SONGS FROM MY COLLEGE YEARS 1952-1956

            In 2006, my Princeton Class of 1956 celebrated its 50th Reunion. We came to college in the Fall of 1952,  graduated in June 1956, and have remained a tight-knit enthusiastic group through our many alumni years.

             One thing we’ve enjoyed doing together is to sing the songs that were popular during our college years. The class endowed a suite at the football stadium at which we hold periodic parties. It contains a piano (displaying my name) on which I bang out tunes while classmates and their wives belt out the lyrics (from song sheets I provide) of the memorable songs of our youthful days.

             To commemorate this at our 50th Reunion, I recorded for classmates a two-disc CD album titled Young at Heart, containing a total of 80 songs published during those five calendar years we were in school. The first disc contained my piano renditions (with help on some from the fine bassist, Dmitri Kolesnik) of 36 of the tunes. On Disc II we added words to the other 44 songs and turned it into a singalong.

             The 35 singers (almost all older than my reuning classmates) were from two  of New York City’s Senior Centers – Hamilton and Goddard Riverside – where I conducted regular weekly singalongs for over two decades prior to the pandemic.

             The singing seniors were full of enthusiasm, singing in tune with a good sense of rhythm – and several of them, as you’ll hear, have fine solo and duet voices. By the way, you’ve already met these groups in my blog entry for January of 2023 – songs of the World War I years.

             After several months of rehearsal, I combined the 35 group members (including my 98-year old mother) for two long afternoon recording sessions at Hamilton. To maximize the breadth of the selections, we limited ourselves on most numbers to a single chorus.

             Of the 44 songs from this period, a large number came from current Broadway shows and movie musicals. For this blog entry, I’ve selected ten Broadway numbers (half of which were in that outstanding show My Fair Lady) and ten from the movies.

             Here they are, in the order in which they appear in this collection. (Details about the songs and performances are contained in the liner notes accessible below).

 1.     On the Street Where You Live

2.     Get Me to the Church on Time.

3.     I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.

4.     Wouldn’t it be Loverly

5.     I Could Have Danced All Night

6.     Heart

7.     Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)

8.     Hey There

9.     I Love Paris

10. Stranger in Paradise

11. Three Coins in the Fountain

12. Que Sera, Sera

13. Hi Lili, Hi-Lo

14. San Francisco

15. Secret Love

16. That’s Amore

17. True Love

18. Around the World

19. Song from “Moulin Rouge”

20. Love is  a Many-Splendored Thing.

            Click on the Play button to listen to this half hour-plus medley of good songs from the early ‘50’s.