Gene Kelly, Creative Genius

This page will feature Gene's recordings. For someone who did not like his own singing voice he was remarkably prolific as a recording artist, although his song catalogue consisted mainly of songs he had recorded for films. Like most of Gene's fans, I love his voice. It is not particularly strong, but as with everything he did, you get to feel the emotion. And he learned to use it to its full capacity.

I hope you find this section useful if you are planning to get some of Gene's music. There is lots to include, so bear with me, it could take quite a while, quite a while!

I will highlight any songs which appear only once or twice in his repertoir, as many of the available CDs are mixtures of mostly well-known Kelly songs.

From insert notes on ‘S Wonderful CD. Gene Kelly at MGM. Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology:

He didn’t have the pipes to have made it strictly as a singer, but he does have impeccable rhythm, and more than enough charm to spare to put any song over….The Kelly chops sound especially good when partnered with a Garland or a Sinatra…The Kelly-Sinatra duets in their three pairings are especially satisfying, as Sinatra helps Kelly get through the singing and vice-versa for the dancing: Sinatra hits the high notes, and Kelly takes the high jumps, and they both make each other shine…

If he doesn’t have the range of a Sinatra, he compensates with creative use of his chops. Sinatra may bend the occasional note, but Kelly cracks ‘em right in two for sheer emotional punch, particularly on the line “I’m ready for love”, and on the payoff last line (“Then so do I”) of the central refrain of “I like Myself.”

 

 

THE GREAT MGM STARS. GENE KELLY. 1991

EMI records

From insert:  Gene Kelly remains one of the most important and influential figures to have graced the screen musical….Gene Kelly’s bravura and decidedly masculine approach to dance would illuminate his appearance in a whole range of musical subject…

Gene Kelly’s talents are so wide and varied that the demise of the musical film as a mainstream entertainment during the late fifties did not affect his considerable output…

Gene Kelly’s attractiveness as a performer – as actor, singer and dancer, has always been matched – and indeed enhanced – by his inventive and innovative approach to choreography and direction. History will record him as one of the prime movers in establishing the art of the film musical.

(Notes by David Wishart.)

 

1.Singin’ In The Rain

2.You Were Meant For Me

3.All I Do Is Dream Of You

4.Moses. With Donald O’Connor

5.Broadway Ballet

6.You Are My Lucky Star. With Debbie Reynolds

7.I Like Myself

8.Blue Danube (Why Are We Here). With Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd

9.Almost Like Being In Love

10.The Heather On The Hill

11.Les Girls. With Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall & Taina Elg

12.Why Am I So Gone About That Gal

13.You’re Just Too Too. With Kay Kendall

14.Nina

15.You Wonderful You

16.Heavenly Music

17.I Got Rhythm

18.Love Is Here To Stay

19S’Wonderful. With Georges Guetary

 

A good variety here, from some of Gene's best known films. The insert is a great little booklet giving a comprehensive precis of Gene's career.

 

GENE KELLY. SONGS. MOVIESTAR COLLECTION 1995

Deja Vu/Recording Arts. Made in Italy.

A good collection, including Down By The Old Mill Stream, with Frank Sinatra, which is a gem.

1.Singin’ In The Rain

2.Almost Like Being In Love

3.S’Wonderful

4.I Got Rhythm

5.Why Am I So Gone…

6.Take Me Out To The Ball Game

7.Baby Doll – outtake from TMOTTBG

8.The Hat My Father Wore...

9.When You Walk Down Main Street With Me

10.Let Yourself Go

11.Long Ago And Far Away

12.The Happy Road

13.Grand Old Flag/Yankee Doodle Boy

(From the Broadway musical "Little Johnny Jones").

14.My Baby Just Cares For Me

(From the Broadway musical “Whoopee”)

15. Doin’ The New Low Down

(From the Broadway musical “Blackbirds of 1928”)

16.Down By The Old Millstream/I Begged Her

“With Frank Sinatra from radio, April 1946.)

 

 

‘S WONDERFUL. GENE KELLY AT METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER.

 Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology.

Rhino/Turner records 1996

 

George Feltenstein. Insert notes.

A few years ago several of us were at work producing a restored laserdisc of An American In Paris, and we hit a brick wall. We needed to know how to name the various sequences of the ballet from the film for the chapter index and were not sure of our initial attempt. I then picked up the phone and called Gene Kelly and asked if he wouldn’t mind providing the answer to our quest. A few minutes later a fax arrived in my office with the necessary information provided by the master, with a simple “Voila! G.K.” underneath. I stared at the paper and took in the moment. Gene Kelly was my friend.

 

An appreciation by Will Friedwald.

…Gene Kelly is said to have described himself as “Like Fred Astaire for truck drivers.”…. Said Kelly, “I looked better in a sweatshirt and loafers anyway. It wasn’t elegant, but it was me.”…Yet while he never strove for Astaire’s elegance, Kelly could also be more highbrow than his predecessor. There was a lot more ballet in what Kelly did…

One trait that Kelly did have in common with Astaire was that both men took charge of their own dancing destinies from the beginning…Kelly’s ambitions were even further-reaching in that he was concerned with his films even beyond his own numbers – he would soon be taking charge of the other preformers’ numbers, directing entire features, and in several cases, even submitting stories and exploring the writing end of filmmaking. …

In a career-long attempt to divest dancing of its effete stereotype, Kelly’s dances characteristically stress male-bonding over romance….

