Linda Ronstadt
What’s New? / Linda Ronstadt with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (1983)
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What’s New? is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart , with lyrics by Johny Burke. It was originally an instrumental tune titled “I’m Free” by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was a member of Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. The tune was written with a trumpet solo, meant to showcase the talents of band-mate Billy Butterfiled. Crosby’s orchestra recorded “I’m Free” the same day it was written.
The following year, the music publishers hired Johnny Burke to write lyrics for the tune. Burke’s telling of the torch song is unique, using one side of a casual conversation between former lovers. Thus the song was retitled using the song’s first line, “What’s New?” The song was recorded with the new title in 1939 by Bob Crosby and His Orchestra with vocalist Teddy Grace. The song reached a peak chart position of #10.
Bing Crosby recorded the song on June 30, 1939 with John Scott Trotter and his and His Orchestra and this was the biggest hit recording of the song, peaking at #2 during a 10-week stay in the charts. Other popular 1939 recordings of “What’s New” include Hal Kemp and His Orchestra with vocalist Nan Wynn, which peaked at #11, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra with vocalist Louise Tobin, which peaked at #7. Dexter Gordon regularly performed the song in the 1950s and 1960s.
“I’m Free” was “lyricized” again in the 1990s, this time by Catherine O’Brien, who also provided lyrics to the Haggart tune “My Inspiration.” O’Brien’s version, published in 1996, retains the original title, “I’m Free.”
Composition and Structure
The song is in the form A1 – A1– A2 – A1. It was originally written in the key of C major and modulates to A flat major and then F major to D-flat major for the bridge section before modulating back to C major. It begins on the tonic major, C major 7 before moving to a flat VII (B flat minor 7) in a II-V-I cadence in the key of A-flat major. That is replicated in the bridge section, going from F major 7 to E-flat minor 7 as part of a II-V-I cadence in the key of D-flat major.
Linda Ronstadt Recording of What New
“What’s New” was the title track of a Triple Platinum 1983 album by Linda Ronstadt, one of three recordings she released backed by The Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Linda’s earnest version of the song, released as the album’s first single, reached the Top 40 of the Cash Box Top 100 chart and peaked at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100. It achieved far greater success at Adult Contemporary radio, where it spent several weeks in the Top Five. Below is a video of Linda’s induction into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame by Glen Frey of the Eagles.
The version of Linda of this famous song gives it the showcase it really deserves. There were many attempts at the song over the years. Here are some of them I’ve mentioned and some others.
- Louis Armstrong – Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson (1957)
- John Coltrane – Ballads (1963)
- Larry Coryell – Cedars of Avalon (2002)
- Bob Crosby – “I’m Free” – 1938
- Ella Fitzgerald – Like Someone In Love (1957)
- Dexter Gordon – Our Man in Amsterdam (1969)
- Billie Holiday – Velvet Mood (1956)
- Helen Merrill – Helen Merrill (1954)
- Frank Sinatra – Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958)
- Golden Gate Quartet (1939)
- Ahmad Jamal – At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958)
Ahmad Jamal
The Ahmad Jamal version of the song is at odds with the Ronstadt version in many ways. One is that Ronstadt moves through the song slowly, and purposefully looking in certain directions for the answers she seeks. She is the sound of someone still in love with a past lover who has moved on from her. Not to be sexist and of course this song could easily be sung from the male perspective. She moves through the song like somewhat of a bulldozer with the great Nelson Riddle Orchestra behind her (Frank Sinatra’s orchestra).
Of all the versions above, I think the Ahmad Jamal rendition of 1958 is the most haunting and – I feel – stays closest to the symbolic meaning of this gorgeous song from 1939. Interestingly, it is 25 years before the Linda Ronstadt version with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra in 1983. Ahmad tends to pick up this old affair and attempt to look at it from all sides. To in fact make this reflection of a past affair a type of Picasso painting of memory. An experience seen from a lot of perspectives and one trying to figure out the best perspective to employ in the asking of “What’s New?” It is obvious that in the Linda version, she still is very much in love with the “him” of the song. It is not obvious at all in the Ahmad Jamal version of the song. The entire song flutters around moving to different plateaus of music in particular modes – like McCoy Tyner would imply later with Coltrane. It is as if Jamal is attempting to reach some type of sold ground underneath his feet and is not being successful at it.
Linda has the power of words and Ahmad the power of notes to interpret the iconic 1939 song. They do it better than anyone else has ever done it. But in their amazing interpretations, they also encourage others to undertake the task of reinterpreting the song for a new generation. Isn’t it wonderful that a great song can have many lives for may periods of time.
The Ahmed Jamal version of “What’s New?” is in the below link.
What’s New? / Ahmad Jamal (1958)