"A String of Pearls" is a 1941 song recorded by

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird that November, becoming a #1 hit. It was composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. The song is a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

and

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

Background

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded "A String of Pearls" on November 8, 1941 in New York, which was copyrighted and published by The Mutual Music Society, Inc., ASCAP. It was released as an RCA Bluebird 78 single, B-11382-B, backed with "Day Dreaming", in 1941 by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. "Day Dreaming" was the A side. The personnel for "A String of Pearls": Saxes: Babe Russin, Tex Beneke, Wilbur Schwartz, Ernie Caceres, Al Klink; Trumpets: Johnny Best, R. D. McMickle,

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

, Alec Fila; Trombones:

, Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D'Annolfo; Piano:

Chummy MacGregor John Chalmers MacGregor (March 28, 1903, in Saginaw, Michigan – March 9, 1973, in Los Angeles, California), better known as Chummy MacGregor, a musician and composer, was the pianist in The Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1936 to 1942. He composed ...

; String Bass: Edward "Doc" Goldberg; Guitar/Cornet:

Bobby Hackett Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was a versatile American jazz musician who played swing music, Dixieland jazz and mood music, now called easy listening, on trumpet, cornet, and guitar. He played Swing with the bands ...

; Drums: Moe Purtill. Bobby Hackett performed the cornet solo on the original Glenn Miller recording. The record was ranked No. 1 in the US for two weeks in 1942 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Best Sellers chart in a chart run of 21 weeks.

Cover versions

* Connee Boswell's recording for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

in 1942 was among the first vocals of the song ever waxed. *The song was also recorded by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

, The Benny Goodman recording was released as a V-Disc 78 single as No. 409A by the U.S. War Department in April, 1945. Among other artists include:A String of Pearls. Second Hand Songs.
/ref> *

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roo ...

*Ritchie Lee * Kurt Edelhagen * Barney Kessel *

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

*Dick Schory's Percussion Pops Orchestra *

Ernie Fields Ernest Lawrence Fields (August 28, 1904 – May 11, 1997)Laprarie, Michael Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed May 14, 2010). was an American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leadin ...

James Last James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist, his trademark "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and ...

In popular culture and media

*The song was featured in the 1953 Glenn Miller

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

'' The Glenn Miller Story'' starring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

. *The song appeared in Mike Nichol's 1971 film '' Carnal Knowledge''. *"A String of Pearls" was featured on a 1972 episode of ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 t ...

'' in the episode entitled "Songs of the 40s". *The instrumental version appeared on a 1976 episode of the CBS series ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harv ...

''. *The song was played on the radio in the 1977 film '' Oh, God!'' starring

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

and

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His arched eyeb ...

References

Sources

* Butcher, Geoffrey (1997). ''Next to a Letter from Home''. North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalgar Square. * Miller, Glenn (1943). ''Glenn Miller's Method for Orchestral Arranging''. New York: Mutual Music Society. ASIN: B0007DMEDQ * Simon, George Thomas (1980). ''Glenn Miller and His Orchestra''. New York: Da Capo paperback. . * Simon, George Thomas (1971). ''Simon Says''. New York: Galahad. * Schuller, Gunther (1991). ''The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945, Volume 2''. New York: Oxford University Press.

External links

1942 RCA Bluebird recording
on the Jazz Anthology website {{DEFAULTSORT:String of Pearls Glenn Miller songs 1941 songs 1942 singles Songs with lyrics by Eddie DeLange Songs with music by Jerry Gray (arranger) Jazz compositions Pop standards 1940s jazz standards