Gene Austin - Me Too (1926)

Today, I used a digital 8-track recorder and a microphone in an attempt to capture the sound of some of the oldest records in my collection. Of those records, I really wanted to record at least a few of those rarely heard tunes by one of my great heros; Gene Austin.




This recording is of "Me Too" from Victor 20143-B which was recorded on August 12, 1926.. It's one of my favorites in the collection and really captures the often upbeat, playful nature of Gene's music in the 1920's. "Me Too" is unique in that is the only recording put out on the Victor label during that time that seems to have an unusual rumbling sound in the background. I always thought it sounded like a thunderstorm and one researcher, Don Peak, did find that the August 13, 1926 issue of The New York Times ( the day after the recording was made ) included headlines which read "STORM TIES UP CITY TRAFFIC, FLOODS SUBWAYS, KILLS BOY" and "LIGHTNING STARTS 15 FIRES." Listen carefully around 0:52, 1:57, and 2:38 and see for yourself.

In regards to my own interest in Gene's music, I acquired a small collection of Gene Austin's 78 rpm Victor records from the 1920's and early 1930's. You see, years ago my great-grandmother had given me a old Admiral console radio with a built-in turntable. The unit was bought for my grandmother when she was in high school, but the two, heavily worn records which had been sitting on the turntable for years were from my great-grandmother's time. They were in pretty rough condition, and broke on me fairly easily at a time when I didn't realize how fragile these records were. It annoyed me that I was never able to listen to them, but I set out to find nice, playable copies of these records for myself so that I could have an insight into the music of my great-grandmother's time. I did have luck in finding one of them, a Gene Austin record, along with 7 others by him which I have enjoyed ever since.

My great-grandmother passed away a few years ago at the age of 104, and while I never had the chance to tell her so, she can be credited with having helped to me discover the incomparable "Voice of the Southland" Mr. Gene Austin.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gene
• Austin
• Me
• Too
• crooner
• voice
• of
• the
• southland
• 1926
• Victor
• 20143
• phonograph
• 78
• rpm

[Agent0061958]

Huh...I can't figure out why the comments on this video keep getting marked as spam and I have to keep marking them as "not spam."

[easternmind]

I just discovered Gene myself, and it's been a wonderful discovery indeed! I found out about Gene Austin before I knew that he was my late grandpa's all time favorite. He's quickly become mine own favorite. Such amazing music! I can see now that I'll enjoy these tunes for the rest of my life.

[allshookup77]

A wonderful gem of a song, and yes it did sound a bit like thunder in the background! No sound proof studios back then I guess! This was great, I enjoyed it! ... FrAnK (★★★★★)

[Xirbtt]

I remember hearing some Gene Austin before. . . haven't heard this one though. Very nice.

[KatzeKazet]

Awesome!! That storm was awful!!! But I did hear the thunder!! Thats really cool to hear 1920's thunder! xD