Early life and career
The son of the Rabbi of the Talmud Torah Synagogue (now Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah) in Washington, D.C., Jolson became a popular singer in New York City in 1898, and gradually developed the key elements of his performance: blackface makeup; exuberant gestures; operatic-style singing; whistling and directly addressing his audience.
By 1911, he had parlayed a supporting appearance in the Broadway musical La Belle Paree into a starring role. He began recording and was soon internationally famous for his extraordinary stage presence and personal rapport with audiences. His Broadway career is unmatched for length and popularity, having spanned close to 30 years (1911-1940). Audiences shouted, pleaded, and often would not allow the show to proceed, such was the power of Jolson's presence. At one performance in Boston, the usual staid and conservative audience stopped the show for 45 minutes. He was said to have had an "electric" personality, along with the ability to make each member of the audience believe that he was singing only to them. However, he is best known today for his appearance in one of the first "talkies" The Jazz Singer, the first feature film with sound to enjoy wide commercial success, in 1927. In The Jazz Singer Jolson performed the song "Mammy" in blackface. In truth, Jolson's singing was never jazz, indeed his style remained forever rooted in the vaudeville stage at the turn of 20th century.
Jolson is the first music artist to sell over 10 million records. While no official Billboard magazine chart existed during Jolson's career, their staff archivist Joel Whitburn used a variety of sources such as Talking Machine World's list of top-selling recordings, and Billboard's own sheet music and vaudeville charts to estimate the hits of 1890-1954. By his reckoning, Jolson had the equivalent of 23 No. 1 hits, the 4th-highest total ever, trailing only Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, and Guy Lombardo. Whitburn calculates that Jolson topped one chart or another for 114 weeks.
Among the many songs popularized by Jolson were "You Made Me Love You," "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody," "Swanee" (songwriter George Gershwin's first success), "April Showers," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye," "California, Here I Come," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "Sonny Boy" and "Avalon."
Jolson was a political and economic conservative, supporting Calvin Coolidge for president of the United States in 1924 (with the ditty "Keep Cool with Coolidge") unlike most other Jews in the arts, who supported the losing Democratic candidate, John William Davis.
Jolson was married to actress/dancer Ruby Keeler from 1928 to 1940, when they divorced. The couple had adopted a son, Al Jolson Jr., during their marriage, but when he was 14 the boy changed his name to Peter Lowe after his mother's second husband, John Lowe.
After leaving the Broadway stage, Jolson starred on radio. The Al Jolson Show aired 1933-1939, 1942-1943, and 1947-1949, and these shows were typically rated in the top ten. Jolson continued performing until his death in 1950.
The Jolson story
After the success of Warner Bros. film Yankee Doodle Dandy about George M. Cohan, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky believed that a smiliar film could be made about Al Jolson -- and he knew just where to pitch the project. Harry Cohn may have seemed to a lot of people in Hollywood like a crude, loud vulgarian, but he had one soft spot: he loved the music of Al Jolson.
Skolsky pitched the idea of an Al Jolson biopic and Cohn agreed to it. Directed by Alfred E. Green (best known today for the pre-Code masterpiece Baby Face, The Jolson Story is one of the most entertaining of the musical biopics of that era -- an era that included Yankee Doodle Dandy, Till the Clouds Roll By, Words and Music and Three Little Words. With Jolson providing almost all the vocals, and actor Larry Parks playing Jolson, The Jolson Story was released in 1946, and became one of the biggest hits of the year. Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the film became one of the highest grossing films of the year.
"The Jolson Story," and its 1949 sequel "Jolson Sings Again," led to a whole new generation who became enthralled with Jolson's voice and charisma. Jolson, who had been a popular guest star on radio since its earliest days, now had his own show, hosting the "Kraft Music Hall" from 1947-1949, with Oscar Levant as a sardonic piano-playing sidekick. Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a Variety poll. The next year, Jolson was named Personality of the Year by the Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, he attributed his receiving the award to his being the only singer not to make a record of Mule Train, which had been a widely covered hit of that year (four different versions, one of them by Crosby, had made the top ten on the charts).
Jolson joked that he'd tried to sing the hit song. "I got the clippetys all right, but I can't clop like I used to."
Jolson's legacy is considered by many to be severely neglected today because of his use of stage blackface, at the time a theatrical convention used by many performers (both white and black), but today viewed by many as racially insensitive. Jolson was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," which is how many of the greatest stars (including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Jackie Wilson) referred to him. Charles Chaplin wrote in his Autobiography that he was one of the most electrifying entertainers he had ever seen. A life-long devotion to entertaining American servicemen (he first sang for servicemen of the Spanish-American War as a boy in Washington, D.C.) led Jolson, against the advice of his doctors, to entertain troops in Korea in 1950 when his heart began to fail.
Death
Jolson died on October 23, 1950, in San Francisco at a card game, at the age of 64, apparently of a heart attack, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California, where a statue of Jolson beckons visitors to his crypt. On the day he died, Broadway turned off its lights for 10 minutes in Jolson's honor.
Al Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
1. For his contribution to the motion picture industry at 6622 Hollywood Blvd.;
2. For his contribution to the recording industry at 1716 Vine St.;
3. For his contribution to the radio industry at 6750 Hollywood Blvd.
Forty-four years after Jolson's death, the United States Postal Service acknowledged his contribution by issuing a postage stamp in his honor. The 29-cent stamp was unveiled by Erle Jolson Krasna, Jolson's fourth wife, at a ceremony in New York City's Lincoln Center on September 1, 1994. This stamp was one of a series honoring popular American singers, which included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ethel Merman, and Ethel Waters. Al Jolson is one of Mr. Burns' (from The Simpsons) favorite actors - he still believes that he is alive.
