Al Jolson - Avalon (1920)

[1axalove]

Thank you for posting! I first heard this song years ago, playing in the background during a scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life", when George Bailey is looking at his travel folders and realizing he is not going to be able to take his much-anticipated trip abroad. I tried for years to find the title of the song (no internet). It's great to hear the original!

[david11978]

A great Jolson classic, it stands the test of time, whether in this recording or the 1940's version.

[spinglishreturns]

Somthing so charming about this music.

[thomascow1]

Magic man, he sure wooed the world, thumbs up cheeeeeers

[PlayIt4MeAgainSam]

Love this song! 

[yourJMartin1974]

Like the man said; "You ain't heard nothing yet...."

[Oddityworld]

Natalie Cole's version is better

[RussianFestival]

Interesting.

[tricky778]

Amazingly, according to wikipedia, the publisher of puccini's operas sued Al Jolson and others for plagiarism of "E Lucevan Le Stelle" because of this song. As far as I can tell, it's because of the melody for "I found my love in ..." which tallies with "O dolci baci ..."

Really suprising that those 5 notes is enough because, without the next note, I could only spot the similarity because I was looking for it.

[elainezdollz]

Just heard this song in Boardwalk Empire series on HBO. Love that era!!

[SparkyBTMP]

@elainezdollz Love that Show!!!

[markhh]

Puccini and his publisher Ricordi must have had fantastic lawyers. I can't hear any similarity myself.

[nedarc]

The cadence , the sound, the smell of that era is quiet powerful, even today. The nasal quality and honesty of the music and lyrics is quiet profound. My Dad was of that 'era', and I was exposed to some of it growing up.

Living with people of the Great Depression and WW11. It gives you a perspective of life which is quite an education.....Compared to playing Video Games on Computer. I think young people today should study history, it is much more exciting than computer games and heather

[1ARCHI88]

mmm, effettivamente (parlo da dilettante in materia) a mio parere l'aria è effettivamente un pò somigliante a quella di "E lucevan le stelle". Sono stati, si, alterati i tempi, però, se si ha buon "orecchio musicale", sulle parole, per esempio, "I dream of her in Avalon From dusk till dawn " ci si riesce a cantare "Oh! dolci baci, o languide carezze". Poi per carità, forse mi sbaglierò 8-)

[rapisvo]

25.000 dollari rubati,caro puccini.

[69humguy69]

Ninety years old and still amazing!!

[JCJasion]

The lawsuit forced Columbia Records to the brink of bankruptcy by 1923, until they took the plunge in recording an emerging musical genre, The Blues. Yep, Bessie Smith helped dig Columbia out from its mess.

[298625]

Jolson is untouchable. Thanks so much for this. I never heard the second verse before.

[Wehategod]

Jolson and Cantor always cheer me up when i'm blue . But Jolson what a Voice that was better than Sinatra and purer than Perry Komo. Jolson is king in my book.

[joehancock01]

man. this guy is good. id beter £1000 hes a beter singer than you. lol, and if im right (wich i most likley am because i know no singer beter). youd be a fool

[HolyMotherofGrid]

First time i've heard this song - wonderful stuff!! Thanks ever so much for posting it - and i LOVE your bios of the performers!!!

[nebraska9000]

U ARE CLEARLY A DEMOCRAT

[Jawblues]

Here some great artist from the 20`s

/watch?v=lXak4UkQBI4&feature=c­hannel_page

[grammypj]

Grew up listening to my dad sing Jolson songs. Later, I taught my young children about Al Jolson. Musical heritage merits preservation. Thanks for posting this great old song!

[grumbles]

it's interesting how just that little spot from 1:02-1:09 (which repeats one time later) got him sued by puccini (who won) for copyright infringement--unless if there's something else i didn't catch, that seemed to be the only part really "taken" from tosca

[madamerotten]

The law suit was settled in Puccini's favor, costing Al Jolson and his producer $25,000.

[grumbles]

25,000 at the time though right? which would be like.....a lot.....now

[madamerotten]

Using the latest CPI data and the convenient inflation calculator at "coinnews(dot)net," $20,000 in 1920 (the year of the law suit) is equivalent to

$269,616.25 in 2009.

[Corrie121]

Thank you for sharing this gem. It is perfection!