My late mother was an accomplished singer, pianist and songwriter. We grew up sitting around the piano while she sang and played – her own songs, popular songs and light opera. She sang in English, German and French.
She did most of her songwriting in the 1940s and 1950s, in a variety of styles popular during those decades. She left a priceless archive of recordings and sheet music. Most of the recordings were made at home on an Elizabethan reel to reel tape recorder. A couple of songs were professionally recorded and made into records at a little recording booth in Selfridges in London, UK so that they might be played on a gramophone.
Some of these recordings are featured on this page. A recent discovery of sheet music among her effects revealed a number of songs I had not previously heard. I am in the process of having these recorded so that all might hear what they sound like after some 60 or 70 years.
To date, none of these songs has been commercially exploited and, for the moment, my aim is to make as many of my mother’s songs as possible available to listen to, by means of existing and new recordings.
I will post any such recordings here.
Peter Brodie, June 2018
All the songs featured were written by Irene Brodie (words and music)
Here is my rendition of her song:
I’m In Love With Two Eyes
London Town
London Town was featured on BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms Show in November 2014 when he tried to find out more about the small recording booth in London’s Selfridge’s department store where the song was recorded onto disc. Robert loved the song and played excerpts of it several times during his 3-hour programme. I recorded the programme and have edited it to include all his references to ‘London Town’. Here is the recording:
Kiss Me And Smile
Men (Are The Absolute Terminus)
The Magic Is Still There
When I Tango