"The melody haunts my reverie, and I am once again with you..."

Here at Dolores Delargo Towers we adore and avidly collect a category of entertainment that comes under the heading of "Sunday Music". And today, on the 110th anniversary of his birth it is time to celebrate one of the great masters of that genre Mr Hoagy Carmichael!

In his eight-decade career as a songwriter Mr Carmichael collaborated with just about everyone who was anyone in the music industry, including his best friend Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Yip Harburg, Frank Loesser and long-term musical partner Johnny Mercer.

Hoagy the actor appeared in a number of top Hollywood films, including Topper (with Cary Grant), To Have and Have Not (with Bogart and Bacall) and Young Man With A Horn, the bio-pic of his friend Bix.

By the time of his death in 1981, he was lauded by generations of fans as one of the greatest composers in American history. An incredible career indeed!

Facts about Hoagy Carmichael:

• He was christened with that peculiar first name because his mother was friendly with a circus troupe called "The Hoaglands".
• His 1943 song I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the song with the longest title.
• He composed a song for the original Flintstones cartoon - Yabba-Dabba-Dabba-Dabba-Doo.
• John Lennon cited Hoagy Carmichael as his favourite songwriter.

Here's the beautifully-crafted tonsils of Nat King Cole crooning Hoagy's classic Stardust:

Nat King Cole - Stardust

With another take on the tune, Glenn Miller adds his own inimitable panache with his big band version:

Glenn Miller - Stardust

Next we turn to another Carmichael standard Georgia On My Mind, and this lovely version by the incomparable Ray Charles, who made the song his own:

Ray Charles - Georgia on my Mind

And here Aretha Franklin gives us a brilliant version of Hoagy's torch song Skylark:

Aretha Franklin - Skylark

Back in 1991, Bette Midler paid tribute to his song Billy-a-Dick in the wonderful film For the Boys (here being used as a soundtrack for some amateur tap-dancers - the only video out there!):

Bette Midler - Billy-a-Dick

Most remarkably of all, in addition to his jazz/swing/blues standards Hoagy Carmichael also wrote this camp classic for the Marilyn Monroe movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Take it away, Miss Jane Russell!

Jane Russell - Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?

Hoagy Carmichael biography