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twoamThis post lists all the music that appears in my fic (slash endurance test) A Bowl of Warm Air. I also write about why I picked them, so it's a bit of a director's commentary on the in-universe music picks. Obviously if you read this before you finish the fic, there are spoilers, which feels so ridiculous to say about my own fic, I won't lie.
There is a YouTube playlist if you just want to listen to the music.
The videos are also embedded in the post below. For a couple of pieces I provide multiple recordings, but in the YouTube playlist I stick to just one for ease of listening (and I picked my favourite recordings, as my prerogative!). Well, apart from one song at the end. Rules are made to be broken...
I've gone for contemporary, within roughly the preceding ten years, recordings where possible, to sound as close to how it would have been performed at the time. With a couple of pieces where this provided not to be possible, I've used later recordings.
Despite being the first piece of music in the story, it was late on in writing, (as in, near the end of part three) when I actually decided on what Doris was playing on the gramophone. I wanted it to be a song that didn't immediately scream 'music to have an argument with your spouse to' and this fit the bill! I also feel that the fact they had their first serious fight that led to the long, slow decline of their marriage to this song ruined it forever for both of them.
Also, the lyrics, although this is an instrumental recording.
This is such a terrible accompaniment for a couple who are on their fifth (at least) argument of the evening, which is why I picked it.
Disclaimer: I've never watched Downtown Abbey, and didn't know the show had used it until researching the song. No, I found this one from a Bamforth song postcard!
This carol is so well-known, particularly with its significance in World War One, that I really don't feel like I can add much here! So I'll just provide two recordings (one German, it'd feel weird not to for this one) and leave it at that.
This isn't contemporary, but this is close to how I pictured that choir on the radio sounding like. It's not really Christmas until there's a boys' choir on the radio.
And a contemporary German recording (1917)
While the Planets suite might be so familiar now that it's hard to hear it afresh, in 1925 it was only eight years old, and I doubt Darling would have heard it before. I could see it catching someone on the hop, particularly someone who's sensitive to loudness (and is managing their trauma rather badly).
Much to my pleasure, someone has uploaded a 1923 recording of the whole suite! It's the first full recording of it as far I can tell. This could be the very recording Doris heard of it at Martha's.
These two are (surprise) fictional! Ach, Mein Weisswurst is a drinking song, while Lonely Little Helga is a sentimental, heart-rending ballad that will make anyone stuck in a POW camp cry. Apart from Baldrick, who knows it by heart but doesn't have a clue what the words mean.
Blackadder is correct, this song is NOT about chickens, it's about being rejected. Also, she is completely correct to reject the singer. I've yet to find a full version of this song with all the lyrics that I'm willing to put here. They do exist, you can find them on Youtube if you really want to hear one. One of them even starts with 'Awful Record'.
There is a very specific recording of this song by Jack Hylton, that only uses the chorus and that I had stuck in my head for weeks because it's irritatingly catchy. There are a couple of instrumental recordings his band made of this song too, but this is the one I like.
Full instrumental recording. Victor Vorzanger's Broadway Band was apparently one of the first multi-racial bands to make records on a regular basis.
This is a popular early jazz standard. I really liked Marion Harris' recordings of this song, which is why I ended up picking it. (Cough there were thematic reasons too, cough.)
Popularised by the queen of music hall herself, Marie Lloyd! One of those music hall songs that's survived into the modern day, but without the nudge, nudge, wink, wink, aspect. It's not particularly subtle in the lyrics, and even less so when it's Marie Lloyd singing it. Florrie is following in her footsteps with her delivery. I wanted 'bawdy' but not 'outright obscene' for her song (I left the obscenity to others).
I feel like Darling accidentally embraces the 'having it if you fancy it' that this song is all about in the chapter with the storm in part 3. I thought it while I was writing it, I still think it now, and it wasn't something that would come up in the story itself so I'm just sticking that thought here instead.
Like Silent Night, I feel like there's not much I can say about this one!
This, ironically, is possibly the song I spent the longest looking for a recording for. No contemporary ones were available, but there were plenty of modern ones! There are so many, in fact, and nearly none of them what I actually wanted. I learnt during this process that I don't really like full choral arrangments of this song, to me this is an instrumental or sung by people on your doorstep (or drunks). Anyway this brass band recording has the right feeling for me, so here it is.
Not to be confused with several other songs with the same title! I read the sheet music for this and while it is very sentimental in the way parlour songs were, some of the lyrics just felt rather fitting for this story. I couldn't resist.
