Happy Days Are Here Again

"Happy Days Are Here Again" is a song copyrighted in 1929 by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics) and published by EMI Robbins Catalog, Inc./Advanced Music Corp.^[1] The song was recorded by Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, with Lou Levin, vocal (November 1929), and was featured in the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows.^[2] The song concluded the picture, in what film historian Edwin Bradley described as a "pull-out-all-the-stops Technicolor finale, against a Great War Armistice show-within-a-show backdrop".^[3] This early example of two-strip Technicolor footage was, along with another Technicolor sequence, later cut from the 1931 re-edited release of the otherwise black-and-white film, and is believed to have been lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire.^[4][5]

Barbra Streisand version

"Happy Days Are Here Again"
Single by Barbra Streisand
from the album The Barbra Streisand Album
B-side	"When the Sun Comes Out"
Released	November 1962
Format	7-inch single
Recorded	1962
Genre	Pop
Label	Columbia
Composer(s)	Milton Ager
Lyricist(s)	Jack Yellen
Barbra Streisand singles chronology
"Miss Marmelstein" (1962) "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1962) "My Coloring Book" (1962)

Another popular recording of the song was Barbra Streisand's, made 33 years after its first recording. While the song is traditionally sung at a brisk pace, her recording is notable for how slowly and expressively she sings it.

On The Garry Moore Show, Streisand sang the song during the "That Wonderful Year" skit representing 1929. She performed it ironically as a millionaire who has just lost all of her money and enters a bar, giving the bartender her expensive jewelry in exchange for drinks.

Streisand first recorded the song in October 1962 at Columbia's NYC studio, some months before her first album sessions. This version, arranged and conducted by George Williams became Streisand's first commercial single in November 1962, with "When the Sun Comes Out" as a B-side. Only 500 copies of this single were pressed for the New York market, and no copies were sent to radio stations. This 1962 version was re-released as a single in March 1965 as part of the "Hall of Fame" series with the 1962 recording of "My Coloring Book".

Streisand re-recorded the song in January 1963 for her solo album debut "The Barbra Streisand Album".

Streisand sang this song on The Judy Garland Show, in a medley with Garland's "Get Happy". This live performance was included on the 2002 Streisand compilation album "Duets".

In June 1967, Streisand performed the song for over 135,000 people at Central Park. A recording of this performance was included on the live album "A Happening in Central Park", and later appeared on the Streisand compilations "Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits" and "The Essential Barbra Streisand".

Streisand included live versions of the song on the following live albums "Live Concert at the Forum" (1972), "One Voice" (1987), "Barbra: The Concert" (1994) "Timeless: Live in Concert" (2000) and "Streisand: Live in Concert 2006" (2007).

Other versions

• Annette Hanshaw recorded it in 1930.^[6]
• In 1930, the Comedian Harmonists recorded their popular German adaptation, Wochenend und Sonnenschein (Weekend and Sunshine, German lyrics by Charles Amberg).
• Television and nightclub comedian Rip Taylor has used "Happy Days Are Here Again" for years as his theme song; the music played as he made his entrance carry a large bag of confetti throwing handfuls at everyone within reach.
• The song was also used as the entrance and closing theme for comedian Mark Russell's PBS specials that aired from 1975–2004 and featured topical political humor.
• A recording of the song by Mitch Miller and the Gang was used as the theme for the PBS sports history series The Way It Was in the 1970s.
• The television show M*A*S*H used an Asian-influenced orchestration of the song on multiple episodes early in the series, in which the female vocalist would sing the verses in Japanese while singing the title in English.
• The song was used as a jingle in TV commercials for the Volkswagen Rabbit economy family car in 1975.
• Miss New York 1983 Vanessa L. Williams performed the song during the talent competition of the Miss America 1984 pageant. Williams went on to win both a preliminary talent award and was crowned Miss America 1984.^[7]
• Vicki Lawrence sang the song while portraying Thelma Harper in the Mama's Family episode "Mama for Mayor: Part 1".

• The Ovaltineys cover of the song was featured in the 1981 miniseries Goliath Awaits.^[8]
• The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps of Concord, CA used the song to open their 1988 Program and was used again in 2009 as part of their program entitled "1930".
• Walter Strony used the song to open his concert at Chicago Stadium for the 1993 ATOS National Convention
• The medley version with Judy Garland's "Get Happy" (as originally performed in duo by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland in 1963), was used 2010 in episode "Duets" of the TV show Glee, performed by actors Lea Michele and Chris Colfer as their characters Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel respectively.^[9]
• In 2010, Carrie Fisher sang the song at the beginning of her HBO special, Wishful Drinking.
• A harmonica rendition was played early in the Christmas-themed pilot episode of The Waltons, entitled "The Homecoming", by one of the Walton children until John Boy requested something more Christmas-y.
• In July 2013, a rock and roll version of the song was used by Fox in a commercial ad campaign to introduce a new sports channel called Fox Sports 1.^[10]
• The song was used for the closing credits in Boardwalk Empire season 5, episode 3 "What Jesus Said".
• In 2014, actress Jessica Lange provided a speaking version of the song that was played in the background throughout designer Marc Jacobs' Fall/Winter runway show.
• The song was featured in the opening scene of the first episode of the 2015 PBS Masterpiece drama series Indian Summers, which is set in India in the summer of 1932.
• A shortened version with different lyrics was featured in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical from 2014.
• The song was used for the closing credits in The Last Tycoon Season 1, Episode 9.

In popular culture

Today, the song is usually remembered as the campaign song for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's successful 1932 presidential campaign. According to Time magazine, it gained prominence after a spontaneous decision by Roosevelt's advisers to play it at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, and went on to become the Democratic Party's "unofficial theme song for years to come".^[11] The song is also associated with the Repeal of Prohibition, which occurred shortly after Roosevelt's election where there were signs saying "Happy days are beer again" and so on.^[12]

Matthew Greenwald described the song as "[a] true saloon standard, [and] a Tin Pan Alley standard, and had been sung by virtually every interpreter since the 1940s. In a way, it's the pop version of "Auld Lang Syne".^[13]

The song is number 47 on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of "Songs of the Century".

As of 2006, 76 commercially released albums include versions of the song.^[14] The song has appeared in over 80 films, including many from the 1930s.

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics