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.
Swanee
Al Jolson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I never thought I'd missed you so
Somehow I feel
You love is real
Near you I long to wanna be
The birds are singin', it is song time
The banjos strummin' soft and low
Yearn for me too
Swanee! You're calling me!
Swanee!
How I love you, how I love!
My dear ol' Swanee
I'd give the world to be
Among the folks in
D-I-X-I-E-ven now My mammy's
Waiting for me
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee
The folks up north will see me no more
When I go to the Swanee Shore!
The birds are singin', it is song time
The banjos strummin' soft and low
I know that you
Yearn for me too
Swanee! You're calling me!
Swanee, Swanee, I am coming back to Swanee!
Mammy, Mammy, I love the old folks at home!
In Al Jolson's classic song "Swanee", the singer speaks of a longing to return to his beloved Southern home of Swanee. He has been away from this place for a long time, and upon his return realizes how much he has missed it. He feels that the love he has for Swanee is real, and that he is meant to be reunited with it once again. As the birds sing and the banjo plays, the singer knows that Swanee is calling out to him, and he responds with his own love for the place.
The singer's lyrics are not only a tribute to his love for Swanee, but also speak to a broader sense of nostalgia and yearning for home. The upbeat tempo of the song makes it catchy and memorable, drawing in listeners with its joyful tune. The repetition of the word "Swanee" throughout the song emphasizes the singer's connection to this place, and highlights the importance of finding a home where one truly belongs.
Line by Line Meaning
I've been away from you a long time
I have been separated from you for an extended period of time
I never thought I'd missed you so
I did not imagine that I would have such a strong longing for you
Somehow I feel
I have a sensation
You love is real
The affection you have for me is true
Near you I long to wanna be
I desire to be in your presence
The birds are singin', it is song time
Presently, the avians are vocalizing, it is the period of the melody
The banjos strummin' soft and low
The musical instrument with strings is being played gently and silently
I know that you
I am aware that you
Yearn for me too
You also have a strong desire for me
Swanee! You're calling me!
The region known as Swanee is summoning me towards it
Swanee!
Swanee!
How I love you, how I love!
The intensity of my affection for you is immense!
My dear ol' Swanee
My beloved, historic Swanee
I'd give the world to be
I would relinquish everything to inhabit that location
Among the folks in D-I-X-I-E-ven now
At this very instant, amongst the people situated in the South
My mammy's waiting for me
My mother is anticipating my arrival
Praying for me
She is imploring for my well-being
Down by the Swanee
Situated adjacent to the Swanee
The folks up north will see me no more
The individuals in the northern area will not perceive me in the future
When I go to the Swanee Shore!
On the occasion I depart towards the shoreline of Swanee!
Swanee, Swanee, I am coming back to Swanee!
Swanee, Swanee, I am returning once more to Swanee!
Mammy, Mammy, I love the old folks at home!
Mother, Mother, I possess fondness for the elderly individuals at the domicile!
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRVING CAESAR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TheRealForrestGeorge
I've been away from you a long time.
I never thought I'd miss you so.
Somehow I feel
Your love is real.
Near you I want to be.
The birds are singing it is song time.
The banjo's strumming soft and low.
I know that you
Yearn for me too.
Swannee, you're calling me.
Swanee, how I love you, how I love you
My dear old Swanee.
I give the world to be
Among the folks in D-I-X-I-E
Even though my mammy's
Waiting for me,
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee.
The folks up north will see me no more
When I get to that Swanee shore.
I miss the old folks at home.
Swanee, how I love you, how I love you
My dear old Swanee.
I give the world to be
Among the folks in D-I-X-I-E
Even though my mammy's
Waiting for me,
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee.
The folks up north will see me no more
When I get to that Swanee shore.
@bradfordrusso7480
@@StephanieCabriales I can Not tell the intent of your ambiguous comment. Is it pro or con? But I will tell this: I do NOT tolerate people who ignorantly accuse Al Jolson of being racist.
First of all, he was a Jew. They are Notoriously sympathetic to minorities and ethnic discrimination. Gee, I wonder why ?!?!
Secondly, that makeup is NOT intended as a black stereotype. In truth, it is much like today's stark white clown makeup. Look at the big white oval around his mouth. Watch as he rolls his eyes. These are all part of overly exaggerated facial expressions, much like a mime. Used for visual entertainment.
Thirdly, consider what the Brits call a "gollywog". It has Pure Black face and hands (Not Negro skin tone). It's much like our Teddy Bear, but in a harlequin costume. A clown or jester. It's a purely innocent children's toy.
Fourthly, Jolson actually used his immense influence to open the door for blacks to enter the entertainment field. Such as Hattie McDaniel (Mammy in "Gone With The Wind", several Shirley Temple films, etc.). The first black (male or female) to win an Oscar.
Keep in mind: THIS Clip is NOT Jolson "performing" in the present day of that movie. It's him Imitating himself -- from decades earlier in his career. (A more "innocent" time.)
May I suggest that people learn the facts. Curb their petty ignorance and own brand of prejudice -- to STOP their un-fair accusations of Al Jolson. The greatest entertainer of All Time !
@Dylonely42
I've Been Away From You A Long Time.
I Never Thought I'd Miss You So.
Somehow I Feel, Your Love Was Real,
Near You I Long To Be.
The Birds Are Singing, It Is Song Time.
The Banjo's Strummin' Soft And Low.
I Know That You Yearn For Me Too,
Swanee You're Calling Me.
Swanee How I Love Ya, How I Love Ya
My Dear Old Swanee
I'd Give The World To Be
Among The Folks In D-I-X-I Even Know My
Mammy's Waitin' For Me Prayin' For Me
Down By The Swanee
The Folks Up North Will See Me No More
When I Go To The Swanee Shore.
@user-cm6vj5ls9i
The first records I ever had were my Dad's collection of Al. Sixty years later I still can sing along and smile.
@user-oj6ih7ke8p
That's great!
@J.M.Chadwick6
He was one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived. He had the rare ability to put his heart and his soul into every performance. This number is a prime example of that gift.
@Brace67
“Wait a minute folks, wait a minute.” “You ain’t heard nothing yet!” ❤
@benjijack22
JAN 2024 fantastic will never be topped! JOLSON!
@sgtjeff56
Memories of my father listening to Jolson on his old 78's.
@1gerard47
Exactly my father passed away three years ago to day at 84 ❤️
@Tom-xe9iq
This is a scene from, "Rhapsody in Blue, The George Gershwin Story". GG wrote it and Jolson made it famous!!
@edmondscott7444
Jolson was a great singer. The Jolson Story a great film.
@ColtDee
Wow Jolly's rock solid performance.