the fundamental things apply

To make a few bucks while unemployed, I took the assignment of compiling a CD that was going to be released as romantic favorites of a famous -- what should we call it? -- 'TV food personality' is pretty accurate. She insisted that we include 'As Time Goes By' by Louis Armstrong. This proved to be a tricky request, since Louis Armstrong never made a recording of 'As Time Goes By.' I communicated this fact to her representative, who came back with the reply that I didn't know what I was talking about, that Armstrong did a very famous version of 'As Time Goes By.' This went on for a while.

It turns out that there are a number of people who think Armstrong recorded 'As Time Goes By.' I don't know why that is. Is it possible that they think the Dooley Wilson version in 'Casablanca' is really by Louis Armstrong?

A blog called The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong goes into this in some detail, and also posts an MP3 of Armstrong singing the song on a 1943 radio broadcast:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2009/06/as-time-goes-by_08.html'

"Isn't that lovely?" the post says. "You might be thinking, 'That was a great performance. Why didn't Armstrong record it?' Simple: American Federation of Musicians recording ban (hiss, boo) that didn't allow any union musicians to make records from August 1942 into 1944."

One of my favorite takes on 'As Time Goes By' is by Peggy Lee, which I have posted above. It's pretty string-heavy, but beautifully sung. And speaking of strings, here is the great Harry Nilsson, singing 'As Time Goes By' with the 1001 violins of Gordon Jenkins.