"SING, SING, SING" (1936)

The Kings of Swing, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, though rivals on the bandstand, shared a common complaint. Each had an albatross of a song that brought them fame but that they had tired of playing long before fans had tired of hearing it. For Artie Shaw, it was "Begin the Beguine"; for Benny Goodman, it was "Sing, Sing, Sing."
Louis Prima wrote the song and Goodman’s arranger, Jimmy Mundy, created the chart for the band. Mundy referred to "Sing, Sing, Sing" as a "killer-diller", his term for songs that were high-energy, fast tempo instrumentals whose purpose was to create audience excitement and stir dancers into a frenzy. Killer-dillers played by big bands like Benny Goodman’s ushered in the Swing Era, and "Sing, Sing, Sing" probably is the most famous killer-diller associated with Goodman, if not the entire Swing Era. Goodman said, "Sing, Sing, Sing" (which we started doing back at the Palomar on our second trip there in 1936) was a big thing, and no one-nighter was complete without it…" The Goodman band usually closed every show with that climatic song.
The Goodman band personnel had the muscle and bravado to deliver killer-dillers. In the 1930s trumpets still ruled in jazz bands – the era of saxophone dominance was yet to come – and Goodman’s trumpet section of Harry James, Ziggy Elman, and Chris Griffin was the most celebrated. Termed "The Biting Brass" by the music press, they widely were considered to be the best. Duke Ellington referred to them as "the greatest trumpet section that ever was," and Glenn Miller called them "the marvel of the age." Goodman was asked by Harry Glantz, first trumpet player with the New York Philharmonic, "What the hell to you feed those trumpet players? Raw meat?" David French, at www.AllAboutJazz.com describes the auditory and visual excitement generated by Goodman’s trumpet section, "All three members could solo and play lead. They memorized their parts, played matching Selmer trumpets, and tuned slightly sharp for a more brilliant sound. Nearly seventy years later it is still thrilling to hear their roar on classic recordings like "Roll 'Em," "Life Goes to a Party," and the Stravinsky-inspired frenzy, "Sing, Sing, Sing." In vintage footage they toss out their valve hands with a flourish, point their bells high and rip through their parts with the proud nonchalance of young men who know they are the best at what they do."
In addition to the trumpet section, drummer Gene Krupa was another high-octane band member. He powered the bombastic "Sing, Sing, Sing" with his relentless tom-tom drumming and drum soloing. To quote David Rickert at www.AllAboutJazz.com, "Sing, Sing, Sing" made good use of the ferocious energy of Krupa, who was the showman of the band. A whirl of arms, hair, and chewing gum, Krupa knew how to work a crowd and cater to the audience. As pianist Jess Stacy related to Whitney Balliett, "Gene was our salesman, our showman, and he worked hard. You could wring water out of his sleeves when he finished a set." Quite naturally, then, "Sing, Sing, Sing" became a showcase for the drummer."
The Benny Goodman Orchestra first recorded "Sing, Sing, Sing" for Victor Records in 1937. The band performed the definitive version of the song at the famous 1938 Carnegie Hall jazz concert. This concert was one of the milestones of jazz and is credited with legitimizing jazz as a true art form. Will Friedwald at www.nysun.com describes that performance, "Sing, Sing, Sing … was a knockout in concert (most famously at Carnegie). Arranger Jimmy Mundy began by combining themes by two other musicians, the trumpeter Louis Prima and the tenor saxist Chu Berry… As originally recorded on a two-sided single, the piece was already a double length extravaganza, but by the time of the Carnegie performance, it had grown into a 13-minute magnum opus. The Prima and the Berry themes were only the beginning; the second part had the band playing a descending, cascading sequence of notes in round harmony that sounded positively frightening, as if Benny and the boys were trying to scare away the Great Depression and the Nazis at the same time. Whereas the entire ensemble plays with turn-on-a-dime precision in the first half, the second represents complete freedom of the most primal sort, with trumpeter Harry James and then Goodman soloing with just Gene Krupa's drums for accompaniment, both contrasting soaringly pure high notes with blue growls and other "freak" effects. In bringing jazz to Carnegie, they were, in effect, smuggling American contraband into the halls of European high culture, and Goodman and his 15 men pull it off with the audacity and precision of Ocean's Eleven." A recording of the concert released in 1950 by Columbia Records was one of the first jazz recordings to sell over a million copies.
Though chaotic and frenzied songs like "Sing, Sing, Sing" made the Goodman band hugely successful, they were taking their toll on the band members. As trumpeter Chris Griffin said, "We were doing "Sing, Sing, Sing"...and "One O'clock Jump"—all those killer-dillers. They're exciting from the outside of it, and when you do it for the first ten times. But when you do it a hundred times it loses its novelty." Harry James was the first to leave the band. After the Carnegie Hall performance James, who had to perform an over-the-top solo on "Sing, Sing, Sing" at the end of every night, found the pressure too much for him. When he asked Goodman to move the song earlier in the program and Goodman refused, he left the band. But, Goodman was having his problems with the music as well. David Rickert goes on to say, "Goodman grew weary of the loud, crazy music that he was forced to play, due in large part to Krupa's showmanship. He wanted his music to be appreciated on its own terms, not because of the theatrics involved, and wanted to avoid the uproar at his concerts that often drowned out solos. Goodman also resented the fact that when kids came for autographs, they rushed past him to get to the exuberant drummer. Eventually the tension erupted into squabbling on the bandstand, and shortly after the famous Carnegie Hall concert, Krupa tore up his contract and departed to form his own group. ...Goodman recruited Dave Tough as Krupa's replacement, a more modest, reserved man who was reluctant to take solos."
Though Goodman may have grown tired of "Sing, Sing, Sing," its infectious excitement still stirs listeners. The song has become one of the most recognized symbols of the Swing Era. Its rhythm and flamboyant drum solos make it easily accessible to rock audiences and it is heard everywhere from television commercials to high school marching bands. To date, it has appeared on the sound track of over twenty films, in sixteen television shows and four Broadway musicals.