Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians - "How Deep is the Ocean?" (1932)

How Deep is the Ocean? (How High is the Sky?)
Words and Music: Irving Berlin
Performed by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
Vocal: Carmen Lombardo
Recorded October 7, 1932
Brunswick 6399

In 1932 with the country in the depths of the Great Depression, Irving Berlin was also going through personal financial setbacks and began to doubt his abilities as a songwriter. He felt his career was in decline and the hits were few and far between. Then Berlin uncovered an old tune he had written for Al Jolson in 1920 and borrowed four lines from the chorus of "To My Mammy" which included the phrase "How Deep is the Ocean? and he then created a new song whose lyrics are a succession of questions. The song's romantic character takes on a sense of yearning, a sense of passion. Berlin fashions one of his loveliest melodies here and matches it with touching lyrics.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• How Deep is the Ocean
• How High is the Sky
• Guy
• Lombardo
• Royal
• Canadians
• Carmen Lombardo
• Irving Berlin
• 1932
• Brunswick
• 6399

[mvnkct]

Guy Lombardo's orchestra was my mother's all time favorite. She said she danced to it in the 1930s and continued with the same beautiful sound well into the l950s. Always great danceable music. In fact, my beautiful mother taught me to dance and we danced to her Guy Lombardo records many times. Thank you for posting these GREAT SOUNDS OF THE EARLY 1930s. No other period had such pretty music to which you could always enjoy dancing. Tommy

[bsgs98]

@mvnkct I think Lombardo remains well loved because of memories such as yours and the fact that there are still many people still living that remember Lombardo from New Years Eve broadcasts, television, radio and recordings. Thanks for your nice comments!

[baghend]

No one did it better or with more class than the Lombardo's- Guy was the brains but Carmen's sweet sax was the heart!

[bsgs98]

@baghend Indeed! And Carmen's voice!

[fredjmp]

Great! I put in my favorites!!

[bsgs98]

@fredjmp Hello Fred. Thanks for watching. Lombardo is one of my favorite dance bands.

[MsAble99]

That was a "classy" band. That is why "The Royal Canadians" band was a favorite until the end.

I became a "fan" when I was a kid. I was delighted to see and meet the Lombardo Orchestra when they played in Omaha, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. and Iowa while working in those cities. Those were great years for good music- We all miss them and thanks so much for You Tube, we can "remember"

[DCFunBud]

Just a wonderful video. I love Irving Berlin.

[baghend]

@bsgs98 yes- the bands recordings I love the best were all during the Carmen vocal years- the 30's mostly and it helps that there were so many classic tunes. His perfect enunciation- on many recordings you can hear him take a breath - and his lead on sax was the bands signature. I wasn't born till the 40's but this band was my old Dad's favourite and I had the chance to dance to Guy in the 60's- can't remember the girl tho! With Guy you knew what the song was in the first 3 bars- classics.