Good night sweetheart, tho’ I’m not beside you
Words and music by Ray Noble
Good night sweetheart, still my love will guide you
Dreams enfold you, in each one I’ll hold you
Good night sweetheart, good night
I’m pretty sure I’d never heard of Al Bowlly (pictured above left) the singer of that song before 1978 when we started watching a BBC tv serial called Pennies from Heaven. Written by Dennis Potter it starred Bob Hoskins as Arthur – a travelling sheet music salesman. Bored with his marriage he starts an affair with Eileen (Cheryl Campbell) a schoolteacher in the Forest of Dean whom he meets on his travels. (Both pictured above, right).
The reality of the drama is edged with a dark fantasy content, where the characters burst into song miming to dance band records from the 1930s which relate to the plot of the story. I’m sure at the time we were gripped by the story but there are a lot of elements in this rather prurient, voyeuristic tale which wouldn’t stand up to much scrutiny today. And predictably it doesn’t end well for anyone. Other critical assessments are available.
This was the first time we’d ever really listened to music from the dance band era and - developing a taste for it – I bought quite a few compilations by some of the great bands of the era. And Al Bowlly featured in many of those dance band compilations.
Albert Alick Bowlly was born on 7 January 1899 in Mozambique. He grew up in Johannesburg and by his teens he clearly dreamed of a career in music. Working in a barber’s shop by day he spent his evenings singing and playing banjo and ukulele. In 1922 he began his travels. He went on tour with Edgar Adeler’s band and arriving in India he joined the Jimmy Lequime Orchestra first as banjoist and later as vocalist. By 1927 he was in Germany where he made his first recordings and began to establish his reputation as a singer.
He came to Britain in July 1928 where he joined Fred Elizalde’s band at the Savoy Hotel as vocalist and guitarist. This was the era dominated by dance bands with residencies at large London hotels and restaurants. Then in 1930 his big break arrived when he became a regular vocalist with Ray Noble’s New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, HMV’s house band. This was the start of a golden age for Bowlly who recorded more than 200 songs with Noble’s band, including ‘Goodnight, Sweetheart’ and ‘The Very Thought of You’.
Over the next few years he worked with other top dance bands, including those fronted by Roy Fox and Lew Stone. The latter had a residency at the Monseigneur Restaurant in the basement of 215-217 Piccadilly. The restaurant became one of London’s most fashionable attractions with shows broadcast on the BBC every Tuesday, and Bowlly was soon regarded as one of Britain’s top band singers.
Over the next few years he recorded with various bands. Between September 1934 and December 1936, Bowlly toured America with Ray Noble, and made a number of records, the best-known being ‘My Melancholy Baby’ (March 1935). Despite his popularity and high earnings, Bowlly had become frustrated at his inability to strike out as a solo star in the US and headed home to London.
The trouble was that absence had not made the heart grow fonder, and the public’s affections were now lavished on singers like Sam Browne and Chick Henderson. Bowlly’s comeback attempts were stymied by illness when he lost his voice. In August 1937 he travelled to New York for a throat operation.
He returned to London early in 1938 with a renewed energy and made a number of records, which some critics agree are at least equal to those of 1932-34. He continued to broadcast with Lew Stone’s band until 1941. But the dance band era was coming to an end and the arrival of war saw a slow down in the entertainment industry generally.
Despite returning health worries, Bowlly remained productive. He formed an act with the singer and guitarist Jimmy Mesene in winter 1939/40 and it was with Mesene that he made his last recordings, only two weeks before his death. I used to have a copy of that album which though hardly his best work, did still retain some of the magic of that familiar voice.
It all came to an abrupt end on 17 April 1941 – a night of very heavy bombing in London’s West End. Bowlly was one of three residents of Dukes Court in St James who were killed by the blast from a landmine which fell in nearby Jermyn Street and blew in the block’s windows. He was found lying next to his bed, having refused to retreat to the building’s shelter. According to one report there was ‘scarcely a mark on him’. He was buried in a communal grave at Hanwell cemetery. In the years from 1927 he made over over 600 records. He was just 42 years old when he died.
In the unlikely event of me being invited on Desert Island Discs I’d probably choose one of Bowlly’s songs. Hard to know which, but I think ‘Love is the Sweetest thing’ would be a contender. Unfortunately I failed to find a video of Bowlly singing it, but you can hear the record at the end of the post. You’ll notice thaat there’s no mention of the singer’s name on the disc itself – just referring to ‘vocal refrain’. The important guy was the one standing in front, waving his baton!
The plaque for Bowlly is on Charing Cross Mansions, 26 Charing Cross Road – his home at the pinnacle of his career, 1933-1934.
FOOTNOTE: If I were on the hunt for dance band records today my first port of call would be eBay but back in those pre-internet days I used to pop in to a second hand record shop called Sifters, then on Mauldeth Road in Burnage, Manchester. Oasis featured the shop – well known to local lads the Gallagher brothers – in a track called ‘Shakermaker’. There’ll eventually be a post about that South Manchester icon which is still going strong!