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d i s s i d e n t
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a r t i s t : The Andrews Sisters
t i t l e : The Best Of
d a t e : 1994
l a b e l : Blue Moon
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Dec/2003
t r a c k s : 27
b i t r a t e : 192kbps
s i z e : 104,3 MB
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The Andrews Sisters were the most successful female vocal group
of the first half of the 20th century in the U.S. One source
lists 113 singles chart entries by the trio between 1938-1951,
an average of more than eight per year. They boasted an
exuberant, close-harmony style well-suited to cheery novelty
songs, and their intricate vocal arrangements and rhythmic
ability mirrored the sound of the swing bands that constituted
their chief competition in their heyday. But, in a sense, they
had no competition. No other female vocal group, and very few
male ones, came close to their success from the late '30s to
the early '50s, an era when first big bands and then solo
singers dominated popular music. Their reign is all the more
remarkable given that they swam against the current of
contemporary music trends while making it seem effortless. For
the most part, the Andrews Sisters did not focus on romantic
material, but rather sang upbeat songs, often borrowed from
other cultures. Although they were well-established by the time
the U.S. entered World War II, their optimistic tenor made them
perfect boosters of the war effort, and in later years they
remained closely identified with the war years, remembered as
wearing military uniforms and singing their signature song,
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."
The Andrews Sisters ù LaVerne Andrews (born July 6, 1911; died
May 8, 1967), Maxene Andrews (born January 3, 1916; died
October 21, 1995), and Patty Andrews (born February 16, 1918) ù
were each born in Mound, MN, the children of a Greek immigrant
father and a Norwegian immigrant mother who ran a restaurant in
Minneapolis. They turned to singing as children, entertaining
on local radio and in amateur revues, with Patty taking the
lead, Maxene singing high harmony, and LaVerne low. They were
particularly inspired by the Boswell Sisters, who scored a
number of hits in the early '30s. Their first professional
engagement came in December 1932 at the Orpheum Theatre in
Minneapolis. In November 1933, they joined a vaudeville troupe
for six months, traveling around the Midwest. Afterwards, their
parents closed the restaurant to devote themselves to their
career, and they spent the years 1934-1937 touring with bands.
In 1937, they went to New York as part of Leon Belasco's band
and while there made their first recordings, albeit under
Belasco's name, for Brunswick Records. After the Belasco band
broke up that summer, they were signed to Decca Records on
their own. Decca had recorded the Boswell Sisters successfully
until they broke up in 1935, and the label was on the lookout
for a similar group.
The Andrews Sisters' second Decca single, "Bei Mir Bist Du
Schoen," an Anglicized version of a song from the Yiddish
theater, became a massive hit. The song made its first
appearance on Your Hit Parade on January 8, 1938, and rose to
number one two weeks later. The hit established the trio, which
began to get extensive radio and personal-appearance work. They
returned to the hit parade in April 1939 with their recording
of the novelty song "Hold Tight, Hold Tight." In 1940, signed
to Universal Pictures, they made the first of a series of low-
budget "B" movies, Argentine Nights. (Between 1940-1948, they
appeared in 17 films, including lending their voices to two
animated features for Disney.) That year, they scored a Top Ten
hit on the Billboard chart with "Ferryboat Serenade (La
Piccinina)." "I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time," their
Top Ten hit of 1941, was featured in their film Buck Privates.
Also during the year, they reached the Top 20 with "Boogie
Woogie Bugle Boy."
With the U.S. entry into World War II, the Andrews Sisters
began appearing frequently at military bases; they later
traveled overseas to entertain the troops. Although their
recording activity was slowed by the musicians' union strike
that began in 1942, they had another Top Ten hit that year with
"Strip Polka." When Decca settled with the union in 1943, they
embarked on a series of hits, many of them with Bing Crosby.
The million-selling "Pistol Packin' Mama," backed with "Vict'ry
Polka," was a two-sided hit with Crosby in 1943-1944, then they
topped the charts with their own "Shoo-Shoo Baby" in January
1944. Before the end of the year, they and Crosby had gone to
number one with the double-sided hit "(There'll Be A) Hot Time
in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)" and "Is
You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)," as well as Cole Porter's
"Don't Fence Me In."
