"Belle Baker had just lost her husband, and, struck by the personal sense of loss conveyed in the lyrics, broke down weeping during a performance. The press picked up the story and before long the song was a hit."
- JW
Vaudeville star Belle Baker introduced the public to "All of Me" over the radio in 1931. Detroit songwriters, Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks, offered Baker the song, and she sang it onstage at the Motor City's famous Fisher Theatre. As the story goes, the singer had just lost her husband, and, struck by the personal sense of loss conveyed in the lyrics, broke down weeping during a performance. The national press picked up the story and before long the song was a hit.
A December 1, 1931, recording of "All of Me" by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, with vocalist Mildred Bailey, was the song's first major hit. It entered the pop charts in January of 1932 and rose to the number one position where it held for three weeks. By February three renditions of "All of Me" were on the charts, Louis Armstrong's version also climbing to number one. All told, the hits included:
Louis Armstrong (1932, #1)
Paul Whiteman and His orchestra (1932, Mildred Bailey, vocal, #1)
Ben Selvin and His Orchestra (1932, #19)
Count Basie and His Orchestra (1943, Lynne Sherman, vocal, #14)
Frank Sinatra (1948, #21)
Johnny Ray (1952, #12)
"All of Me" was also included in the 1932 Fox Studios comedy, Careless Lady, starring Joan Bennett and John Boles. A New York Times review characterized the film as "artificial," "strained," and "haphazardly directed so lacking in suspense that a child could hazard a guess as to how the tame complications are going to be untangled."
After 1932, "All of Me" was largely forgotten until after World War II when a 1948 Frank Sinatra recording was a modest hit. It resurfaced again when Sinatra sang it in Meet Danny Wilson (1952), giving a boost to Johnny Ray's recording that same year.
At the 2000 Award and Induction Ceremony, the Songwriters Hall of Fame selected "All of Me" as one of two songs to receive that year's Towering Song Award. Praising the Marks/Simons composition, the SHOF comments,
Truly a Towering Song, "All Of Me," first introduced by the singing star Belle Baker, was recorded by Frank Sinatra four different times, each time with a different interpretation. More recently, country star Willie Nelson, also recorded "All Of Me," a version which enjoyed a lengthy stay on both the pop and country charts.
More information on this tune...
Henry Martin Enjoying Jazz Schirmer Books Paperback: 302 pages
(Author Martin devotes two pages to "All of Me" including a musical analysis, a list of performers, and a jazz solo transcription.)
See the Reading and Research page for this tune for additional references.
- Jeremy Wilson
This section suggests definitive or otherwise significant recordings that will help jazz students get acquainted with "All of Me." These recordings have been selected from the Jazz History and CD Recommendations sections.
Louis Armstrong's 1932 recording of "All of Me" (This Is Jazz, Vol. 23: Louis Armstrong Sings) is a stand-out performance both musically and for the impact it had on making the tune a standard in jazz circles. Over twenty years later, Lester Young provided one of his late-career classics in a quartet performance of "All of Me" (Pres and Teddy) along with pianist Teddy Wilson. Meanwhile, Sarah Vaughan's 1957 version (Swingin' Easy) is one of the great modern versions of the tune and a wonderful example of her scatting.
Noah Baerman - Jazz Pianist and Educator
Music and Lyrics Analysis
The lyrics for "All of Me" elaborate on the sentiment,
You took … my heart, so why not take all of me?
The 20-bar introductory verse is almost never sung; its lyrics add little and almost seem to ramble in relation to the succinct 64-word refrain.
Using an A-B-A-C form, Simons and Marks introduce their title and melodic hook two times in the first three bars of the song, beginning and ending those measures with "All of Me." Although the melodic hook and its variations repeat throughout the song, Marks and Simons wisely prevent the lyrics from becoming boring, saving the lyrical hook, "All of Me," until the very end.
The chord changes for "All of Me" are frequently used by jazz musicians for their improvisations and for new compositions, two examples being "Background Music" by Warne Marsh and "Lo Flame" by Bill Dobbins.
- JW
Musical analysis of "All of Me"
Original Key
Bb major; brief foray into G minor during the bridge
Form
A – B – A – C
Tonality
Primarily major
Movement
Lots of arpeggiation, generally downward with some chromatic embellishments
Comments (assumed background)
This is one of the most (over)played pieces in the Dixieland/Traditional jazz repetoire. The chord progression is based on circles of fifths, starting with I – III7 ("Charleston," "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You"), using minor substitutions. The "A" does not resolve to V7 – I, however, going directly from ii back to III7, then starting the circle again and finally resolving to V7 – I as it goes into the second "A". The only real harmonic surprise comes in the fifth measure of "C". Where we might expect to hear a II7on its way to V7, the composer instead uses a iv, sometimes played as a ii7(b5). Since the melody here lands on the flatted sixth degree of the scale (Gb in the original) and the chord of the moment is preceeded by a VI7 (its own V7chord), there are virtually no other chords that would work in this spot.
K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com
Benny Carter, alto saxophonist, trumpeter and arranger, was among a group of talented musicians for whom leading a big band became a financial disaster (Bunny Berigan, Jack Teagarden and Bobby Hackett, just to name a few, suffered as well). Fortunately Carter's big band made a number of great records, leaving a legacy illustrating his great playing and that of his sidemen.
His 1942 recording of "All of Me" is a treat. He began arranging in the 1920's with Fletcher Henderson, and his writing for saxophone section, which leads off this performance, was unparalleled. (He later arranged, wrote and conducted for films and television).
A rare treat on the last chorus of Carter's arrangement is a marvelous solo on clarinet, an instrument he seldom played but of which he was a master.
Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian
Additional information for "All of Me" may be found in:
Thomas S. Hischak The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia Greenwood Press Hardcover: 552 pages
(1 paragraph including the following types of information: film productions, lyric analysis, history and performers.)
Robert Gottlieb, Robert Kimball Reading Lyrics Pantheon Hardcover: 736 pages
(Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.)
Henry Martin Enjoying Jazz Schirmer Books Paperback: 302 pages
(2 pages including the following types of information: music analysis, performers and jazz solo transcription.)
"All of Me" was included in these films:
Careless Lady (1932)
Meet Danny Wilson (1952, Frank Sinatra)
Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953, Gloria DeHaven)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960, Dinah Washington)
Lady Sings the Blues (1972, Diana Ross, Richard Pryor)
All of Me (1984)
Bird (1988, Charlie Parker, saxophone; Monty Alexander, piano; Ray Brown, bass; John Guerin, drums)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999, Carol Woods, Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli, Kelly Friesen, Ken Peplowski, Ted Sommer)
Swing! (1999, Ann Hampton Calloway, Everett Bradley)
And on television:
The Helen O'Connell Show (1957) Theme music for NBC musical variety show
The Muppet Show (1976) Season 1, Episode 8
Edderkoppen (2000, Katrine Madsen) Danish TV mini series
The Sopranos (2001) Season 3, Episode 29 "Fortunate Son"
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Henry Martin
Thomas S. Hischak
Robert Gottlieb, Robert Kimball
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