"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a 1933 hit song with lyrics by
Al Dubin
Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.
Life
Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that emigrated to the United States from Swi ...
and music by
Harry Warren
Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...
.
Deane Janis
Deane Janis (June 19, 1904 – March 8, 1988) was an American popular singer during America's swing era. She is best known for singing on the musical variety radio program ''Camel Caravan''.
Career
Janis was born, Nadeen Andrews, in Omaha, Nebr ...
with
Hal Kemp
James Hal Kemp (March 27, 1904 – December 21, 1940) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger.
Biography
Hal Kemp was born in Marion, Alabama. He formed his first band in high school, and by the a ...
's Orchestra recorded the original version on October 31, 1933, in Chicago, which was issued by
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...
. In 1934, a rendition sung by
Constance Bennett
Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...
appeared in the film ''
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (P ...
'', but was unreleased on record.
Set in Paris, the lyrics include "I walk along the street of sorrow/The Boulevard of Broken Dreams/Where gigolo and gigolette/Can take a kiss without regret/So they forget their broken dreams."
''Boulevard of Broken Dreams'' served as the title tune for a stage musical which played February 11March 9, 2003 at the
Coconut Grove Playhouse
The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a theatre in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It opened on January 3, 1927, as a part of ...
: featuring a libretto by Joel Kimmel, the play was based on the life of composer Al Dubinplayed by
Jordan Bennett
Jordan Bennett (born Jordan Bennett Suffin) is an American actor, singer, writer and songwriter.
Biography
Bennett began his career in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York as a singer and comedian. While there, he worked with such perfo ...
and featured a number of Dubin compositions as its score.
The song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" has been added to the score of the stage musical ''
42nd Street'' for its 2017
West End run being performed by
Sheena Easton
Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress. Easton came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television programme '' The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to ...
in the character of Dorothy Brock: the ''Daily Express'' opined that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" seemed "out of place" in ''42nd Street'' while stating that Easton sang the song "splendidly".
This piece is a
tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
. The harmony utilizes a
harmonic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
scale.
Renditions
*
Ted Weems
Wilfred Theodore Wemyes, known professionally as Ted Weems (September 26, 1901 – May 6, 1963), was an American bandleader and musician. Weems's work in music was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Biography
Born in Pitcair ...
and His Orchestra recorded the song with vocals by
Elmo Tanner
William Elmo Tanner, known as Elmo Tanner (August 8, 1904 – December 20, 1990) was an American whistler, singer, bandleader and disc jockey, best known for his whistling on the chart-topping song “ Heartaches” with the Ted Weems Orche ...
on December 5, 1933, in Chicago on the
Bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas.
...
label as catalog number 5288.
*
Jan Garber
Jan Garber (born Jacob Charles Garber, November 5, 1894 – October 5, 1977) was an American violinist and jazz bandleader.
Biography
Garber was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had his own band by the time he was 21. He became known as "The ...
and His Orchestra recorded the song with vocals by Lee Bennett on December 14, 1933, on the
Victor
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
label as catalog number 24498. Their recording remained on the U.S. Billboard chart for 11 weeks and reached number six in 1934.
*Ed Lloyd's Rhythm Boys recorded the song with vocals by
Helen Ward on February 2, 1934, on
Conqueror Records
Conqueror Records was a United States-based record label, active from 1928 through 1942. The label was sold exclusively through Sears, Roebuck and Company.
History
Conqueror was originally owned by the Plaza Music Company, then became part of ...
as catalog number 8261.
*
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
sang the song with Jimmie Grier and His Orchestra on April 16, 1934, on his radio show ''Bing Crosby Entertains'' (the Woodbury series).
*
Connee Boswell
Constance Foore "Connie" Boswell (December 3, 1907 – October 11, 1976) was an American vocalist born in Kansas City but raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. With sisters Martha and Helvetia "Vet", she performed in the 1920s and 1930s as the trio ...
recorded the song on April 27, 1934, on the
Brunswick label for the b-side of the
78rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
single to "
Carioca
Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial, maybe from Tupi language "''kari' oka''", meaning "white house" as the whitewashed stone ...
" as catalog numbers 6871 and 01783.
*
Bert Ambrose
Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (11 September 1896 – 11 June 1971), known professionally as Ambrose or Bert Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose became the leader of a highly acclaimed British dance band, ''Bert Ambrose & His Orc ...
and His Orchestra recorded the song with vocals by
Sam Browne
General Sir Samuel James Browne, (3 October 1824 – 14 March 1901) was a British Indian Army cavalry officer, known best as the creator of the Sam Browne belt. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the most prestigious award for gallantry ...
in 1934 on the Brunswick label as catalog number 01721.
*
María Teresa Vera
María Teresa Vera (February 6, 1895 in Guanajay – December 17, 1965 in Havana) was a Cuban singer, guitarist and composer. She was an outstanding example of the Cuban trova movement.
Career
She started her career as a singer in 1911 in a the ...
composed and sang "Veinte años" in 1935 with the melody of the first two lines taken from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and Spanish lyrics by Guillermina Aramburu. This song became a
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n classic, and was later covered by many other Cuban singers.
*Harry Sosnik and His Orchestra recorded the song with vocals by
Frances Langford
Julia Frances Newbern-Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and actress who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and made film and television appearances for over two decades.
She was known as the "GI Nighting ...
on July 3, 1939, in Los Angeles on the
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
label for the b-side of the 78rpm single to "
Moonglow" as catalog number 2861.
*The
King Cole Trio
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
(featuring
Jack Costanzo
Jack Costanzo (September 24, 1919 – August 18, 2018) was an American percussionist.
Biography
A composer, conductor and drummer, Costanzo is best known for having been a bongo player, and was nicknamed "Mr. Bongo". He visited Havana three ...
on bongos) recorded the song July 26, 1949.