There’s the unbelievable threesome of It’s Always Fair Weather…particularly during their drunken ‘Binge’ ballet. This culminates in a frenzy of power and potency that ignites across the gritty streets of New York in a manner far more menacing than the surprisingly neutered juvenile delinquent dances …in West Side Story…

Kelly uses his roles as surefire vehicles with which he can humanise his dancing – those incredible feats of agility and virtuosity seem all the more impressive because his non-dancing character is always so eminently believable…

He’s believably human no matter how technically endowed these performances are, and they tend to be extremely technical, not just in the sense of Kelly’s own dancing, but in terms of cinema technique. That’s part of Kelly’s mission: to make dancing more cinematic….

Kelly is the master of the dance as soliloquy…The Kelly character is simply dancing to express his feelings, and no dancer was ever better at conveying pure euphoria…

(Condensed from more than 11 pages, which include a short biography and much more good stuff).

There follows a run-down of all Gene’s MGM musicals, with several pictures.

 

Addendum: Over the ensuing years, Kelly frequently appeared on television, directed both for the stage and screen, and occasionally popped up in a film or two, most notably in Stanley Kramer’s 1960 classic Inherit The Wind…(etc etc.)

 

This disc is dedicated to the memory and magic of Gene Kelly, 1912-1996

 

1.Singin’ In The Rain

2.I Got Rhythm

3.Almost Like Being In Love

4.For Me And My Gal. With Judy Garland

5.Love Is Here To Stay

6.Good Morning. With Debbie Reynolds & Donald O’Connor

7.Nina

8.The Babbitt And The Bromide. With Fred Astaire

9.The Worry Song. With Jerry the mouse

10.You Wonderful You. With Judy Garland

11.Dig, Dig, Dig For Your Dinner. With Phil Silvers

12.Be A Clown. With Judy Garland

13.You Were Meant For Me

14.Fido And Me. With dog

15.Main Street

16.I Like Myself

17.Les Girls. With Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg

18.’S Wonderful. With Georges Guetary

 

 

GENE KELLY. MOVIE SONGS... AND MORE.

Delta Records 2001

 

A compilation, with no booklet, just a short biography and a couple of great pictures!

But it does feature some non-film songs, which makes a nice change.

 

1.Singin’ In The Rain

2.I Got Rhythm

3.Take Me Out To The Ball Game

4.Let Yourself Go

5.‘S Wonderful

6.Grand Old Flag

7.Why Am I So Gone About That Gal

9.Almost Like Being In Love

10.Doin' The Low Down

11.Baby Doll

12.The Hat My Father Wore

13. Long Ago And Far Away

14.Life Is A Happy Road

15.When You Walk Down Main Street With Me

 

 

                                                            

CLASSIC GENE KELLY MOVIES. 2003

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN YEARS. BMCD 4101

This is a great value CD, two discs with more than two hours of music. It features four of Gene’s blockbuster movies, with a selection of music from each, including some tracks which do not feature Gene. A booklet is included with some good pictures, and a piece titled Gene Kelly, written in English, French and Spanish. In fact it simply describes the four films, mentioning Gene very positively but also including details of the other performers and writers.

 

CD1

ON THE TOWN

1. Main Title
2. New York New York
3. Miss Turnstiles Ballet
4. Prehistoric Man
5. Come Up To My Place
6. When You Walk Down Mainstreet With Me
7. You’re Awful
8. On The Town
9. You Can Count On Me
10. A Day In New York Ballet
11. Finale

 

ANCHORS AWEIGH

12. Main Title
13. We Hate To Leave
14. Lullaby
15. I Begged Her
16. If You Knew Susie
17. Jealousy
18. What Makes The Sunset
19. All Of A Sudden My Heart Sings
20. Donkey Serenade
21. The Worry Song
22. The Charm Of You
23. I Fall In Love Too Easily
24. Finale

CD2

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

1. Singin’ In The Rain
2. Fit As A Fiddle
3. All I Do Is Dream Of You
4. Make ‘em Laugh
5. You Were Meant For Me
6. Moses Supposes
7. Good Morning
8. All I Do Is Dream Of You
9. Broadway Melody
10. Broadway Ballet
11. You Are My Lucky Star

 

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

12. I Got Rhythm
13. Love Is Here To Stay
14. S’Wonderful
15. Tra-La-La
16. I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise
17. An American In Paris Ballet

 

Memory Lane Presents: Gene Kelly. 'S Wonderful. Pegasus records 2005

This is a simple compilation, no booklet included. Nice picture though!

1.All I Do Is Dream Of You

2.You Are My Lucky Star

3.Be A Clown

4.You Wonderful You

5.Broadway Ballet

6.You Were Meant For Me

7.Dig Dig Dig For Your Dinner

8.’S Wonderful

9.For Me And My Gal

10.Nina

11.Heavenly Music

12.Moses

13.I Got Rhythm

14.Love Is Here To Stay

 

 

THE VERY BEST OF GENE KELLY

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN 2005

Castle Pulse, a label of Sanctuary Records Group.

A definitive collection, very good value for a new fan. A good mix of movie and non-movie songs. No booklet.

1.Singin’ In The Rain

2.You Are My Lucky Star

3.Good Morning

4.Moses

5.You Were Meant For Me

6.Broadway Melody Ballet

7.Take Me Out To The Ball Game

8.I Begged Her

9.The King Who Couldn’t Dance

10.Let Yourself Go

11.Be A Clown – with Judy Garland

12.Nina

13.You’re A Grand Old Flag/Yankee Doodle Boy

14.S’Wonderful – with Georges Guetary

15.Love Is Here To Stay

16.I Got Rhythm

17.Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider

18.Almost Like Being In Love

19.Halfway Down The Stairs

20.Doin’ The New Low Down