Frenesi

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"Frenesí"
Single by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
A-side"Adiós Mariquita Linda"
PublishedDecember 28, 1939 (1939-12-28) by Southern Music Pub. Co., Inc., New York[1]
ReleasedMarch 29, 1940 (1940-03-29)
RecordedMarch 3, 1940 (1940-03-03)[2]
StudioVictor Studios, Hollywood
GenreSwing
Length3:01
LabelVictor 26542
Composer(s)Alberto Domínguez Borrás
Lyricist(s)Leonard Whitcup[1]

"Frenesí" is a musical piece originally composed by Alberto Domínguez Borrás for the marimba, and adapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others.

Background[edit]

The word frenesí is Spanish for "frenzy".

Artie Shaw recording[edit]

Songwriter Alberto Domínguez (right) with Artie Shaw in 1941

A hit version recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra[3] (with an arrangement by William Grant Still) reached number one on the Billboard pop chart on December 21, 1940, staying for 13 weeks,[4] and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.[5]

Cover versions[edit]

Other performers who have recorded the song include:

In popular culture[edit]

  • World War II flying ace Major (later Brigadier General) Thomas L. Hayes named his P-51 Frenesi after the song.[7] He said it was a tribute to his wife Louise, for the song they listened to; he believed the song's name translated as "Love Me Tenderly".
  • The Artie Shaw recording was used in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Raging Bull.[8]
  • Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland features a character named Frenesi Gates, "her name celebrating the record by Artie Shaw that was all over the jukeboxes and airwaves in the last days of the war".

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1940). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1940 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 35 Pt 3 For the Year 1940. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
  2. ^ "Victor matrix PBS-042546. Frenesi / Artie Shaw Orchestra - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  3. ^ "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #5". 1972.
  4. ^ Hoffmann, Frank (May 23, 2016). Chronology of American Popular Music, 1900-2000. London; New York: Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-415-97715-9. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  5. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". Grammy.org. The Recording Academy. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  6. ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  7. ^ Robert F. Dorr, Air Combat: An Oral History of Fighter Pilots, 2007.
  8. ^ "Internet Movie Database". imdb.com. Retrieved May 12, 2017.