Search - Lee Morse :: Echoes of a Songbird-50 Recordings from 1924-30

Song List for Lee Morse: Echoes of a Songbird

Hoyle Osborne | Aztec, NM United States | 03/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Disc 1

1. Mail Man Blues

2. Bring Back Those Rock-A-Bye Baby Days

3. Too Tired

4. I Ain't Got Nobody To Love

5. Telling Eyes

6. Could I? I Certainly Could

7. Ukelele Lady

8. Yes, Sir, That's My Baby

9. Alone At Last

10. Sweet Man

11. I'se Gwine Back To Dixie

12. Oh Boy! What A Girl

13. I Love You So

14. I Love My Baby (My Baby Loves Me)

15. I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight?

16. My Sugar Babe

17. Tentin' Down In Tennessee

18. Poor Papa

19. I'm In Love With You - That's Why

20. Where'd You Get Those Eyes?

21. Daddy's Girl

22. Tonight You Belong To Me

23. Ain't That Too Bad

24. Look What You Went And Done

25. The Little White House



Disc 2



1. (What Do I Care What) Somebody Said

2. Ain't He Sweet

3. Mollie Make Up Your Mind

4. We (My Honey And Me)

5. I've Looked All Over For A Boy Like You

6. Did You Mean It?

7. Give Me A Goodnight Kiss

8. Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella

9. There Must Be A Silver Lining

10. Shadows On The Wall

11. Mother And Dad

12. Susianna

13. Main Street

14. Old Man Sunshine, Little Boy Bluebird

15. Don't Be Like That

16. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

17. He's A Good Man To Have Around

18. Sweetheart's Holiday

19. Look What You've Done To Me

20. If I Can't Have You

21. To Be Forgotten

22. Tain't No Sin

23. I'm Following You

24. Cooking Breakfast For The One I Love

25. Just A Little While



submitted by Hoyle Osborne"

A Highly Idiosyncratic Style

Barry McCanna | Normandy, France | 07/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every so often a release appears, the effect of which is to rekindle interest in an artist who would otherwise be forgotten, and this compilation from Jasmine falls into that category. It is evident on first hearing that Lee Morse was extremely versatile and had a very wide vocal range, and the way in which she deployed her talents makes her very difficult to pigeon-hole. She could sing in almost every register, and across the whole range of emotions. Sentimental ballads (some of which she wrote herself) sound every bit as convincing as the torch songs and the more outré material.



Added to that, she absorbed many different influences; on some songs she comes close to Ukulele Ike's delivery (albeit sounding less frenetic), whilst others contain echoes of Sophie Tucker and even Ted Lewis, to say nothing of Annette Hanshaw. All of those facets combined to produce a highly idiosyncratic style, yet the novelty elements were harnessed to a clear rendition of the lyrics. Underpinning her delivery was the quality of her voice, which rings clear and true despite the age of these recordings. Accompaniments varied from the most basic - guitar or ukulele, usually played (very competently) by herself and sometimes augmented by a piano - to a small jazz band, the line-up of which could include some of New York's finest.



Despite my enthusiasm for this set, I'd be failing if I did not warn that her performance of some of the songs does not fall entirely easy on the ear, because she employs the falsetto voice. Yet the vocal pyrotechnics don't come across as ostentatious (as they sometimes do in others' renditions) but rather as the exuberance of a singer revelling in her ability.



Inevitably, surface noise is audible on the acoustic Pathé and Perfect recordings (and some rumble on one or two), but that did not mar my enjoyment, and there is none on the Columbia tracks. The compilation contains close on half of Lee Morse's recorded output during the period in question and, in keeping with Jasmine's usual approach, includes an informative and well-illustrated liner note. That shows her to have been as vivacious in appearance as she was in voice. It deserves a place in any serious collection of the music of this period.











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Lee Morse was one in a million

madamemusico | Cincinnati, Ohio USA | 04/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lee Morse could have sung opera if she'd wanted to...that's how rich and powerful and wide-ranging her voice was. She had a contralto that ranged two and a half octaves, which she extended another half-octave by yodeling. I don't find her yodels at all offensive, as some listeners do, as they add to her charm and uniqueness; the only feature of her style that I find dated are the vo-de-o-dos. But aside from that, her sense of rhythm is so loose and modern, and she sings the lyrics with so much sincerity and feeling, that if you could somehow lift her voice off the old records and superimpose it on modern accompaniments, she would sound startlingly modern in feeling.



Lee Morse does not deserve the oblivion into which she has fallen. This set does not include some of my personal favorites, but you can't listen to any of her records without being impressed. She was truly one of a kind; they broke the mold when she came out of it!"