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1. My Little Cousin 2:45
2. Oh The Pity Of It All 2:24
3. Pig Foot Pete 2:52
4. Three Little Sisters 2:41
5. Together 2:00
6. Ol' Man River 2:57
7. (If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have To Swing It 3:17
8. Body And Soul 3:01
9. Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater 2:28
10. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good 2:52
11. I Cover The Waterfront 2:56
12. As Long As I Live 3:00
13. Sweet Lorraine 2:57
14. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen 2:57
15. The Boy Next Door 3:15
16. After You've Gone 2:34
17. Lotus Land 2:58
18. Miss Otis Regrets 2:53
19. Life's Only Joy 3:04
20. Ooh, Dr. Kinsey! 3:10
21. Blues In The Night 2:36
22. Wolf Boy 2:33
23. Close To Me 2:45
24. That Old Black Magic 2:38
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Title:
Martha
Raye
Swings
Artist:
Martha
Raye
Catalogue
No:
SEPIA
1089
Barcode:
5055122110897
Release
Date:
7
March
2007
Born
in
Montana
in
1916,
Martha
Raye
was
the
daughter
of
a
vaudeville
couple
and
joined
her
parents'
act
as
soon
as
she
learned
to
walk.
She
made
her
Broadway
debut
in
the
1934
musical
revue
Calling
All
Stars.
While
appearing
as
a
singer-comedienne
at
the
Trocadero
in
Hollywood,
Paramount
quickly
signed
her
to
a
contract
and
she
literally
exploded
on
the
screen
in
her
feature
debut,
Rhythm
on
the
Range
with
Bing
Crosby,
easily
stealing
the
picture
with
what
would
become
her
trademark
song
-
(If
You
Can't
Sing
It)
You'll
Have
to
Swing
It
-
better
remembered
today
as
"Mr.
Paganini".
Through
two
dozen
films,
opposite
such
comic
greats
as
Bob
Hope,
W.C.
Fields,
Jack
Benny,
Burns
and
Allen,
and
Abbott
and
Costello,
she
more
than
held
her
own
with
her
big
mouth
and
gorgeous
legs
in
a
series
of
zany
roles.
She
then
formed
a
U.S.O.
troupe,
performing
tirelessly
under
incredibly
difficult
and
dangerous
conditions
throughout
World
War
II.
This
led
to
her
greatest
screen
performance
of
all
opposite
Charlie
Chaplin
in
Monsieur
Verdoux.
Among
her
seven
husbands
was
orchestra
leader
David
Rose,
with
whom
she
made
a
series
of
commercial
recordings
in
1939.
Among
them
were
what
was
possibly
the
first
uptempo
swing
version
of
Ol'
Man
River
as
well
as
the
beautifully-torchy
Body
And
Soul.
In
1942,
she
recorded
the
boogie-woogie
classic
Pete
Foot
Pete,
which
she
had
introduced
in
the
film
Keep
'em
Flying.
Determined
to
prove
her
skills
as
a
jazz
singer,
she
used
the
pseudonym
"Margie
Reed"
and
recorded
five
standards
with
Charlie
Barnet
in
1946.
Their
success
emboldened
her
and
she
ventured
into
an
eclectic
jazz
album
with
Phil
Moore,
billed
as
Martha
Raye.
Television
brought
a
new
visibility
to
her
career
in
the
1950's,
and
her
combination
of
comedy
and
song
became
firmly
meshed
in
the
hearts
of
the
public.
On
her
own
hour-long
variety
show
and
later
as
a
frequent
guest-star,
she
was
in
constant
demand
throughout
the
rest
of
her
life.
She
entertained
the
soldiers
once
again
in
Vietnam
that
earned
her
the
Presidential
Medal
of
Freedom,
and
appeared
in
two
more
major
films
-
Billy
Rose's
Jumbo
with
Doris
Day
and
The
Concorde
-
Airport
'79.
She
also
co-starred
in
three
more
TV
series
-
Alice
with
Linda
Lavin,
McMillan
And
Wife
with
Rock
Hudson
and
the
cult
favorite
The
Bugaloos,
in
which
she
camped
it
up
as
Benita
Bizarre.
This
Sepia
release
is
a
reminder
of
the
times
when
Martha
Raye
was
at
her
best
-
singing
her
heart
out
as
only
she
could.
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