Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

The other night I was at a rehearsal with a local band and we tried a new arrangement of the old tune "Smoke gets in your Eyes" and I was reminded of a time when I played a show featuring the memorable one-line king Henny Youngman.

He used to play the violin from time to time in his act and he always played "Smoke gets in your Eyes". When the opportunity arose, I asked him why he played the violin and why that tune. He responded that he learned to play that tune in Eb (a lousy fiddle key) and that was the limit of his ability and he played the tune to give himself a minute to think and organise his thoughts for the next joke.

I guess music plays many roles!

Web space donated by Encore...The Concert Band www.encoretheconcertband.ca