. When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1863)^[5] American Civil War (1861–1865) song, lyrics by Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829–1892)
27. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (1965) written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by The Animals
28. The Green Door (1956) by Bob “Hutch” Davie and lyrics written by Marvin Moore, first performed by Jim Lowe (1923–2016); the most popular British version was by rock ‘n’ roll revivalist Shakin’ Stevens in 1981
29. Just an Old-Fashioned Girl (1956) by Marve A. Fisher (1916–1993), its best known recording by Eartha Kitt (1927–2008)

“Next prog” references:

• 292 “Can’t Stop the Music” – Can’t Stop the Music (Casablanca, 1980) by Village People
• 293 “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Sladey?” – Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby (Decca, 1943) by Luis Jordan (1908–1975)
• 294 “Vandals’ Slaughter Music” – Water Music (1717) by George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
• 295 “Lament For Hoagy” – Lament for the Dead (Scottish traditional), or possibly Neil Gow’s (1727–1807) Lament for the Death of His Second Wife (1805)
• 296 “Slade’s ‘Plan It’ Suite” – The Planets, Op. 32 (1914–1916), sometimes referred to as “The Planets Suite”, by Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
• 297 “Overture In a Sewer”
• 298 “Blows By Bow”
• 299 “Sam Slayed?”
• 300 “Take It From the Top”
• 301 “Bye Bye, Samuel?” – see No. 20 above, or possibly Bye Bye Birdie (1961), a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based on a story by Michael Stewart (1924–1987)
• 302 “Oh I Don’t Like to Be Beside the Seaside” – see No. 25 above
• 303 “Nothing to Sing About”
• 304 “The Ugly Bugs’ Ball” – The Ugly Bug Ball by brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman (1925–2012) from Disney’s Summer Magic (1963)
• 305 “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” – There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone from the album of the same name (Epic, 1971)
• 306 “The Resurrection Shuffle” – Resurrection Shuffle by Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (Capitol, 1971), covered by Tom Jones later the same year

Also referenced in Play It Again, Sam: New Romantic group The Human League (pictured here in 2012, left to right: Susan Ann Sulley, Joanne Catherall and Philip Oakey OBE) image ©The Daily Telegraph

Rodgers and Hammerstein also feature in HoH No. 202 – Ro-dgers and Hammerstein, and Bogie features in No. 148 – That’s S-P-A-D-E to You and No. 217 – The Big Sleep.

Notes:

1. “Play it again, Sam” is a line mistakenly believed to have been delivered by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957)) to his pianist Sam in Casablanca. The oft-misremembered line is based either on Ilsa Lund’s (Ingrid Bergman, 1915–1982) request to pianist Sam to “Play it once, Sam. For old times’ sake” – to which Rick vehemently objects – or the following exchange between Rick and Sam later in the film:
   Rick: “You know what I want to hear.”
   Sam: “No, I don’t.”
   Rick: “You played it for her, you can play it for me!”
   Sam: “Well, I don’t think I can remember…”
   Rick: “If she can stand it, I can! Play it!”
   The song is, of course, Herman Hupfeld’s (1894–1951) As Time Goes By (1931)
2. OBE: Officer of the Order of the British Empire
3. MVO: Member of the Royal Victorian Order
4. OM: Order of Merit; GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
5. Date on which the first sheet music publication was deposited at the US Library of Congress, with words and music credited to “Louis Lambert”, a pseudonym; copyright was retained by the publisher, Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston, U.S.). Gilmore admitted in an article in the Musical Herald that it was “a musical waif which I happened to hear somebody humming in the early days of the rebellion, and taking a fancy to it, wrote it down, dressed it up, gave it a name, and rhymed it into usefulness for a special purpose suited to the times.”