SWING MUSIC ON WANE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 25 November 1939, Page 4

SWING MUSIC ON WANE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN “SECOND FIDDLE” Swing music has pretty well run its ! course and will in a short while be a I thing of the past, declares Irving Berlin. dean of America’s popular song writers. The master of the modern ballad and dance music, who gave the world its first real taste of ragtime and ' then blazed the trail into jazz and swing j with some 600 compositions, asserts that i the popularity of swing has visibly dii minished and is definitely on the way j out. “The trend to so-called musical sanity is very apparent to-day. A year ago. the music heard over the air was I predominantly swing, but to-day there I is far better balance in the menu,” Berlin said. In place of swing, he prophesied, will come sweet music, with the emphasis on melody. It will be a return to normal. Berlin has just completed six new numbers for his forthcoming production, Irving Berlin’s “Second Fiddle.” Darryl F. Zanuck is in charge of the production which stars Sonja Henie and Tyrone Power, and features Rudy Vallee and Edna May Oliver. Only one of these songs is swing, + he composer points out, which is about the proportion that would be popular when the picture was released, he figured. The swing number is “Back to Back,” which introduces a new step that probably will become a ballroom craze. Evolved by Harry Losee, who staged Sonja’s skating ensembles, the dance is a variation of the Lambeth Walk which the participants execute while back to back. The other.songs differ from Berlin’s previous musical efforts, he points out,

.in that each will be a definite part of I the story. ' ' “We are trying something a little out I of the ordinary with the music in “Second Fiddle,’ ” explained the composer. “In the past songs could be classed only as musical accompaniments. Sometimes they fitted well into the story being unfolded on the screen and sometimes not. But the songs for ‘Second Fiddle’ will be an integral part of the plot. The non-swing numbers of “Second Fiddle” are: “I’m Sorry for Myself,” “An Old Fashioned Tune Always is Ne.w,” “When Winter Comes,” “Song Of the. Metronome,” and “I Poured My HqgrUinto a Song.” “OFfcourse,” Berlin declared, “arrangers can put almost any tune to swingtime and they may do so in the case of these five numbers. However, I’m not ; particularly perturbed over the possi- | bility because I believe swing will al- i ready be fairly well out-of-date when 1 the film is released. Besides, I think i orchestra leaders will realise that the songs will sound better if played as in- j tended.”