Jolson's song I'm Sitting on Top of the World was played during the opening montage of 1930's New York City in the 2005 remake of King Kong.
In August of 2006, Al Jolson had a street in New York named after him.
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Al Jolson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't you think you oughta start this tune?"
"No, I don't think so, Bing
I may be a guest and all that, but I, I think you oughta start it"
"Well, it was written a little before my time
I'm afraid it might date me"
"Date you?" ("Yeah")
"Don't tell me the first time you heard this song
"Oh, no, no, I came to the show on a Go-Devil that day"
"A Go-Devil?" ("Yes, haha")
"Well, Bing, look, let's stop this kidding
I think you oughta start" ("no, you oughta start, already")
"No, you start it, please" ("you think so?")
"Yeah, I think so" ("well, if you insist")
"Mmm-hmm"
Come on and hear, come on and hear (oh, you dog)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Come on and hear, come on and hear 'bout the best band in the land
They can play a bugle call like you never heard before
So natural, that you'll want to go to war
That's just the bestest band, what am, oh, honey lamb
Come on along, come on along, let me take you by the hand
Up to the man, up to the man who's the leader of the band
And if you can hear the Swanee River played in ragtime
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
"Say Al, that's the mighty Xander himself playing, ain't it?"
"Oh, yeah, that's him, ain't nobody else"
"Oh, he's a river boat man"
"River boat? What do you know about river boats?"
"Oh, I've made many a happy buck on them river boats"
"Playing in a band?"
"No, no, making four the hard way"
"Two deuces, huh?"
"That's it" ("haha")
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Come on and hear (well, here I come)
Come on and hear (I'm standing right here)
Here's the best band in the land
They can play a bugle call like you never heard before
That's just the bestest band, what am, oh, honey lamb
Come on along (come on along)
Come on along (come on along)
Let me take you by the hand (here's my lily white)
Up to the man (the mighty man)
I'm talking about the man
Mmm, the leader of the band
And if you care to hear that Swanee River played in ragtime
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander's Ragtime Band
The lyrics of Alexander's Ragtime Band, written by Irving Berlin in 1911 and performed by Al Jolson, consist of two men, Al and Bing, talking to each other about who should start the tune for Alexander's Ragtime Band. Al insists that Bing should begin the song because he is the host of the show, while Bing feels that Al, being a guest, should start the song. After some playful banter, Bing finally starts the song and the lyrics describe the prowess of the band, particularly the leader Alexander, and invite listeners to come and hear them play the Swanee River in ragtime style.
Line by Line Meaning
Say Al, you're a guest here today
Don't you think you oughta start this tune?
As a guest, Al Jolson is expected to start the song. Bing Crosby suggests he starts the tune, but Al Jolson refuses and insists Bing Crosby starts it instead.
Well, it was written a little before my time
I'm afraid it might date me
Bing Crosby fears the song will make him appear old as it was written before his time.
"Date you?" ("Yeah")
Don't tell me the first time you heard this song
Was when your mama had you on her lap, you know, listening to me singin'
Al Jolson pokes fun at Bing Crosby for being too young to have heard the song when it was first released and Bing Crosby jokes how he first heard it as a baby with his mother.
"Oh, no, no, I came to the show on a Go-Devil that day"
"A Go-Devil?" ("Yes, haha")
Despite being young, Bing Crosby heard the song when he came to the show on a Go-Devil, a vehicle used for transportation, at the time.
"Well, Bing, look, let's stop this kidding
I think you oughta start" ("no, you oughta start, already")
"No, you start it, please" ("you think so?")
"Yeah, I think so" ("well, if you insist")
Al Jolson and Bing Crosby exchange playful banter over who should start the song, but ultimately Bing Crosby agrees to start the song.
Come on and hear, come on and hear (oh, you dog)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Come on and hear, come on and hear 'bout the best band in the land
They can play a bugle call like you never heard before
So natural, that you'll want to go to war
That's just the bestest band, what am, oh, honey lamb
The song introduces Alexander's Ragtime Band, a talented group of musicians, who can play the bugle so well that it inspires patriotic feelings in listeners. The band is described as the best in the land.
Come on along, come on along, let me take you by the hand
Up to the man, up to the man who's the leader of the band
And if you can hear the Swanee River played in ragtime
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Come on and hear (come on and hear)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
The song invites listeners to follow the band and its leader while they play an upbeat, ragtime-style version of the classic song Swanee River.
"Say Al, that's the mighty Xander himself playing, ain't it?"
"Oh, yeah, that's him, ain't nobody else"
"Oh, he's a river boat man"
"River boat? What do you know about river boats?"
"Oh, I've made many a happy buck on them river boats"
"Playing in a band?"
"No, no, making four the hard way"
"Two deuces, huh?"
"That's it" ("haha")
Al Jolson and Bing Crosby discuss the band leader Xander and Bing Crosby admires his talent. They also discuss Xander's past as a river boat gambler, which Al Jolson has experience of. They joke around about gambling, with Al Jolson bringing up the popular gambling game of craps.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Irving Berlin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind