Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians - LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1929)

"Love Me or Leave Me"
Music by Walter Donaldson
Words by Gus Kahn
Performed by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
Vocal by Carmen Lombardo
Recorded March 20, 1929, New York

This song was introduced in the Broadway play, "Whoopee!," which opened in December 1928. Ruth Etting's performance of the song was so popular that she was also given the song to sing in the play "Simple Simon," which opened in February 1930.

"Love Me or Leave Me" was also a 1955 biographical film roughly based on the life of Ruth Etting, a singer who rose from dancer to movie star. It stars Doris Day as Etting, James Cagney as Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder.

Although Canada's premiere dance band, the Royal Canadians, are most closely associated with Guy Lombardo, it was in fact his younger brother Carmen who was the true driving force behind the music group. Born in London, Ontario in 1903, the Lombardo brothers made their first debut together at a church function in 1914, starting what would end up to be a 55-year collaboration.

Both Carmen and Guy began taking music lessons at the same time, with Guy on violin and Carmen on flute. Over the years, Carmen would switch to saxophone while Guy would just pick up a conductor's baton. The Royal Canadians formed in 1916, with Carmen as singer, saxophone player and composer. Their first prominent performance occurred at a dance pavilion in Grand Bend, Ontario in 1919.

In 1923, The Royal Canadians moved to Cleveland, Ohio and quickly obtained a permanent gig at a nightclub called the Claremont Trent. The band was taken under the wing of club owner, Louis Bleet, and continued to play in the Cleveland area until 1927, when they moved to Chicago and began broadcasting live on the radio from the Granada Cafe. In 1928, two of Carmen's songs, Coquette and Sweethearts on Parade,became major hits for the group, attracting international attention. The Royal Canadians were known for 'the sweetest music this side of Heaven', a description coined by Ashton Stevens of the Chicago Tribune. In 1929, The Royal Canadians began their longest standing gig at the Roosevelt Grill in New York City, lasting 33 years. It was at the Roosevelt that The Royal Canadians began the annual tradition of a New Years Eve telecast on CBS. The Royal Canadians sold at least 100 million records. Between 1929 and 1952 there wasn't a single year that a Guy Lombardo record didn't chart - 21 of them at number one, and many featuring songs by Carmen Lombardo.

Although Carmen continued to be the lead singer of The Royal Canadians, he never really enjoyed the job. In 1940, he was replaced as the lead singer, allowing him to concentrate solely on songwriting. Among the hits that Carmen penned, made popular by the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, were "Jungle Drums", "Boo Hoo", "It's Never Too Late", "It's Easier Said than Done", "Seems Like Old Times", "Where Are You Gonna Be When the Moon Shines?", "Get Out Those Old Records", "How Long Has it Been?",and "Marry the One You Love." He also penned the stage scores Arabian Nights, Paradise Island and Mardi Gras!

Over the course of half a century, Carmen collaborated with such great writers as John Jacob Loeb. Other creative partners included Charles Newman, Johnny Green, Jimmy Monaco, Cliff Friend, Gus Kahn, Gene Austin, Art Kassel, Sam Coslow, Irving Caeser and Roy Turk. Carmen continued to play with the band on saxophone until 1970, when his failing health forced him to retire from the band. He continued to write until his death in 1971, and his final song was entitled What Have We Done to Our World?, a bleak tune incongruent with the rest of his work. "They (the songs) kept him from thinking about the pain those last few months of his life," Carmen's widow explained. " The songs kept him alive an extra four months."

Standing the test of time, Carmen's songs have appeared in such Woody Allen films as Annie Hall and Bullets Over Broadway and have been recorded by artists including Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and Dean Martin.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Love Me Or Leave Me
• Guy Lombardo
• Gus
• Kahn
• Walter Donaldson
• 1929
• 78rpm
• Doris Day
• James Cagney

[JCJasion]

My introduction to this group was on a Bluebird from about 1937-38 vintage, recorded by "The Dixie Swingsters", a group who I've never been able to identify elsewhere, but listening years later, appears to have been the Caceres Brothers small swing orchestra emanating out of Texas. That was a few years before Ernie joined Glenn Miller's band.

[bsgs98]

@JCJasion There is a reissue of the Dixieland Swingsters on CD with this song, but none of the web sites have 30 second sound samples. I read that Chet Atkins was briefly with a group with the same name in the early 1940s on a Knoxville radio station.

[JCJasion]

@bsgs98 - Wow! Did they give the personnel of that recording on the reissue CD?

Incidentally, the flip side of that Bluebird recording was a song called Fiddleobia. Even as a 16-year-old I could tell it was an early fusion of Small band Chicago style jazz and "Hillbilly" or country music. Most of the instruments were playing straight-on Jazz, but the fiddler, while nimble, was really playing in a style in keeping with square dance music... but executed really cleanly!!

[bsgs98]

@JCJasion According to Rust's Jazz Discography it was Buck Houghins, reeds and violin / Jerry Collins , piano / Larry Dowing, guitar / Cliff Stein, string bass. Sessions were recorded in Charlotte, NC which is not too far from Knoxville, so it's likely it is the same band that Chet Atkins played with in the 1940s. I've never heard the group but might it be classified as "western swing?"

[bsgs98]

@JCJasion I missed another performer on that recording: Dave Durham , tenor sax.

[2reeler]

Wow, great old classic tune! It has just now jogged my memory as a teenager back in the early 70s. I had a victrola and a few Guy Lombardo 78s of my grandfathers, so when Lombardos band came to play a date at the big 1925 era Sacramento Mem. Auditorium, I went! I remember seeing Carmen and the trio singing BooHoo especially, as the crowd clapped loudest for that one. It was great to see so many older couples fox trotting out on the floor! Thank you for all your great Lombardo songs!~

[bsgs98]

@2reeler Back in the 1960's actor/comedian Tony Randall used to do a vocal recreation of some of the old 20s and 30s tunes on the Johnny Carson Show and he did a great version of "Boo Hoo" even imitating Carmen's vibrato. It was such a success that Carson later invited the Lombardo Brothers on the show and Carmen sang "Boo Hoo" and "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore." I wonder if a tape of that program exists?

[NYVoice]

I'll cheer you up Noel. I live in a little town called Freeport on Long Island-home of one Guy Lombardo. There is a street named after him (formerly Grove Ave) and he used to race his boat all over the south bay near here until his death in 1977. His house on the canal is no longer there. I have a lovely 8x10 shot of Guy with my parents from around 1972 when he staged some show at the Jones Beach Theater. Real classy gentleman.

[NoelGuyALfan]

Real classy rendition,years before their well documented success.

No wonder Guy and the band still had another 40 odd years still ahead of them.

Today's manufactured overnight "finds" on all these "find/make a star" TV shows would not understand what it takes to "find" success like this Guy....

An era sadly long gone.. Auld Lang Syne indeed.

[peterschleger]

@JCJasion Not sure you refer to Guy Lombardo as this group. He is an American (and Canadian!) institution.

[551batesroad]

I absolutely love this song. I'm twenty but I love these kind of oldies.

[baghend]

@NoelGuyALfan You are so right Noel- what passes for "talent" these days just makes me want to cry- and there is so little "class" that the Lombardo's and others personified. I had the chance to dance to Guy in the 60's (can't remember the girls name!) and Carmen even sang a vocal then while Kenny took a break.

All sadly missed. Thanks goodness for sites like this.

-Bill

[JCJasion]

@bsgs98 - He also played clarinet on "Love Me Or Leave Me" - And he sounded a lot like Ernie Caceres. The Caceres brothers were also active with their small group out in Texas at the time, and sported a front line violin as well. I guess they were all experimenting with thinking out of the box where musical genres were concerned. Great Music!!!

Seriously, the music sounded like a perfect hybrid that walked the tightrope of small band swing and the budding 'western swing' style.

[DinamitaCienfuegos]

Ahhh muy bonito video...mmmm , muy bien hecho bsgs98 * u *.