Glenn Miller In the Mood!

Discussion in 'General' started by wowtank, Mar 6, 2012.

  1. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Was "In the Mood" as ubiquitous as films and TV have us believe?
     
  2. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Are you referring to the Glenn Miller song?
     
  3. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    I'm always in the mood.
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I'm always in the mood.

    In the mood for dancing? Didn't know you was a Nolan Sisters fan ... :indexCAXI2NHN:
     
  5. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Are you referring to the Glenn Miller song?

    Yep. Changed the name of the thread.
     
  6. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    In the mood for dancing? Didn't know you was a Nolan Sisters fan ... :indexCAXI2NHN:

    Always and I loved the Nolans when I was younger, very tasty in those days. :lol:
     
  7. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    With all the US military in the UK, I think it was indeed pretty popular amongst the women service personnel. My Mum (ATS - Signals WO) certainly danced to it when Glenn Miller and his Band played at Rainbow Corner in the autumn of 1944. 67 years later she taps her feet along with it - John Miller (Glenn's nephew) rang her up last year to say hello to her.

    I'll ask her your question when I see her on Thursday.

    Richard
     
    wowtank likes this.
  8. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    With all the US military in the UK, I think it was indeed pretty popular amongst the women service personnel. My Mum (ATS - Signals WO) certainly danced to it when Glenn Miller and his Band played at Rainbow Corner in the autumn of 1944. 67 years later she taps her feet along with it - John Miller (Glenn's nephew) rang her up last year to say hello to her.

    I'll ask her your question when I see her on Thursday.

    Richard

    Thanks :)
     
  9. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Would they be a way to found out how many times it was played on the BBC during war time?
     
  10. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Thanks guys for posting this is just for my own curiosity not for a book or anything.
     
  11. ceolredmonger

    ceolredmonger Member

    Its a good enough representation if you only need one tune - like 'Bluebirds over' for Vera Lynn, there were lots more songs and lots more performers.

    With Swing there is also the 'acceptable to the media' element - Swing was essentially a black fashion which, in its recorded form crossed over. In reality troops played whatever they could get - those who went to the trouble to get records sent would tend towards the radical/latest. Swing led to some radical developments in US popular culture - such as mixed 'race' bands and mixed audiences. The segregated US forces ensured that when the music was played live it was by single 'color' bands hence Glen Miller. As a representation of the genre its got all it needs (as with any musical style, fans will scoff at one 'mainstream', safe band/tune representing the style).

    Benny Goodman would probably be more representative however being Jewish and with a mixed race band he did not fit the media profile (he once told his driver to "run over that little f*ck", one of my proudest moments as a security guard!) - There is a photo of a US Sherman called "Flat Foot Floogie" after a swing song famously recorded by Benny Goodman amongst others. Written by Slim Gailard it is about a whore with VD!

    Keith
     
  12. Ednamay

    Ednamay wanderer

    Oh, the memories - Flat foot Floogie (0r floozie)

    Oh, the flat foot floogie with a floy, floy,
    Flat foot floogie with a floy, floy,
    Flat foot floogie with a floy, floy,
    Floy doy, floy doy, floy doy.

    Yeah, yeah yeah, byah, oh, baby!
    Yeah, byah, byah, oh, baby!
    Yeah, byah, byah, oh, baby!
    Yeah, byah, byah!

    Whenever your cares are chronic,
    Just tell the world, "go hang,"
    You'll find a greater tonic,
    If you go on swingin' with the gang!

    Flat foot floogie with a floy, floy,
    Flat foot floogie with a floy, floy,
    Floy, floy, floy, yeah!
    Send me on out there!

    Whenever your cares are chronic,
    Just tell the world, "go hang,"
    You'll find a greater tonic,
    If you go on stumblin' with the gang!
    Hey, hey, hey, yes, yes!

    Nobody knew (or bothered!) about the origins and background, it was just a general cheer-leader !

    Edna
     
  13. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Just a quick feedback on what my Mum remembered from her war time. Obviously, it's just one woman's memory from her time being billeted in Sloane Square and working at the War Office in Whitehall from mid 1944 to early 1946.

    Her thoughts:

    - she didn't think that Glenn Miller tunes were necessarily ubiquitous, and that they may not have actually been played on the BBC at the time. Though she knew "In the Mood" quite well and danced to it.

    - I think that she picked up on quite a bit of "American" popular culture when she went out to the various dance halls in London during '44 and '45. As mentioned, she attended the Glenn Miller show at an American Forces social club annex (somewhere in Regent St) in the autumn of 1944.

    - she suggested that quite a number of other tunes were prevalent at the time: for instance she mentioned a particular Cole Porter written tune "Don't Fence Me In", which was very popular in the dance halls.

    - As a counterpoint, I'm sure my father didn't recognise many of the Glenn Miller's numbers when he returned from his trip outside England from Nov 1942 to Mar 1946.

    Just a few thoughts - not very scientific, I know.

    Richard
     
  14. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

  15. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Great Tune!

    According to the H2G2 site Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band was in constant demand from the time of their arrival in England on 22 June, 1944 until Miller's death almost 6 months later on 15 December.

    At Bedford, the band performed for 13 radio shows per week in a BBC studio and were constantly shuttled to different bases (35, all told) by aeroplanes that unfortunately had unpressurized cabins, which caused a persisting bad case of ringing in the ears for Miller. In the next five and a half months, they would perform in 71 concerts, which were all broadcast over the Allied Expeditionary Forces Network, beamed at troops in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

    Author Chris Way in his book has chronicled all the locations the band performed at in Britain

    GLENN MILLER IN BRITAIN THEN AND NOW (AfterTheBattle)
     
  16. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Thanks guys for the replies:)

    What does seem ubiquitous is that everybody likes his music.
     
  17. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    He played at the nearby air base Christmas of 1942 while he was stationed here for a short while.

    Every year for about the past 30 years, the city has invited a band from the USAF to perform a concert at Christmas. They band wears period uniforms and performs songs from the era. My wife and I used to go with my grandfather before he died in 2003. We wanted to go this year, but my wife's injury precluded that.
     
  18. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    Music that transends every era and style.
     
  19. Rav4

    Rav4 Senior Member

    Glen Miller's "In the mood" was popular with everyone during the war.:)
     
  20. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    BBC World Service - Meridian, Glenn Miller's In The Mood

    BBC Iplayer: On the history of the tune...

    Glenn Miller's In The Mood
    Meridian
    “It just captures romance.” A celebration of the American big band leader’s 1940 hit by the people who danced to it, the musicians who played for Miller’s and bands who still play one of swing’s most famous songs.
     

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