Post 424: 'ROYAL TELEPHONE'

F M Lehman

Royal Telephone is a gospel song often played by traditional jazz bands. It appears to have been first recorded by a jazz band in 1946.

It is attractive because it has a simple, pleasant tune on which it is easy to improvise.

I have noticed that most bands play it comfortably in the key of Bb and that they seem to treat it as a sixteen-bar melody. At its simplest, they follow this chord sequence:-

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  Bb

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb7 | Eb  |  Eb  |  Bb  | F7 |  Bb

I doubt whether many musicians today know that Royal Telephone was written in 1919 by Frederick Martin Lehman, an America immigrant from Germany. His piano music is available on the internet.

I noticed that it is really necessary to treat the song as a 32-bar, with 16 as 'Verse' and 16 as 'Chorus'. There were originally five verses (The first beginning 'Central's never busy - always on the line') and the Chorus - repeated after each verse - comprises the 16 bars always beginning with the words 'Telephone to Glory, Oh what joy divine!'

The chords I have printed above match the Chorus (and that is probably why they are followed so rigidly by most traditional jazz bands). However, if you want to play the tune correctly and include a verse or two, you need to use the following VERY slightly different chord sequence for the verses.

Bb  |  Bb  |  Eb  |  Bb  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  Bb

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb7 | Eb  |  Eb  |  Bb  | F7 |  Bb

To see what I mean and to hear a really clear performance of the song, complete with vocal, listen to the version by Burl Ives on YouTube by clicking here. But note that he begins with the Chorus before singing the First Verse.

Footnote: Curiously, if you play Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think, you may find a remarkable similarity with Royal Telephone, at least in the chord progression.

Post 361: 'ENJOY YOURSELF (IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK)'

When my grand-daughters were little, I had the pleasant duty once a week of collecting them from school. In the back of the car, on their way to their house, they always loved to sing at the tops of their voices. I taught them one or two silly songs.

Coffee Popsicles - Ellen (left) and Marianne

A particular favourite was Enjoy Yourself; It's Later Than You Think.

For a clear performance of this song on YouTube (by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians), click here.

So I had a pleasant surprise when I discovered recently that Lasse Collin - on his wonderful website (click here to visit the site) had published a lead-sheet for the song, complete with the words.

For years, Lasse has generously provided a wonderful service to traditional jazz all over the world by making lead-sheets freely available. I do not know how many lead-sheets there are on his site, but my guess is there are about 1000. Many of them are supported by recorded performances.

Enjoy Yourself; It's Later Than You Think is not a song many bands play. But I recommend it. Why? Because every concert needs at least one 'fun' song or silly song, as a gentleman in an audience told me a few weeks ago. Also, this tune has the advantage of being very easy to play and improvise on. (That also makes it a good one for beginners, by the way.) It is fairly similar in its chord progression to Royal Telephone.

Somebody in the band should provide the vocal, as that is essential in a song where the fun is in the lyrics. You have the words provided by Lasse, but there are in fact more verses (not needed, in my view, but you can find them on the internet if you wish).

My friend Barrie in Lancaster, England, has told me this song is currently popular with Ska Bands.

The song belongs in our repertoire to the group that gives sound advice on how to conduct our lives. (I'm thinking of such as Pick Yourself Up, When You're Smiling, Try a Little Tenderness, 'Taint What You Do, Button Up Your Overcoat, Pennies From Heaven, The Clouds Will Soon Roll By, Smile, and If You Can't Be Good, Be Careful.)