*"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a
signature song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
of
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...
, who was signed by
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
to
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
on the strength of Bennett's 1949
demo
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
of the song. In his debut Columbia session on 17 April 1950 at
CBS 30th Street Studio CBS 30th Street Studio, also known as Columbia 30th Street Studio, and nicknamed "The Church", was an American recording studio operated by Columbia Records from 1948 to 1981 located at 207 East 30th Street, between Second and Third Avenues in Manha ...
, Bennett, backed by the
Marty Manning
Martin Manning (April 26, 1916 – November 22, 1971) was a Grammy-winning American arranger and conductor of popular music, most noted for his work at Columbia Records in the 1950s and early 1960s when he was "one of the most in-demand arr ...
orchestra, recorded "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to serve as Bennett's major label debut single release on 27 April 1950. Bennett subsequently recorded the song in 1990, 2006 (as a duet with
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
for Bennett's ''
Duets: An American Classic'' album) and 2007.
*Instrumental versions of this song include the version by jazz piano virtuoso
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...
, from ''The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces''.
*This was the title track of country music crooner
Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky (December 3, 1925 – March 17, 2011) was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky-tonk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes. He had two dozen top-20 hit ...
's 1957 album.
*
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...
's first greatest-hits compilation, ''
Billy's Best!'' (1958) with
Bobby Tucker
Bobby Tucker (born Robert Nathaniel Tucker; January 8, 1923 – April 12, 2007). was a pianist and arranger during the jazz era from the 1940s into the 1960s. He is most famous for being Billie Holiday's accompanist from 1946 to 1949 and Bil ...
Orchestra, arranged by
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
and
Pete Rugolo
Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer.
Life and career
Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settle ...
.
*In 1958,
Morton Downey Jr.
Sean Morton Downey Jr. (December 9, 1932 – March 12, 2001) was an American television talk show host and actor who pioneered the "trash TV" format in the late-1980s on his program ''The Morton Downey Jr. Show''.
Early life
Downey's parents we ...
sang the song on national television, on a set that resembled a dark street with one street light.
*It was covered by
No Wave artist
James White on his 1983 album ''Flaming Demonics''.
*
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...
covered it in her
Hal Willner
Hal Willner (April 6, 1956 – April 7, 2020) was an American music producer working in recording, films, television, and live events. He was best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical sty ...
-produced album ''
Strange Weather'' in 1987, and later on ''
20th Century Blues'' (1996).
*
Monsieur Camembert
Monsieur Camembert is a five-piece Gypsy fusion band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1997. They have won three ARIA Music Awards for Best World Music Album in ARIA Music Awards of 2002, 2002 for ''Live on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album), Live on ...
featured it on their
ARIA award
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
-winning self-titled album, ''
Monsieur Camembert
Monsieur Camembert is a five-piece Gypsy fusion band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1997. They have won three ARIA Music Awards for Best World Music Album in ARIA Music Awards of 2002, 2002 for ''Live on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album), Live on ...
'', sung by Jacqi Stoddard.
*
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, '' Billboard'' maga ...
covered the song on her 1996 album ''
All for You: a Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio'' and on the International Limited Edition version of her 2006 album ''
From This Moment On'', which was also released as a bonus track on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
.
*This song was featured on a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
''
Apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
'' advertisement in 2010.
*It was covered by the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
group
Café Jacques
Café Jacques are a progressive rock band originally formed in Edinburgh, Scotland and most active in the 1970s. An early version of Café Jacques numbered seven musicians, but the most successful line-up was a trio, consisting of Chris Thomson ...
on their 1978 album ''International''.
*
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
covered it in 1996 and included the cover in the Japanese edition of his album ''
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
''.
*The song was sung live on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
show ''
Dancing with the Stars
''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...
'' in 2010 (Season 11, episode 4) by the show's band during an
Argentine tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as AB ...
dance featuring
Anna Demidova
Anna Stepanovna Demidova (26 January 1878 – 17 July 1918) was a lady-in-waiting in the service of Empress Alexandra of Russia. She stayed with the Romanov family when they were arrested, and was executed together with Alexandra and the Roman ...
and Andrey Begunov.
*
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
covered the song during her 2011 Soul Festival show in Brazil.
*
Sylvia Brooks
Sylvia Brooks is an American jazz singer and songwriter.
Sylvia Brooks started her career in classical theatre, having studied at The American Conservatory Theater under the direction of Allen Fletcher and Bill Ball.
In 2009, Brooks began sing ...
covered the song on her 2013 album ''Restless''.
*
Haim Hefer
Haim Hefer ( he, חיים חפר 29 October 1925 – 18 September 2012) was a Polish-born Israeli songwriter, poet and writer. He wrote for numerous composers and musical artists, as well as for military bands. Several of his songs, including "H ...
wrote Hebrew lyrics titled "Ha-Peruta veha-Yareach" (הפרוטה והירח) in 1948 to a melody based in part on "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and in part on "Veinte años."
*
Puddles Pity Party recorded a cover of the song in Doppler Studios, Atlanta GA on Sept 29th 2015.
*Canadian pop crooner Matt Forbes released his contemporary version of the song as a single in May 2022.
References
External links
Boulevard of Broken Dreamsat artgrok.org
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Al Dubin Detailed Song Listat Songwriters Hall of Fame
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Harren Warren Detailed Song Listat Songwriters Hall of Fame
"Ha-Peruta veha-Yareach" at zemereshet- Hebrew song to this melody
{{authority control
1933 songs
Songs with lyrics by Al Dubin
Songs with music by Harry Warren
Tony Bennett songs
The Muppets songs
Great Depression songs