The Music Goes 'Round and Around

Written by Red Hodgson (lyrics) Ed Farley & Mike Riley (music) The Music Goes 'Round and Round was published in 1935.

The Cleveland Press - January 3, 1936
SONG HIT SURPRISES PUBLISHERS
New song “Music Goes ‘Round and Around” is the most popular since “Yes, We Have No Banana”

Every Cleveland band that can get orchestrations is playing this new song.

There were subsequent articles about this song on Jan. 4, 5 and 6 - and a front page item on January 7 detailing the absolute chaos caused when a live broadcast of a performance of this song was cut in the middle because someone neglected to secure rights for said orchestration.

The Tommy Dorsey & the Clambake Seven recording became a number one hit this year, and was the "musical interlude" for the motion picture (wait for it) "The Music Goes 'Round". From The New York Times:

If we really wanted to be nasty about it, we could say that this Farley-Riley sequence is the best thing in the new picture. At least it makes no pretense of being anything but a musical interlude dragged in by the scruff of its neck to illustrate the devastating effect upon the public of some anonymous young busybody's question about the workings of a three-valve sax horn. It preserves in film the stark record of a social phenomenon—in this case, the conversion of a song hit into a plague, like Japanese beetles or chain letters.

1936 Hit Parade

Allan Jones sings "Alone" from "A Night at the Opera"
First featured in this Marx Brothers comedy, it became a hit record in 1936 when recorded by Tommy Dorsey.


Bing Crosby in the1936 film "Pennies from Heaven"
One of the biggest hits of the year, this song was also recorded this year by Billie Holiday.

This Hoagy Carmichael song from the 20s is also one of the most recorded songs ever. Benny Goodman's 1936 recording was extremely popular.