Chords for Interview with Annette Hanshaw (part 1)

With me on the telephone is Annette Hanshaw.
Now, let's be quite honest, if you're a product of the _ [E] _ 1940s or 50s and 60s and 70s, you might
be in trouble.
But if you really want to look back, and some of our older folks will certainly remember
the name Annette Hanshaw.
Annette, are these days good for you?
These days?
You mean, my pre- what's happening now?
That's right.
Yeah, let's talk about today rather than yesterday.
I would rather, because I mean, I loathe being dated.
You know, it's always a very old time thing.
And somehow or other, whenever they reissue any of my records, they seem to choose the
worst ones, the very oldest ones and the very worst ones, in my opinion anyway.
Well, in your opinion then, what is- if I was to say something, well, Annette Hanshaw,
of the recordings you made in the late 20s into the early 30s, what are you more proud of?
Is there any particular selection, something along that line?
As a matter of fact, I disliked all of them intensely.
I was most unhappy when they were released.
I just often cried because I thought they were so poor, mostly because of my work, but
a great deal, I suppose, because of the recording.
Many times it didn't sound at all the way I sang it, you know?
Annette, you don't seem to bear too much affection towards your, shall we call it, your very
brief recording span.
Am I correct in saying that?
I didn't hear what you said.
I said, you don't seem to bear too much affection towards the work that you do.
Oh, heaven no.
I disliked the business intensely.
I loathed it.
And I'm ashamed to say that I just did it for the money.
I love singing, you know, jamming with musicians when it isn't, you know, important to do.
But somehow or other, I was terribly nervous when I was singing and I actually went down
to weight three pounds.
That's why I quit in the very end.
And I just couldn't take it anymore.
You know, you just have to be such a ham and love performing.
And I happened to be an introvert and it just wasn't, I just wasn't happy singing.
And I didn't, I wasn't happy with my work, as I say.
So that was a story.
When I quit, _ I was making, I don't know if it interests anyone, but I was making $1,500
for 12 minutes on the Camel Show.
That's pretty good.
Yes.
I'm a bit of a flake.
And may I ask, when you did the Camel Show, that's pretty well, you know, the early days of radio.
Was this, were you working out of New York at the time?
Yes, out of New York.
And we did, we did a replay for the West Coast.
We did, you know, two shows twice a week.
And that was fun because I adore the Glen _ _ Gray.
The Casalola Band?
I mean, I wouldn't, we're doing something now and I'd boop like that, wouldn't it?
Oh, Carol.
And that, you know, just so people know what we're talking about, let me play one of your
records from that era.
I'm going to pick one.
Oh, do you have to?
Oh, you're darn right, I do.
I thought you and the Lion were going to do it.
Do you remember a thing called, A Precious Little Thing Called Love?
Oh, I do.
It's a darling tune.
Well, it's sweet of you to say that.
Well let's hear you, and I'm just guessing at this, I'm just guessing.
I think the year might be 1929.
Am I close enough?
_ Uh, let me see.
Oh, I don't remember.
There were so many of them.
I think it was from a picture called Shop or an Angel.
Oh, well, whatever the time that came out, but I, it might have, it might have been,
I thought perhaps a little later, but maybe not.
Annette dear, this is you in the late twenties.
[Bb] Listen. _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ [Dbm] _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ [Bb] My [Dm] heart needs [Db] a beat, [Cm] so [F] I'm put down on the street.
It's a precious little thing [Bb] called [G] love.
[E] _
[F] [Bb] Why [Bb] am I gone down [Dbm] alone?
[F] _ _ _
It's a precious [C] little [F] thing [Bb] called [Eb] [Bb] love.
[A] I [D] see a day in June, a wedding [G] tune, a honeymoon tune.
[C] Friends I know, who will throw [F] some rice in those tunes.
[A] That's the [Bb] one tune of [Db] _ [Bb] _ love.
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[Eb] That's the one tune of [Ab] love.
_ [Bb] _ _ _
_ [Ab] We're talking with Annette Hanshaw, and those that might go through the, uh, the, the, the
old, old, the old record stores or the secondhand shops, you come across labels like Velvetone
and a label called D-I-V-A, Diva, I assume.
You stumble across these quite often.
And then Hanshaw, very much a product of the, uh, of the 1920s into the 30s.
Annette, you must be delighted to know that I spoke the other day, and person to person,
I met her, Ruth Edding.
I caught up with her in, in Colorado Springs, and she's very much a part of the era in which
you were recording too.
Did you really? Oh, yes.
She was an awfully big talent and a very, very popular in that era.
But she did remember you, because we were talking about, I said, who was your competition
at that time?
And she mentioned you and people like Helen Kane and so many others.
That's true.
That's just, that's about it.
There's something that I, I find rather interesting and, and, and not especially happy for me.
Benny Goodman has just reissued, uh, come out with an album called Benny Plays for the
Girls.
And that was when Benny was a sideman, you know?
Uh, he is a studio musician.
And of course, I always loved to have him on my record.
And he has on it, uh, uh, oh, perhaps four or five of mine.
I, there's somebody, one of the people would call me, tell me about it.
But he has, um, Ethel Waters, who was a quartet conductor.
She was the best of her time.
Oh, the very best.
Do you feel, do you feel the same way?
Absolutely.
I was mad about her.
And then also he has Connie Boswell, who was a very great performer, I thought.
Connie, Betty, uh, Connie, Betty and Martha, right?
Yes.
But she was, you know, she did solo records too.
So this is apparently a solo.
And then he had, um, uh, someone who was quite far back called Lee Morse.
Yes.
And then he had myself.
And I thought that was, I haven't, as I say, I haven't heard it.
I just saw the, uh, you know, the blog. Yes.
By the way, dear, it's on Sunbeam Records.
Sunbeam is the record label if you're looking for it around New York.
Is that the one?
Sunbeam Records have reissued, yes.
Do you know of it?
Oh, we have it here.
Oh, I'll be darned.
How is it?
Excellent.
I think they did a beautiful transfer job.
They cleaned up the surfaces and you come out shining pretty good.
Oh, but they never, they never ever play the ones that I like.
But I guess I just, you know, you can't, you can't relive your past mistakes.
That's a terrible.
Annette, you're a darling because you're so self-deprecating.
You keep putting yourself down and you were very much a product of the times
and a very good one, I think.
I think you're a fine singer.
Well, it's kind of you to say that, but I am.
I was, uh, Shobins was awfully kind to me, but I just, I disliked it so.
Just a minute.
I want to play Mean to Me.
Do you remember recording that?
Yes, I do.
Okay.
Listening to it right now.
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