Carrie Jacobs-Bond had quite the life, and was the first woman composer to sell over a million copies. Here's an article about her life.
I just legitimately like this song. It's fun to sing! It's cute! As soon as I thought of 'singing in the bath to be annoying', I knew it was going to be this song. There might be a little bit of earnest feeling behind it, but not much.
This recording is probably from around 1930, it was either that or very early wax recordings, which are more for historical interest than for listening.
I also don't personally like this song, but for different reasons. This was one of the iconic songs of the war and is still closely associated with it now. I prefer the ruder variant, if I had to pick one.
The mental image of playing this terribly on a tuba just tickled me. If I'm feeling sentimental this song will hit for me, but I don't think that's the case for our heroes.
Not contemporary, not played badly! But played on the tuba, nonethless.
What else are you going to get a drunk guy playing on the piano, ten years after his parents finally gave up on his piano lessons?
Not contemporary, but played properly!
Another case of 'I like this song, and it's fun to sing'. It is! I also liked the idea of Darling picking something that wasn't Christmassy in the slightest. It's got June in the lyrics and everything. Anyway, I looked it up and yes, 25 December 1918 there was a half-moon in France too, so even better. This is more seriously meant than Daisy Bell, but tempered by him being three sheets to the wind.
The 'scene' verses in the original are fun, but I see why later covers do sometimes drop them.
I had such trouble writing the summaries for each part, it was a nightmare. Then I ended up scribbling down, 'Act one, be done, Dialogue: would you like a truce?' as a summary for this part and that unblocked me. Doggerel version of that first verse that doesn't scan properly, sorry, inspired by the opening scene:
Place, France, Scene, dark
Useless tanks are blazing through the trees
Cast, two, me, you
Sudden death floating on the breeze
Act one, be done
Dialogue, would you like a truce?
Surely, I thought to myself, I've listened to a full version of this song. Nope. Until I looked it up for this, I knew it exclusively from The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. It is catchy, but I still personally prefer the Smiths...I guess I'm a child of my era.
I would describe this song as 'converted wife guy gets a lot of grief for his past misdemeanours'. I feel like it's a song that's specially tailored to try Blackadder's patience to its very limit. Anyway, popular song of the period, and hmm, that line about 'it isn't the girl I saw you with at Brighton'...
This one, unlike the other songs Darling sings in this part, wasn't an instinctive pick. I was looking for something sentimental, a bit of a downer and if possible, non gender specific. I found this song through looking through Henry Burr recordings, and yes, it hit what I was looking for. It also fitted with not wanting to be forgotten, just as they'd discussed much earlier on.
You have to have some levity after that dirge! Bring on the much beloved, often rude song that has so, so many variants on its lyrics. There really are so many, but I felt that the sex-related ones were the most, uh, suitable for this particular singer and situation.
My personal favourite verses are "I didn't care what came of me/So I went and joined the infantry" and "They say they mechanized the war/Then what the hell are we marching for", which I didn't use in the story.
There are so many variants on this song, but contemporary recordings are very censored. I'm still providing one but also a modern cover which has the verses I like because it has heart even if it's not a fancy cover.
I don't think this was quite as cliché a pick then as it would be today, but Edith isn't the kind of bride who really cares about the wedding itself, it's just a means to getting that contract locked down. (Also based on my experience of weddings, there's a definite point where unless you're a perfectionist, you will go 'I don't care just pick something for me' about something. Possibly multiple things.)
There are, obviously, many recordings of this one. This one particularly hits the church organ vibe, although the organ in a family chapel would likely be smaller than this one.
I picked this as a contemporary song that you'd have a band in a Lyons Cornerhouse playing. Looking at this list, I see that Isham Jones comes up quite a few times, which makes sense. He was a very successful band-leader and composer during the 1920s.
Did I just sometimes look through songs Marion Harris recorded for inspiration? Yes. Yes I did. I dithered a little on if this was the right pick, then I thought, well he's been careless and it allowed for a joke, so here I am. It's a callback to the past in France, but back then, the songs were happier ones. Plus, 'I'll see you in my dreams', he sure did! And had been for years, even if he didn't realise it.
Blackadder chose to reference this because he hates this song. I can see why it was very successful and it's less obnoxious than some music hall songs. I like the verse about sticking the courting couple together by accident. This recording is by Billy Williams, which is dated 1927 but it's a re-issue (since he died in 1915).
