Week Four "Paper Doll"


"Paper Doll" is an upbeat love song with a doo-wap feel. Most famously it is sung by the Mills Brothers.  The song is written by Johnny S. Black in 1915 who claims that he wrote the song after his girlfriend ran off with another boxer and he felt he was done with women.
The song is written in double time meaning at first the base is played every other beat and then after some time every beat. This adds dimension to the song as well as gives it a good beat. The vocals are accompanied only by a guitar which allows for the harmonies sung by the brothers to be more prevalent. One brother sings the lead for the majority of the song with the others singing back up except for the particular parts when they harmonize. 
The song tells of a man who would rather have a paper doll than “ have a fickle-mined real live girl” through the lyrics he talks about how she would always be there and how other flirty guys would have to talk to real girls while he luckily had his paper doll. The message is lighthearted and rather inconsequence so it makes sense what it was so popular as at this time, music was a way to escape from the realities of war. 

The Mills Brothers were very successful recording over 70 hit records over 4 decades and are regarded as the most successful swing-era vocal group. Interestingly they often recreated sounds of trombones or saxophones with their voices making for very fun songs to listen to.


Comments

  1. Nikki LuccheseSeptember 23, 2019 at 3:24 PM

    This song definitely has a Doo-Wop feel to it along with underlying meanings. From what I hear from it is the song from the movie "Elf" with the same use of the instrument so to me that is what makes it distinct.

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