Hit Parade Songs of 1941

From: KILLINFO@aol.com | Subject: Another Killian Question (Pt.2)

Retrieved HERE Nov 23, 2008 | Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 14:10:21 EDT
[Paraphrased by Pat Darnell]

"Additional info that I [Ted Killian] have for Al Killian (...Killion) was that, apparently,
he was from Alabama -- the Alabama Music Hall of Fame lists him as being born in Birmingham, AL.

"On another musical note ... the popular novelty song of 1940-41, "The Hut Sut Song (a Swedish Serenade)" was written by a Leo V. Killion ...along with Ted McMichael and Jack Owens. The tune became a huge hit and was popularized a great many of the big bands including the Freddy Martin Orchestra, Kay Kyser Orchestra, and the Horace Heidt Orchestra. In 1941, the 'Merry Macs' vocal group sang it in the movie "San Antonio Rose."

"Over a decade later, it was featured in the landmark World War II film "From Here to Eternity." Other Swing Era and wartime favorites as Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters also recorded the tune, which included such lyrics as "Hut Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and brawla, brawla sooit." Killion grew up in Minneapolis, MN, where he heard Swedish folk songs that he would spoof by writing nonsense lyrics to go along with the music.

"I think I first heard it sung by Dinah ...see the USA in your Chevrolet ... Shore in the' 50s -- probably on her TV show. The jaunty melody is something I even think most of us "boomers" would recognize if we heard it. The lyrics (which are quite silly) go something as follows:"

The Hut Sut Song (a Swedish Serenade)

In a town in Sweden by a stream so clear and cool
A boy would sit and fish and dream when he should have been in school.
Now, he couldn't read or write a word but happiness he found
In a little song he heard and here's how it would sound;

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit,
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit,
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.

Now the Rawlson is a Swedish town, the rillerah is a stream.
The brawla is the boy and girl,
The Hut-Sut is their dream.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.
...Enjoy, Ted Killian
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At MooPig, our WWII Veteran Dad would sing Hut-Sut when he was happy, in the mornings. Snapping fingers and doing some kind of step.. Cool to finally see what those words really are, for me. Now if I could find the tune...
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Also from 1941
"Perfidia" by Mexican composer Alberto Dominguez, lyrics by Milton Leeds; "Why Don't You Do Right?" by blues songwriter Joe McCoy; "Yes Indeed!" by Sy Oliver; "Deep in the Heart of Texas" by Don Swander, 36, and his wife, June (née Hershey), 32 (who has never been in Texas); "Jersey Bounce" by Billy Plate, Tony Bradshaw, Edward Johnson, Robert B. Wright; "The Hut-Sut Song" by Leo V. Killion; "Cow-Cow Boogie" by Don Raye, Gene DePaul, and New York-born instrumenalist Bennett Lester "Benny" Carter, 34; "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon; "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)" by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon (for Carmen Miranda to sing in Irving Cummings's film That Night in Rio); "Why Don't We Do This More Often" by Allie Wrubell, lyrics by Charlie Newman; "Let's Get Away from It All" by Seattle-born Tommy Dorsey protégé Matthew Loveland "Matt" Dennis, 27, lyrics by Tom Adair; "Anniversary Waltz" by Al Dubin and Dave Franklin; Billie Holiday records "God Bless the Child" and "Gloomy Sunday"; Chicago-born jazz singer Anita O'Day (Anita Belle Colton), 21, records "Let Me Off Uptown" with the Gene Krupa band (O'Day began her career singing at a dance marathon during the Depression); the Andrews Sisters record "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by Don Raye and Hughie Prince. [Liner notes retrieved HERE]