THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

321-Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Tex Beneke and The Four Modernaires-Chattanooga Choo Choo.

1941-It has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 2.53. This was the first song ever to be presented with a Gold Disc for sales in excess of 1 million copies.

‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ was co-written by the legendary song writing duo of Mack Gordon (1904-1959) (see also best songs 877 and 775) who wrote the lyrics, and Harry Warren, (1893-1981) (see also best songs 877-775 and 396) who composed the music. Mack Gordon and Harry Warren were commissioned to write some of the music for the 1941 American musical film ‘Sun Valley Serenade,’ which was in some part made to showcase the talents of the Glenn Miller Orchestra (see also best songs 808 and 146.) In the film there is a near eight minutes scene of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, along with Paula Kelly, (1919-1992) and Tex Beneke, (1914-2000) who both provided vocals, along with The Four Modernaires, and also the singing and dancing of Dorothy Dandridge, (1922-1965) and ‘The Nicholas Brothers,’ Fayard, (1914-2006) and Harold, (1921-2000) which is the films most celebrated and memorable scene. The studio recording of ‘Chatanooga Choo Choo’ at 3 minutes and 26 seconds was also recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, with Ted Beneke, and The Four Modernaires, with their female singer Paula Kelly providing the female vocals. The studio version was recorded on May 7th, 1941, and originally released as the ‘B’ side to ‘I Know Why (And So Do You,’) it went on to reach Number 1 in America on December 7th, 1941, and would stay at the top for nine consecutive weeks.

The lyrics for ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ were written by Mack Gordon, who was born Morris Gittler, on June 21st, 1904, in Grodno, which is now western Belarus, but was was then part of the Russian Empire, he died on February 28th, 1959, at the age of 54. Mack Gordon emigrated with his mother and older brother to New York City in 1907, to join up with his father who had settled in America earlier. During Gordon’s career as a lyricist he worked with several other composers, but notably with Harry Warren, with whom he wrote this song. Gordon’s songs have been used in over 100 films, with him being specifically commissioned to write for over half of them, in total he wrote in excess of 120 songs. Other notable songs he provided the lyrics for, include ‘At Last,’ which became the signature song for Etta James, (1938-2012) and ‘You Make Me Feel So Young,’ which was recorded by Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) (see also best songs 877-567-469-120 and 73) in 1956.

The male solo vocal on ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ was provided by Tex Beneke, who was born Gordon Lee Beneke, on February 12th, 1914, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, he died from respiratory failure on May 30th, 2000, at the age of 86. Tex Beneke was a saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, who first joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938 as a sax player, and almost immediately becoming the bands primary tenor sax soloist, playing on classic songs, including ‘In the Mood,’ (1939) and ‘A String of Pearls’ (1941.) Glenn Miller (1904-1944) went missing on December 15, 1944, while flying to France from England. After World War II, the United States Army Air Force decommissioned the ‘Glenn Miller led Army Air Force band,’ after which the Miller estate authorised an official Glenn Miller ‘ghost band’ in 1946, this band was led by Tex Beneke, who as time went on had more prominence in the band’s identity.

Mack Gordon and Harry Warren had got their inspiration for writing the ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ while travelling on the ‘Southern Railway’s Birmingham Special’ train, this was one of three trains operating from New York City via Chattanooga. ‘The Birmingham Choo Choo’ didn’t sit well with Mack Gordon’s lyrics so he chose the name of another train,’The Chattanooga,’ which was a wood burning steam locomotive owned by the ‘Cincinnati Southern Railway,’ that travelled from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, it was a newspaper reporter who first dubbed it the ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo.’ The song cleverly references lyrics from well known songs of the previous two decades, such as, ‘Nothing could be finer than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina,’ (Carolina in the Morning-1922) ‘When you hear the whistle blowin,” (Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar-1940) and ‘Satin and lace, I used to call funny face’ (Funny Face-1927.)

‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ tells of the delights of travelling on that train, and because it is such an enjoyable journey, the day flies by as he spends time in the diner. The narrator also tells us that the purpose for his train ride is so he can meet up with his sweetheart who he hasn’t seen for a while, where he will promise her that he will never leave her side again.

‘There’s gonna be a certain party at the station, satin and lace I used to call funny face. She’s gonna cry until I tell her that I’ll never roam, so Chattanooga Choo Choo won’t you choo choo me home.’