Painting the Clouds with Sunshine
From "The Gold Diggers of Broadway"

Performer: Eddie Peabody
Al Dubin (lyrics) Joe Burke (music)
Perfect, 1929
MP3 1,236K

D'you know, I think this is the only banjo record in my collection? How very strange. Stranger still, I don't think I've ever listened to it before today.

I suspect I bought it for the label. Well, the label and the vinyl. Or whatever it is they were making records out of in 1929. It's brown. I mean, it's totally molded out of some brown stuff. (Yes, I know it doesn't show in this picture).

Perfect was a front company (and bargain brand) for the French Label Pathé Records, which explains the poncey red-and-gold deco thing going on. The circled E on the left-hand side above the title indicates that this recording was electronic - using actual microphones! - rather than purely mechanical. Electronics had been employed in commercial recording since 1925.

  You'd think the humorous impact of hearing "gay" in its original context might have worn off by now, but no. Perhaps because he leads with it. Perhaps the 21st Century double entendre just works especially well here. Who knows? Shut up and listen already.

 

When I pretend I'm gay,
I never feel that way.
I'm only painting the clouds with sunshine.

When I hold back a tear
To make a smile appear,
I'm only painting the clouds with sunshine.

Painting the blues,
Beautiful hues,
Colored with gold and old rose.

Playing the clown,
Trying to drown,    [I could swear he says "drownd"]
all of my woes.

Tho' things may not look bright,
They'll all turn out alright,
If I keep painting the clouds with sunshine.

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