The Andrews Sisters premiered their own weekly network radio
show, Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch, at the end of 1944 as the hits
continued with the calypso song "Rum and Coca-Cola," which went
to number one in February 1945, becoming the biggest hit of
that year. The group's other Top Ten hits for 1945 were "Ac-
Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "Along the Navajo Trail," both
with Crosby, and "The Blond Sailor." 1946 found them in the Top
Ten with the gold-selling "South America, Take It Away" (with
Crosby), "Rumors Are Flying" (accompanied by guitarist Les
Paul), and "Christmas Island" (backed by Guy Lombardo & His
Royal Canadians). 1947 brought the Top Ten hits "Tallahassee"
(with Crosby), "Near You," and "The Lady From 29 Palms." And in
1948, when they were ranked as the top recording artists of the
year, the Andrews Sisters reached the Top Ten with
"Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)" (with Danny Kaye), "Toolie
Oolie Doolie (The Yodel Polka)," "Underneath the Arches," and
"You Call Everybody Darling."
The Andrews Sisters cooled as a recording act after 1948, as
they began to focus on nightclub performing and Patty Andrews
became more of a focus of the group as well as launching a
concurrent solo recording career. Their next big hit was "I Can
Dream, Can't I?," a gold single on which Patty sang lead with
her sisters providing backup; it hit number one in January
1950. "I Wanna Be Loved," with the same sort of arrangement,
also topped the charts in June. The trio's last Top Ten hit was
"Sparrow in the Tree Top," another pairing with Bing Crosby, in
1951. They continued to record for Decca through the end of
1953, at which point Patty Andrews left the group for a solo
career while Maxene and LaVerne Andrews continued to perform as
the Andrews Sisters. In June 1956, the three reconciled. They
recorded for Capitol Records (1956-1959) and Dot Records (1961
-1967) without commercial impact. In the fall of 1966, LaVerne
Andrews retired from performing due to illness and was replaced
by Joyce de Young; she died of cancer the following spring. The
Andrews Sisters made their final appearance as a trio in July
1968, after which Maxene Andrews took a job at Lake Tahoe
Paradise College of Fine Arts. Patty Andrews returned to her
solo career and in 1971 appeared in a musical revue called
Victory Canteen in Los Angeles. The revue was then expanded
into a book musical and Maxene Andrews was brought in for what
became Over Here!. Meanwhile, Bette Midler revived "Boogie
Woogie Bugle Boy" for a Top Ten hit in 1973, bringing two
Andrews Sisters compilation albums (The Best of the Andrews
Sisters on MCA and Boogie Woogie Bugle Girls on Paramount) into
the charts. Over Here! opened on Broadway on March 6, 1974. Its
cast album charted, as did another Andrews Sisters compilation
(In the Mood on Paramount).
Maxene and Patty Andrews had a falling out with the producers
of Over Here!, and with each other, leading to the show's
premature closing on January 4, 1975, and the cancellation of a
national tour. The two sisters remained estranged from then on,
although they made occasional joint appearances and Patty
visited the hospital when Maxene suffered a heart attack in
1982. Both sisters maintained solo careers into the 1990s.
Maxene Andrews was on a vacation from her role in the off-
Broadway musical Swingtime Canteen when she suffered another
heart attack and died in the fall of 1995.
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01-boogie woogie bugle boy [02:45]
02-bei mir bist du schon [03:09]
03-rum and coca-cola [03:11]
04-hold tight - hold tight [03:17]
05-shoo, shoo baby [02:52]
06-south american way [02:49]
07-sonny boy [02:51]
08-rhumboogie [02:40]
09-tico tico [02:18]
10-well all right! [03:02]
11-beer barrel polka [02:54]
12-pennsylvania 6-5000 [03:06]
13-beat me baby, eight to the bar [02:53]
14-say "si si" (para vigo me voy) [02:34]
15-oh, ma-ma! (the butcher boy) [02:31]
16-don't sit under the apple tree [02:58]
17-oh johnny, oh johnny, oh! [02:47]
18-pennsylvania polka [02:48]
19-ti-pi-tin [02:41]
20-straighten up and fly right [02:29]
21-the strip polka [02:53]
22-ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive [02:44]
23-hit the road [02:33]
24-in the mood [02:48]
25-elmer's tune [02:28]
26-aurora [02:55]
27-lullaby of broadway [02:44]
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75:40 min
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