October 25

It don’t mean a thing (if it ain’t got that swing)

On the 25th in 1938 Francis J. L. Beckman, Archbishop of Dubuque, denounced Swing music as “a degenerated musical system turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people.” In addition, the good Archbishop stated with authority that Swing “leads down a primrose path to hell.” Fortunately, for the rest of the listening public, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald chose to throw caution to the wind despite such dire warnings.