I stumbled across this song relatively early on while looking at pre-1919 jazz standards, put it on a list as a potential song to use, and then came back to it when writing this part. It does have lyrics (which hah, was part of why I picked it) but it's usually performed without them.
I fell in love with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers 1926 recording of this song, and it is that very record that's on the gramophone when they dance. That piano solo is really charming! The whole record is! This is the only scene where I really want to go, PLEASE listen to the music! It's not the same without it!
Another Marion Harris find! This was first recorded by Marion Harris and was a hit for her in 1919, but I slightly prefer Sophie Tucker's version, so I've put that below. I preferred both to a Henry Burr recording from 1918 which was just too upbeat for my tastes.
Picked again for thematic reasons, since he was about two minutes away from ended up in the exact situation as the singer, as well as because I liked it. I didn't expect Darling to bail on the lyrics like he did before I started writing, but I couldn't get him pass those two lines, and I decided to go with it. Also, Blackadder's not just talking about Darling when he quotes 'you know my love for you will drive me to ruin', either.
There's some differences between the lyrics in the recording below and the published lyrics. I decided to use the lyrics in Sophie Tucker's recording because I think they worked better.
This is a firmly Québécois song! So I had to explain how Edith ended up knowing it, since there are lots of much more French-French songs she would have learnt as a child. I really don't know why bad things always happen to blackbirds in nursery rhymes. They really are harmless, and yes, they do really hop around looking handsome and eating worms. Anyway, I will admit that I included this song as a way to lead to 'mon merle' as a nickname, hahahaha.
I picked this recording because it felt much more traditional than the more modern ones.
This is probably a bit of a strange pick, in terms of lyrics, when everything's going well between them, but it seemed fitting. It's also very catchy! I won't lie, I've caught myself singing this one to myself a lot recently. It was a contemporary success, I like the lyrics, and I love the Louis Armstrong recording. He played this one a lot throughout his career, so there's several recordings but it's this one from 1932 I was specifically listening to.
A big hit in 1911! It was a bit old hat by 1918, but I wanted to pick something that Edith would rather cynically sing in order to hook Joe in, and then be embarrassed to be called upon to sing it again much later. While there's definitely a strong power imbalance in their marriage, Joe isn't completely defenseless! He can, indeed, embarrass her, if only a little. It doesn't really come up in the story itself, but one of the things Joe always liked about her is she would say no to people, while he's useless at that, he hates letting people down. So her acting as his dragon was part of why he married her in the first place (as well as finding such a cynical ice queen intriguing, and his mother, rather foolishly, chasing off all the girls in New York that wanted to get their claws into him so he was completely defenseless when he arrived on British soil).
The recording I've picked is from 1924, and an instrumental with a vocal refrain rather than with the full lyrics. The only recording from 1911 is too scratchy for me to listen to.
Isham Jones again! The lyrics to this one are just far, far too fitting for these two. I could easily just end up putting all the lyrics here, but "for nobody else gave me a thrill, with all your faults, I love you still, it had to be you" in particular...yup. As soon as I found this one I just went, yeah I'm going to have to use this at the end.
I've broken my rule of one recording on the playlist for this song, because I like both versions so much. The first one is a swing version from 1937 (which I liked more than the 1936 ones), and the second is Marion Harris back in 1924. The Marion Harris version has the lyrics and I also really like it. Also, this song has been used in so many movies, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else goes "wait, I know that from When Harry Met Sally" when listening to it like I did. (Other pictures are available!)
There is a YouTube playlist if you just want to listen to the music.
The videos are also embedded in the post below. For a couple of pieces I provide multiple recordings, but in the YouTube playlist I stick to just one for ease of listening (and I picked my favourite recordings, as my prerogative!). Well, apart from one song at the end. Rules are made to be broken...
I've gone for contemporary, within roughly the preceding ten years, recordings where possible, to sound as close to how it would have been performed at the time. With a couple of pieces where this provided not to be possible, I've used later recordings.
falling towards you as an apple falls from a branch (part one)
Do You Ever Think of Me by Harry D. Kerr, John Cooper and Earl Burtnett (1920)
Despite being the first piece of music in the story, it was late on in writing, (as in, near the end of part three) when I actually decided on what Doris was playing on the gramophone. I wanted it to be a song that didn't immediately scream 'music to have an argument with your spouse to' and this fit the bill! I also feel that the fact they had their first serious fight that led to the long, slow decline of their marriage to this song ruined it forever for both of them.
