Dick Todd ‎– When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World) / I’m Old Fashioned

Dick Todd ‎– When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World) / I’m Old Fashioned

Dick Todd was a Canadian singer of the 1930s through 1950s. I had never heard of him. I never had discussions of music with the my grandparents, I feel like he may have been to one of their liking (one grandfather I know to have been enormously into jazz, playing trombone in bands before my father was born). But in reality I do not know how I could have ever come across this musician if not like this.

This shellac 78 was released in 1942 on RCA’s Bluebird label. It has a catelogue number of B-11577 and lists the credits as “Dick Todd, Baritone, with orchestra.”

A-Side of Dick Todd's When The Lights Go On Again (All Over the World) 78
A-Side of Dick Todd’s When The Lights Go On Again (All Over the World) 78

Side A
When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World)
(Vocadance)
Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjamin

Side B
I’m Old Fashioned
(Vocadance)
Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern
(From the Columbia film You Were Never Lovelier

I had hoped to find some war related piece of media to write about on Remembrance Day. I failed on the day of, but stumbled upon the sort of thing I was looking for today, just two days later. When the Lights Go On Again is a bittersweet song, to my ears, hoping for the end of a war that would stretch on for years more at the time of release.

I’m Old Fashioned was a song written for the musical You Were Never Lovelier, starting Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, also released in 1942. This song is less to my taste than the other, but even still I am intrigued enough to seek out the film it is from.

Unfortunately, my copy has a large crack in it that I only noticed after listening to the A-side, so I will never be able to listen to this 78 again. The loss, for me, is not too great. Dick Todd is not to my tastes. These are both lovely song, but both lack the energy I usually look for.

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