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©2000 by Ely Music/Pub |
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"Sweet Someone" - the Story(A steel guitar arrangement for this still-popular song is printed in the Winter '99 HSGA Quarterly, mailed to HSGA members.) "Because it has been recorded so many times by local Hawaiian entertainers, most assume the song originated in Hawai`i," says music archivist, Harry B. Soria, Jr, well-known producer and emcee of "Territorial Airwaves". "Sweet Someone" was written on the mainland U.S. by mainland composers Mack Gordon and Harry Revel, probably in the 1930's or '40's, according to Vic Rittenband's search of the ASCAP database. Alan Akaka remembers it as being from the Broadway show "52th Street". Harry B. says the song was first brought to the Islands in the 1950's by Eddie & Betty Cole, billed as the "Two Hot Coles", who played cocktail lounges (including The Forbidden City) around Waikiki. Eddie was the brother of Nat King Cole; Eddie played piano, both sang. They recorded the song locally in an LP album, and it was instant hit. It was soon covered on records by Pua Almeida, Kaipo Miller, and many other vocalists. The Words... Oh, I wonder who's keeping us apart, 
HSGA * HAWAIIAN
STEEL GUITAR ASSOCIATION Homepage URL: www.hsga.org (hsga@lava.net) Last updated: 07/23/02 by Gerald Ross (gbross@umich.edu) |