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1946 studio album by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin
Blue Skies: A Paramount Technicolor Production Released 1946 (original 78rpm album) 1949 (original LP album) Recorded 1946 Genre Popular Length 27 :09 (original 78rpm album)21 :41 (original LP album)Label Decca
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic [ 1]
Blue Skies is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire released in 1946 featuring songs that were presented in the American musical film Blue Skies . Like Song Hits from Holiday Inn , the entire 78 rpm album would be composed of Irving Berlin songs written specifically for the film. This was the first release of one of Astaire's greatest songs, "Puttin' On the Ritz ", on shellac disc record .
Down Beat magazine liked it:
Don't miss this show album. Any of the complete score albums that Decca turns out have rotten tunes thrown in with the good. This one is no exception - but it does have Crosby, and Astaire in what may very well be his last wax appearance. Astaire may be no singer, but even on wax, his personality comes through.[ 2]
The album quickly entered Billboard's album charts reaching the No. 2 spot [ 3] and was also ranked No. 20 of the top selling popular record albums for 1947.[ 4]
These newly issued songs were featured on a 5-disc, 78 rpm album set Decca Album No. A-481 .[ 5] The first four discs are sung by Bing Crosby, while the last disc has Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire dueting on "A Couple of Song and Dance Men" and Astaire soloing on "Puttin' On the Ritz". All music and lyrics by Irving Berlin .
Side / Title
Recording date
Performed with
Time
Disc 1 (23646):
A. "Blue Skies "
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
3:23
B. "(I'll See You In) C-U-B-A "
July 24, 1946
Trudy Erwin and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
3:06
Disc 2 (23647):
A. "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song "
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:50
B. "(Running Around in Circles) Getting Nowhere"
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:07
Disc 3 (23648):
A. "A Serenade to an Old-Fashioned Girl"
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
3:03
B. "Everybody Step"
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:25
Disc 4 (23649):
A. "All By Myself "
July 18, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
3:14
B. "I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now "
July 24, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:34
Disc 5 (23650):
A. "A Couple of Song and Dance Men"
July 24, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:17
B. "Puttin' On the Ritz "
July 24, 1946
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
2:10
[ 6]
Eight of the songs were included on the Decca 10" LP Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" (DL 5042) issued in 1949. The omissions were "A Serenade to an Old-Fashioned Girl" and "Everybody Step".
Side one
Blue Skies "
"(I'll See You In) C-U-B-A"
"You Keep Coming Back Like a Song "
"Getting Nowhere"
Side two
"All By Myself "
"I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now "
"A Couple of Song and Dance Men"
"Puttin' On the Ritz"
Albums
Music of Hawaii (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
Cowboy Songs (Bing Crosby's first solo album) (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
Ballad for Americans (Bing Crosby's first solo studio album)(1940)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
Christmas Music (1940)
Star Dust (1940)
Hawaii Calls (1941)
Small Fry (1941)
Crosbyana (1941)
Under Western Skies (1941)
Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire ) (1942)
Merry Christmas (1945)
Selections from Going My Way (1945)
Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
Don't Fence Me In (w/ The Andrews Sisters ) (1946)
The Happy Prince (1946)
Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
Bing Crosby – Stephen Foster (1946)
What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin ) (1946)
Bing Crosby – Jerome Kern (1946)
St. Patrick's Day (1947)
Bing Crosby – Victor Herbert (1947)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
Our Common Heritage (1947)
El Bingo (1947)
The Small One (1947)
The Man Without a Country (1947)
Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
Blue of the Night (1948)
Selections from Showboat (1948)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
St. Valentine's Day (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from Broadway Shows (1948)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
Auld Lang Syne (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin (1949)
South Pacific (1949)
Christmas Greetings (1949)
Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1950)
Songs from Mr. Music (w/ Dorothy Kirsten and The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Go West Young Man (w/ The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Collectors' Classics, Vols. 1–8 (1951)
Way Back Home (1951)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from... (1951)
Bing and the Dixieland Bands (1951)
Yours Is My Heart Alone (1951)
Country Style (1951)
Beloved Hymns (1951)
Bing and Connee (w/ Connee Boswell ) (1952)
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1952)
Themes and Songs from The Quiet Man (w/ Victor Young ) (1952)
Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (w/ Jane Wyman and The Andrews Sisters ) (1952)
Road to Bali (w/ Bob Hope and Peggy Lee ) (1952)
Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
Bing Sings the Hits (1954)
Selections from White Christmas (w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye ) (1954)
Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost (1955)
Merry Christmas (later version of 1945 78rpm album) (1955)
Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1956)
Home on the Range (1956)
Blue Hawaii (1956)
High Tor (w/ Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane ) (1956)
A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World (1956)
Anything Goes (w/ Donald O'Connor , Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire ) (1956)
High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra , Grace Kelly , and Louis Armstrong ) (1956)
Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
Bing with a Beat (1957)
A Christmas Story (1957)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
New Tricks (1957)
The Bible Story of Christmas (1957)
Never Be Afraid (1958)
Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1958)
Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1958)
Around the World with Bing! (1958)
Bing in Paris (1958)
That Christmas Feeling (1958)
In a Little Spanish Town (1958)
Bing’s Buddies and Beaus (1959)
Say One for Me (w/ Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner ) (1959)
How the West Was Won (w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1960)
Join Bing and Sing Along (1960)
Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong ) (1960)
Songs of Christmas (1960)
101 Gang Songs (1961)
El Señor Bing (1961)
My Golden Favorites (1961)
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
Bing's Hollywood (set of 15 albums) (1962)
On the Happy Side (1962)
I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
Holiday in Europe (1962)
Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring ) (1964)
Robin and the 7 Hoods (w/ Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin , and Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1964)
12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring ) (1964)
Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1965)
That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney ) (1965)
The Summit (w/ Dean Martin , Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1966)
Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1966)
Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boychoir Sing Family Christmas Favorites (w/ The Columbus Boychoir ) (1967)
Thoroughly Modern Bing (1968)
Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1968 version) (1968)
Hey Jude/Hey Bing! (1969)
Goldilocks (1970)
A Time to Be Jolly (1971)
Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie ) (1972)
Rhythm on the Range (1972)
I’ll Sing You a Song of the Islands (1972)
A Southern Memoir (1975)
That's What Life Is All About (1975)
A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire ) (1975)
Tom Sawyer (1976)
At My Time of Life (1976)
Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium (1976)
Feels Good, Feels Right (1976)
Beautiful Memories (1977)
Bingo Viejo (1977)
Seasons (Bing Crosby's last studio album released during his lifetime) (1977)
A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
On the Sentimental Side (posthumous edition, recorded in 1962; Bing Crosby's latest studio album) (2010)
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