Raye, Don
Don_Raye.jpg
b. Donald McRae Wilhoite Jnr., 16 March 1909, Washington, D.C., USA, d. January 1985. A popular songwriter from the 30s through to the 50s, Raye was as accomplished dancer as a boy, and won the Virginia State Dancing Championship. From the mid-20s he worked as a singer and dancer in vaudeville, and later toured theatres and nightclubs in France and England, whilst also writing songs for himself and other performers. In 1935 he collaborated with Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin and band leader Jimmie Lunceford on ‘Rhythm In My Nursery Rhymes’ and in the late 30s worked for a New York music publishing house. After moving to Hollywood in 1940, Raye was commissioned to write the songs for Argentine Nights, in which the Andrews Sisters made their screen debut. Together with Hughie Prince and the Sisters’ arranger, Vic Schoen, Raye wrote ‘Hit The Road’ and ‘Oh! How He Loves Me’. Another collaboration with Prince resulted in ‘Rhumboogie’, the first of a series of ‘boogie woogie’ numbers, several of which became hits for the Andrews Sisters, pianist Freddie Slack, and Will Bradley And His Orchestra. Raye and Prince’s next assignment was Buck Privates, which also featured the Andrews Sisters, and rocketed the comedy duo Abbott And Costello to movie stardom. The songs included ‘You’re A Lucky Fellow, Mr Smith’, ‘Bounce Me, Brother, With A Solid Four’ and ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’. The latter number was nominated for an Academy Award, and revived successfully in 1973 by Bette Midler. Raye’s other boogie ballads included ‘Beat Me, Daddy, Eight To The Bar’, ‘Rock-A-Bye The Boogie’, ‘Down The Road A Piece’ and ‘Scrub Me, Mama, With A Boogie Beat’. His long partnership with Gene De Paul, which began in the early 40s, resulted in songs for films such as In The Navy, San Antonio Rose, Moonlight In Hawaii, Keep ’Em Flying, Hellzapoppin’, What’s Cookin’, Ride ’Em Cowboy, Almost Married, Pardon My Sarong, Behind The Eight Ball, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Hi Buddy, Reveille With Beverly, What’s Buzzin’ Cousin?, Larceny With Music, Crazy House, I Dood It, Hi Good Lookin’ and Stars On Parade. The team also enjoyed success in 1944 with ‘Who’s That In Your Love Life?’, ‘Irresistible You’, ‘Solid Potato Salad’, and ‘Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet’ from Broadway Rhythm. Towards the end of World War II De Paul spent two years in the Armed Forces, before he and Don Raye resumed writing their movie songs in 1947 with ‘Who Knows?’ for Wake Up And Dream and ‘Judaline’ for A Date With Judy. In 1948 they contributed to A Song Is Born and also wrote ‘It’s Whatcha Do With Whatcha Got’ for the Walt Disney live-action feature So Dear To My Heart. De Paul and Raye’s last film work together was for the highly acclaimed Disney cartoon The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad (1949). During the time he worked with De Paul, Raye also collaborated with others on ‘Yodelin’ Jive’, ‘Why Begin Again?’, ‘This Is My Country’, ‘I Love You Too Much’, ‘Music Makers’, ‘The House Of Blue Lights’, ‘Your Home Is In My Arms’, ‘Domino’, ‘They Were Doin’ The Mambo’ (a US hit for Vaughn Monroe), ‘Roses And Revolvers’, ‘I’m Looking Out The Window’ and ‘Too Little Time’. Although he wrote just the occasional song after the mid-50s, Raye’s ‘Well All Right’ (with Frances Faye and Dan Howell) became a hit for the Andrews Sisters in 1959, and was also interpolated into the 1978 biopic The Buddy Holly Story.
Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Copyright Muze, Inc. 1989 - 2008
c.1942
A nice hoppin' Boogie
Raye, Don - (That Place) Down the Road a Piece.pdf
This single work is provided only to help illustrate and provide an example of his compositional style. For educational/non-commercial and personal background information and use only.
