Jolson July Recordings

|His Works|Studio Recording|July Recordings

Al Jolson The July Recordings

He didn't record many songs during July, but those that he did record, about a dozen, spanned the gamut. Enjoy these July tracks from The World's Greatest Entertainer.

The Columbia Recordings

23 Jul 1919: Who Played Poker With Pocahontas (When John Smith Went Away)? - Songs with plays on words were quite popular at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. Here's one that certainly fills the bill. Listen carefully for some of the double entendres in this song. And they complain about racy lyrics today!.

27 Jul 1923: That Big Blond Mamma - Billy Rose, who married Fannie Brice, and James Monaco, who wrote so many Jolson numbers, gave him this corpulent number to belt out.

The Brunswick Recordings

02 Jul 1924: Mandalay - This lilting song from the roaring 20s must have been quite a hit with the folks, it reached the number three spot on the Billboard charts, staying on the charts for five weeks.

24 Jul 1924: Who Wants A Bad Little Boy? - Even before "Sonny Boy," Jolson was singing about little boys. Here's a prime example of his craft.

25 Jul 1929: Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away) - Did Al Jolson really stand up in the theatre of Ziegfeld's "Show Girl" as Ruby Keeler danced and sing this song, reportedly on July 2, 1929? I've read about it in many versions; but it's a great story, and Jolie liked to tell it, himself. Whatever, it's a great Gershwin classic.

The Decca Recordings

On two days in July, 1950, Al Jolson entered the Decca Recording studios for what were to be his last two commercial recording sessions. On these two days, he recorded eight Stephen Foster songs. These songs, which recall Jolson's portrayal of E. P. Christy in Swanee River, the Foster bio-pic starring Don Ameche as Stephen Foster from 1939, were to become the last formally recorded by Al Jolson. They were released as his only "theme" album. I present them here as recorded. No comments are needed, the songs are all familiar.

Recorded 13 Jul 1950
*Ol' Black Joe*	*My Old Kentucky Home*


*Beautiful Dreamer*	*Massa's In De Cold Cold Ground*

Recorded 17 Jul 1950
*Old Folks At Home*	*I Dream Of Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair*


*Oh! Susanna*	*De Camptown Races*

"De Camptown Races" was the last song recorded commercially in a studio by Al Jolson.

Unless otherwise noted, transcriptions on this page are from the personal collection of the webmaster.

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Updated 05 Jul 26