Tune Tuesday

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Birthday to Nat King Cole!

Nat King Cole recorded somewhere in between 1,400 to more than 2,000 songs during his 28-year career. He was an incredibly prolific artist for Capitol Records, scoring 150 hits on the Billboard charts and leaving behind a massive legacy that includes jazz recordings, pop vocals, and, in his later years, numerous albums. Now you would think that Nat would have recorded a few Irish songs, right? Wrong.

As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that he recorded Danny Boy, but apparently not. Galway Bay? Nope. Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra? Not at all. Surely he had to have recorded When Irish Eyes are Smiling. Wrong again. My hope of featuring a “St. Patty’s Day” song from Nat on his birthday was not looking very good.

I almost scrapped the idea when I remembered a song that might be a stretch. It does have a small tie to Ireland, so I am going to run with it!

“Red Sails in the Sunset” was published in 1935. Its music was written by Hugh Williams with lyrics by prolific songwriter  Jimmy Kennedy. The song was inspired by the “red sails” of Kitty of Coleraine, a yacht Kennedy often saw off the northern coast of  Northern Ireland and by his adopted town Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry. It was recorded by Mantovani, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and others. Nat recorded his version in 1951.

So throw on some green, grab a pint and let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Nat King Cole’s Birthday with the beuatiful Red Sails in the Sunset.