Also, the lyrics, although this is an instrumental recording.
If You Were the Only Girl in the World by Nat D. Ayer and Clifford Grey (1916)
This is such a terrible accompaniment for a couple who are on their fifth (at least) argument of the evening, which is why I picked it.
Disclaimer: I've never watched Downtown Abbey, and didn't know the show had used it until researching the song. No, I found this one from a Bamforth song postcard!
Silent Night (1818)
This carol is so well-known, particularly with its significance in World War One, that I really don't feel like I can add much here! So I'll just provide two recordings (one German, it'd feel weird not to for this one) and leave it at that.
This isn't contemporary, but this is close to how I pictured that choir on the radio sounding like. It's not really Christmas until there's a boys' choir on the radio.
And a contemporary German recording (1917)
Mars: from The Planets by Gustav Holst (1917)
While the Planets suite might be so familiar now that it's hard to hear it afresh, in 1925 it was only eight years old, and I doubt Darling would have heard it before. I could see it catching someone on the hop, particularly someone who's sensitive to loudness (and is managing their trauma rather badly).
Much to my pleasure, someone has uploaded a 1923 recording of the whole suite! It's the first full recording of it as far I can tell. This could be the very recording Doris heard of it at Martha's.
Ach, Mein Weisswurst and Lonely Little Helga
These two are (surprise) fictional! Ach, Mein Weisswurst is a drinking song, while Lonely Little Helga is a sentimental, heart-rending ballad that will make anyone stuck in a POW camp cry. Apart from Baldrick, who knows it by heart but doesn't have a clue what the words mean.
I Ain't Nobody's Darling by Robert King (1921)
Blackadder is correct, this song is NOT about chickens, it's about being rejected. Also, she is completely correct to reject the singer. I've yet to find a full version of this song with all the lyrics that I'm willing to put here. They do exist, you can find them on Youtube if you really want to hear one. One of them even starts with 'Awful Record'.
There is a very specific recording of this song by Jack Hylton, that only uses the chorus and that I had stuck in my head for weeks because it's irritatingly catchy. There are a couple of instrumental recordings his band made of this song too, but this is the one I like.
Full instrumental recording. Victor Vorzanger's Broadway Band was apparently one of the first multi-racial bands to make records on a regular basis.
I Ain't Got Nobody by Roger A. Graham and Spencer Williams (1915)
This is a popular early jazz standard. I really liked Marion Harris' recordings of this song, which is why I ended up picking it. (Cough there were thematic reasons too, cough.)
A Little Bit of What You Fancy Does You Good by George Arthus and Fred V. Leigh (1916)
Popularised by the queen of music hall herself, Marie Lloyd! One of those music hall songs that's survived into the modern day, but without the nudge, nudge, wink, wink, aspect. It's not particularly subtle in the lyrics, and even less so when it's Marie Lloyd singing it. Florrie is following in her footsteps with her delivery. I wanted 'bawdy' but not 'outright obscene' for her song (I left the obscenity to others).
I feel like Darling accidentally embraces the 'having it if you fancy it' that this song is all about in the chapter with the storm in part 3. I thought it while I was writing it, I still think it now, and it wasn't something that would come up in the story itself so I'm just sticking that thought here instead.
Good King Wenceslas by John Mason Neale (1853)
Like Silent Night, I feel like there's not much I can say about this one!
This, ironically, is possibly the song I spent the longest looking for a recording for. No contemporary ones were available, but there were plenty of modern ones! There are so many, in fact, and nearly none of them what I actually wanted. I learnt during this process that I don't really like full choral arrangments of this song, to me this is an instrumental or sung by people on your doorstep (or drunks). Anyway this brass band recording has the right feeling for me, so here it is.
slowly, imperceptibly, as if into a new political epoch (part two)
A Hundred Years From Now by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and John Bennett (1914)
Not to be confused with several other songs with the same title! I read the sheet music for this and while it is very sentimental in the way parlour songs were, some of the lyrics just felt rather fitting for this story. I couldn't resist.
Carrie Jacobs-Bond had quite the life, and was the first woman composer to sell over a million copies. Here's an article about her life.
Daisy Bell by Harry Dacre (1892)
I just legitimately like this song. It's fun to sing! It's cute! As soon as I thought of 'singing in the bath to be annoying', I knew it was going to be this song. There might be a little bit of earnest feeling behind it, but not much.
