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What A Year To Be Born: The Soundtrack of 1946

The war was over. After six years of conflict, 1946 was the year the world exhaled and the music reflected it. In Britain and America, the returning soldiers brought a hunger for joy, dancing, and the songs they'd left behind. The great swing orchestras were still in their prime, Frank Sinatra was the era's first teen idol, and Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters dominated the charts.


But beneath the surface, something was stirring. In the jazz clubs of New York, a new generation of musicians including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton were reinventing what music could be. Bebop was being born.


This playlist charts both worlds: the bright, popular songs of the year and the more adventurous sounds emerging from the underground. From Nat King Cole to Charlie Parker, from White Christmas to A Night In Tunisia, this is the soundtrack of 1946.


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  1. The Gypsy — The Ink Spots
  2. Five Minutes More — Frank Sinatra
  3. Prisoner of Love — Perry Como
  4. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons — Nat King Cole
  5. South America, Take It Away — Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
  6. Day By Day — Jo Stafford
  7. To Each His Own — Eddy Howard
  8. Personality — Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers
  9. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! — Vaughn Monroe
  10. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 — Nat King Cole Trio
  11. They Say It's Wonderful — Frank Sinatra
  12. Sioux City Sue — Bing Crosby
  13. Ole Buttermilk Sky — Kay Kyser & His Orchestra
  14. The Christmas Song — Nat King Cole Trio
  15. Doin' What Comes Natur'lly — Dinah Shore
  16. Surrender — Perry Como
  17. The Coffee Song — Frank Sinatra
  18. Lili Marlene — Anne Shelton
  19. White Christmas — Bing Crosby
  20. It's Been a Long, Long Time — Harry James
  21. All Through The Day — Frank Sinatra
  22. Bless You (for Being an Angel) — The Ink Spots
  23. You Always Hurt The One You Love — The Mills Brothers
  24. Cruising Down The River — Lou Preager & His Orchestra
  25. Chickory Chick — Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  26. Mary Lou — Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  27. In the Land of Beginning Again — Archie Lewis & Geraldo and His Orchestra
  28. Money is the Root of All Evil — The Andrews Sisters
  29. I Can't Begin to Tell You — Donald Peers
  30. Choo Choo Ch' Boogie — Louis Jordan
  31. Let the Good Times Roll — Louis Jordan
  32. Ornithology — Charlie Parker
  33. Stone Cold Dead In The Market — Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
  34. Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop — Lionel Hampton
  35. A Night In Tunisia — Dizzy Gillespie
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