{"id":4706,"date":"2013-04-29T00:20:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T07:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4706"},"modified":"2013-04-28T23:00:27","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T06:00:27","slug":"lilacs-in-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/04\/lilacs-in-the-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilacs In The Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

This spring, the lilacs seem to have blossomed a bit earlier than usual. They are everywhere in this big valley, in shades from snow white to purple so deep it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost black. We have three banks of lilac bushes In our south 40. The one at the bottom end is the biggest and most glorious. Here are a couple of glimpses. Unfortunately, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offer you the aroma.<\/p>\n

\"Lilacs<\/a>\"Lilacs<\/a><\/p>\n

What does this have to with jazz? It needn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have anything to do with it; the subtitle of the blog is, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6on jazz and other matters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But if you insist, we can work out a connection. We don’t have much rain around here now, which is fine with fruit growers worried about blossom damage. We have high winds sweeping down off the Cascade Mountains, which is not fine with cyclists and runners.<\/p>\n

So, here’s the somewhat strained connection to the title of this post, which has some of the same words as the name of the song. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lilacs in the Rain is a splendid popular song from the late 1930s. It was written by Peter DeRose as a piano piece. Mitchell Parish, the lyricist of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stardust,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added words. The song became a hit, giving DeRose three hits in 1939. The other two were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Deep Purple\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Lamp is Low.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Several people recorded \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lilacs in the Rain\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that year, including the bands of Charlie Barnet and Bob Crosby, the latter with Crosby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vocal. As far as I know, Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brother did not make a commercial recording of the piece but, trust me, Bing sang it better. Here he is in a recently discovered air check from his Kraft Music Hall<\/em> radio program.<\/p>\n