This recording is probably from around 1930, it was either that or very early wax recordings, which are more for historical interest than for listening.
It's a Long Way to Tipperary by Jack Judge and Harry Williams (1912)/That's the Wrong Way to Tickle Mary (1915)
I also don't personally like this song, but for different reasons. This was one of the iconic songs of the war and is still closely associated with it now. I prefer the ruder variant, if I had to pick one.
Danny Boy by Frederic Weatherly (1913)
The mental image of playing this terribly on a tuba just tickled me. If I'm feeling sentimental this song will hit for me, but I don't think that's the case for our heroes.
Not contemporary, not played badly! But played on the tuba, nonethless.
Chopsticks/The Celebrated Chop Waltz by Euphemia Allen (1873)
What else are you going to get a drunk guy playing on the piano, ten years after his parents finally gave up on his piano lessons?
Not contemporary, but played properly!
By The Light of The Silvery Moon by Gus Edwards and Edward Madden (1909)
Another case of 'I like this song, and it's fun to sing'. It is! I also liked the idea of Darling picking something that wasn't Christmassy in the slightest. It's got June in the lyrics and everything. Anyway, I looked it up and yes, 25 December 1918 there was a half-moon in France too, so even better. This is more seriously meant than Daisy Bell, but tempered by him being three sheets to the wind.
The 'scene' verses in the original are fun, but I see why later covers do sometimes drop them.
I had such trouble writing the summaries for each part, it was a nightmare. Then I ended up scribbling down, 'Act one, be done, Dialogue: would you like a truce?' as a summary for this part and that unblocked me. Doggerel version of that first verse that doesn't scan properly, sorry, inspired by the opening scene:
Place, France, Scene, dark
Useless tanks are blazing through the trees
Cast, two, me, you
Sudden death floating on the breeze
Act one, be done
Dialogue, would you like a truce?
Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty by Arthur J. Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennet Scott (1916)
Surely, I thought to myself, I've listened to a full version of this song. Nope. Until I looked it up for this, I knew it exclusively from The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. It is catchy, but I still personally prefer the Smiths...I guess I'm a child of my era.
Hello! Hello! Who's Your Lady Friend? by Harry Frayson, Worton David and Bert Lee (1913)
I would describe this song as 'converted wife guy gets a lot of grief for his past misdemeanours'. I feel like it's a song that's specially tailored to try Blackadder's patience to its very limit. Anyway, popular song of the period, and hmm, that line about 'it isn't the girl I saw you with at Brighton'...
If You'll Remember Me by George Graff and Ernest R. Ball (1908)
This one, unlike the other songs Darling sings in this part, wasn't an instinctive pick. I was looking for something sentimental, a bit of a downer and if possible, non gender specific. I found this song through looking through Henry Burr recordings, and yes, it hit what I was looking for. It also fitted with not wanting to be forgotten, just as they'd discussed much earlier on.
Mademoiselle from Armentieres/Hinky-dinky Parlez-Vous
You have to have some levity after that dirge! Bring on the much beloved, often rude song that has so, so many variants on its lyrics. There really are so many, but I felt that the sex-related ones were the most, uh, suitable for this particular singer and situation.
My personal favourite verses are "I didn't care what came of me/So I went and joined the infantry" and "They say they mechanized the war/Then what the hell are we marching for", which I didn't use in the story.
There are so many variants on this song, but contemporary recordings are very censored. I'm still providing one but also a modern cover which has the verses I like because it has heart even if it's not a fancy cover.
The Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner (1850) (aka Here Comes the Bride)
I don't think this was quite as cliché a pick then as it would be today, but Edith isn't the kind of bride who really cares about the wedding itself, it's just a means to getting that contract locked down. (Also based on my experience of weddings, there's a definite point where unless you're a perfectionist, you will go 'I don't care just pick something for me' about something. Possibly multiple things.)
There are, obviously, many recordings of this one. This one particularly hits the church organ vibe, although the organ in a family chapel would likely be smaller than this one.
or excitedly like a dog towards a bone (part three)
I'm Tired of Everything But You by Isham Jones (1925)
I picked this as a contemporary song that you'd have a band in a Lyons Cornerhouse playing. Looking at this list, I see that Isham Jones comes up quite a few times, which makes sense. He was a very successful band-leader and composer during the 1920s.
