DON´T BLAME ME
Music: Jimmy Mc Hugh- Lyrics: Dorothy Fields
Year: 1932
Origin of the song
In 1932, the actor and singer Walter Woolf King (evil Lassparri from A Night at the Opera, 1935), performed ‘Don’t Blame Me’ in the musical Clowns in clover in the Apollo Theater of Chicago. The play was released in 1927 in the Adelphi Theatre of London and starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge, married in real life. It was a great success and had five hundred performances. Noel Gay was the author of the show’s score but, for the Chicago’s performance, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh added some songs, ‘Don’t Blame Me’ among them.
The year after its theatre premiere, Fields and McHugh included ‘Don’t Blame Me’ in the soundtrack of the film Dinner at Eight, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by George Cukor, and starring Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, and Jean Harlow. It was released on 12 January 1934 in New York. That is the reason why, sometimes, this film is seen as the origin of this song. Both authors also wrote a song with the same title as the film to promote it. The singer and actress Frances Langford sang it for the first time and it became a great hit of Ben Selvin’s orchestra with the vocalist Helen Rowland.
Jimmy Mc Hugh, and Dorothy Fields are as well authors of the songs ’I Can’t Give You Anything but Love’ (1928), ‘I Must Have That Man’ (1928), ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ (1930), ‘Exactly Like You’ (1930), and ‘I’m in the Mood for Love’ (1935).
Versions in the top charts
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
DAY OF ENTRANCE |
PERMANENCE WEEKS |
HIGH POSITION REACHED |
|
|
1933.06.07 |
1933.07.22 |
4 |
9 |
Carmen Lombardo (voc) |
|
|
Ethel Waters |
1933.07.18 |
1933.08.19 |
8 |
6 |
Ethel Waters (voc), Victor
Young Orchestra |
|
Charles Agnew Stevens Hotel Orchestra |
1933.07.25 |
1933.08.19 |
2 |
13 |
Stanley Jacobsen (voc) |
|
King Cole Trio |
1944.11.21 |
1948.07.31 |
1 |
21 |
Nat Cole (voc, p) |
|
The Everly Brothers |
1961.05.?? |
1961.05.25 |
8 |
20 |
Don & Phil Everly (g, voc) |
Jazz. Outstanding performances
Instrumental
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1937.11.12 |
Teddy Wilson (p) |
|
|
1943.09.?? |
Hot Lips Page (tp), Ben Webster (ts), Clyde Hart (p), Charlie Drayton (bars), Denzil Best (d) |
|
|
1944.05.29 |
Coleman Hawkins (ts), Teddy Wilson (p), John Kirby (b), Sid Catlett (d) |
|
|
Mel Powell |
1945.05.?? |
Mel Powell (p) |
|
1946.01.07 |
Emmett Berry (tp), Illinois Jacquet (ts), Bill Doggett (p), Freddie Green (g), John Simmons (b), Shadow Wilson (d) |
|
|
1947.11.04 |
Charlie Parker (as), Miles Davis (tp), Duke Jordan (p), Tommy Potter (b), Max Roach (d) |
|
|
Lennie Tristano Trio |
1947.11.08 |
Lennie Tristano (p), Billy Bauer (g), Tommy Potter (b) |
|
1949.05.11 |
J.J. Johnson (tb), Sonny Rollins (ts), John Lewis (p), Gene Ramey (b), Shadow Wilson (d) |
|
|
Art Tatum |
1955.??.?? |
Art Tatum (p) |
|
Ahmad Jamal Trio |
1955.10.?? |
Ahmad Jamal (p), Ray Crawford (b), Walter Perkins (d) |
|
1960.04.17 |
Jackie McLean (as), Blue Mitchell (tp), Walter Bishop, Jr. (p), Paul Chambers (b), Art Taylor (d) |
|
|
1963.02.27 |
Thelonious Monk (p) |
|
|
1991.06.27 |
Tete Montoliu (p), Rufus Reid (b), Akira Tana (d) |
|
|
Joe Lovano Quartet |
2003.06.11 |
Joe Lovano (ts), Hank Jones (p), George Mraz (b), Paul Motian (d) |
Vocal
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1933.07.18 |
Ethel Waters (voc), Bunny Berigan or Sterling Bose (tp), Tommy Dorsey (tb), Larry Binyon (ts), Jimmy Dorsey, unidentified (as), Fulton McGrath (p), Dick McDonough (g), Artie Bernstein (b), Chauncey Morehouse or Stan King (d), Harry Hoffman, Joe Venuti (vn), Victor Young (dir) |
|
|
1944.11.21 |
Nat Cole (voc, p), Oscar Moore (g), Johnny Miller (b) |
|
|
Slim Gaillard Quartet |
1945.??.?? |
Slim Gaillard (g, voc), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Tiny 'Bam' Brown (b), Zutty Singleton (d) |
|
1947.07.02 |
Sarah Vaughan (voc), George Treadwell (tp, dir), E. V. Perry, Roger Jones, Hal Mitchell, Jesse Drakes (tp), Ed Burke, Dickie Harris, Donald Coles (tb), Rupert Cole, Scoville Browne (as), Budd Johnson, Lowell Hastings (ts), Eddie de Verteuill (bars), Jimmy Jones (p), Al McKibbon (b), J.C. Heard (d) In The Town Hall, New York |
|
|
2001.??.?? |
Terence Blanchard (tp), Edward Simon (p), Derek Nievergelt (b), Eric Harland (d), Cassandra Wilson (voc) |
On cinemas
The song 'Don't Blame Me' is included in the soundtrack of the following movies:
|
ORIGINAL
TITLE |
TITLE IN
SPAIN |
YEAR OF
PRODUCTION |
PERFORMERS OF THE SONG IN THE FILM |
|
Dinner At Eight |
Cena a las ocho |
1933 |
|
|
Penthouse |
Asesinato en la terraza |
1933 |
Background music |
|
After Office Hours |
El escándalo del día |
1935 |
|
|
Sitting Pretty |
Niñera moderna |
1948 |
Background music |
|
The Strip |
The Strip |
1951 |
Vic Damone |
|
The Bad And The Beautiful |
Cautivos del mal |
1952 |
Peggy King |
|
Take the High Ground! |
Hombres de infantería |
1953 |
|
|
Bring Your Smile Along |
Venga tu sonrisa |
1955 |
Constance Towers |
|
The Reluctant Debutante |
Mamá nos complica la vida |
1958 |
|
|
Two Weeks In Another Town |
Dos semanas en otra ciudad |
1962 |
Leslie Uggams |
|
The Dirty Dozen |
Doce del patíbulo |
1967 |
|
|
Shoot The Moon |
Después del amor |
1982 |
Helen Slayton-Hughes |
|
Armageddon |
Armageddon |
1998 |
Limpopo |
|
Carol |
Carol |
2015 |
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks |