[78-L] Grtacie Fields mystery song

[David Hornby]

I've been looking through the Gracie Fields discography, in particular at the

list of her unpublished recordings. One of them -- a song called "Free" -- has

set me puzzling. There were two takes of the song on 22 September, 1932 (matrix

OB-4214-1-2). At the same session, Gracie recorded Underneath the Arches, and I

had assumed that "Free" was the other well known Flanagan and Allen song, "Free

(Isn't it the way it ought to be?)" However, Flanagan and Allen's song was

recorded some years later and is by Kennedy and Carr. The HMV recording ledger

credits Gracie's rejected version to a "Haynes". This could be a typing error

for Haines of the "Haines and Harper" song-writing team (though curiously, the

next ledger credits another song to Haines and spells him correctly.) I've

never come across any other version of this Haynes/Haines song, Free, and

wondered if anyone else had seen it? It is not listed in Rust and it may be

that Gracie was simply trying out a song which never saw light of day. But the

song's title makes it virtually impossible to do a meaningful internet search!