I'll See You in My Dreams by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn (1924)
Did I just sometimes look through songs Marion Harris recorded for inspiration? Yes. Yes I did. I dithered a little on if this was the right pick, then I thought, well he's been careless and it allowed for a joke, so here I am. It's a callback to the past in France, but back then, the songs were happier ones. Plus, 'I'll see you in my dreams', he sure did! And had been for years, even if he didn't realise it.
When Father Papered the Parlour by R. P. Weston and Fred J. Barnes (1910)
Blackadder chose to reference this because he hates this song. I can see why it was very successful and it's less obnoxious than some music hall songs. I like the verse about sticking the courting couple together by accident. This recording is by Billy Williams, which is dated 1927 but it's a re-issue (since he died in 1915).
Someday, Sweetheart by John and Reb Spikes (1919)
I stumbled across this song relatively early on while looking at pre-1919 jazz standards, put it on a list as a potential song to use, and then came back to it when writing this part. It does have lyrics (which hah, was part of why I picked it) but it's usually performed without them.
I fell in love with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers 1926 recording of this song, and it is that very record that's on the gramophone when they dance. That piano solo is really charming! The whole record is! This is the only scene where I really want to go, PLEASE listen to the music! It's not the same without it!
After You've Gone by Turner Layton and Henry Creamer (1918)
Another Marion Harris find! This was first recorded by Marion Harris and was a hit for her in 1919, but I slightly prefer Sophie Tucker's version, so I've put that below. I preferred both to a Henry Burr recording from 1918 which was just too upbeat for my tastes.
Picked again for thematic reasons, since he was about two minutes away from ended up in the exact situation as the singer, as well as because I liked it. I didn't expect Darling to bail on the lyrics like he did before I started writing, but I couldn't get him pass those two lines, and I decided to go with it. Also, Blackadder's not just talking about Darling when he quotes 'you know my love for you will drive me to ruin', either.
There's some differences between the lyrics in the recording below and the published lyrics. I decided to use the lyrics in Sophie Tucker's recording because I think they worked better.
holding in both hands everything he knows he has (part four)
Mon Merle (traditional)
This is a firmly Québécois song! So I had to explain how Edith ended up knowing it, since there are lots of much more French-French songs she would have learnt as a child. I really don't know why bad things always happen to blackbirds in nursery rhymes. They really are harmless, and yes, they do really hop around looking handsome and eating worms. Anyway, I will admit that I included this song as a way to lead to 'mon merle' as a nickname, hahahaha.
I picked this recording because it felt much more traditional than the more modern ones.
All of Me by Marks and Simons (1931)
This is probably a bit of a strange pick, in terms of lyrics, when everything's going well between them, but it seemed fitting. It's also very catchy! I won't lie, I've caught myself singing this one to myself a lot recently. It was a contemporary success, I like the lyrics, and I love the Louis Armstrong recording. He played this one a lot throughout his career, so there's several recordings but it's this one from 1932 I was specifically listening to.
Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Friedman and Slatter Whitson (1911)
A big hit in 1911! It was a bit old hat by 1918, but I wanted to pick something that Edith would rather cynically sing in order to hook Joe in, and then be embarrassed to be called upon to sing it again much later. While there's definitely a strong power imbalance in their marriage, Joe isn't completely defenseless! He can, indeed, embarrass her, if only a little. It doesn't really come up in the story itself, but one of the things Joe always liked about her is she would say no to people, while he's useless at that, he hates letting people down. So her acting as his dragon was part of why he married her in the first place (as well as finding such a cynical ice queen intriguing, and his mother, rather foolishly, chasing off all the girls in New York that wanted to get their claws into him so he was completely defenseless when he arrived on British soil).
The recording I've picked is from 1924, and an instrumental with a vocal refrain rather than with the full lyrics. The only recording from 1911 is too scratchy for me to listen to.
It Had To Be You by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn (1924)
Isham Jones again! The lyrics to this one are just far, far too fitting for these two. I could easily just end up putting all the lyrics here, but "for nobody else gave me a thrill, with all your faults, I love you still, it had to be you" in particular...yup. As soon as I found this one I just went, yeah I'm going to have to use this at the end.
I've broken my rule of one recording on the playlist for this song, because I like both versions so much. The first one is a swing version from 1937 (which I liked more than the 1936 ones), and the second is Marion Harris back in 1924. The Marion Harris version has the lyrics and I also really like it. Also, this song has been used in so many movies, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else goes "wait, I know that from When Harry Met Sally" when listening to it like I did. (Other pictures are available!)
