[78-L] Grtacie Fields mystery song

[Kristjan Saag]

Hi, David,
Yes, it ought to be William George Haines (music hall artist and 
songwriter) who wrote "Sally" and several other songs for Gracie Fields. 
He also co-wrote with Michael Carr, so he could have been involved in 
"Free". Maybe Carr choose to pick up the song again, after starting his 
collaboration with Jimmy Kennedy (around 1934), and found new lyrics to 
it? Flanagan & Allen issued their version in 1937, but there were other 
versions out as early as 1936.

Here's what ASCAP has on Will (or Will E) (or W G) Haines:
http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=4801200&search_in=c&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=25&start=1
Kristjan

David Hornby wrote 2010-10-12 13:17:
>
> 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 list of her unpublished recordings.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! 		 	   		
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