“Scatterbrain.” Lyrics by Johnny Burke, music by Kahn Keene and Carl Bean (as “Keene-Bean”) and Frankie Masters. Recorded in London on December 28, 1939 by Carroll Gibbons and His Band (i.e., the Savoy Hotel Orpheans) with vocalists Anne Lenner and Eric Whitley. Columbia FB-2357 mx. CA-17754-1.

Personnel: Carroll Gibbons-p dir. French Sartell-Teddy Jepson-t / Arthur Fenoulhet-t-tb / Paul Fenoulhet-tb / Taffy Hawkins-tb / Laurie Payne-cl-as-bar / Chips Chippendall-cl-as / George Pallat-as / George Smith-cl-ts / Cyril Hellier-Len Lee-Bert Powell-vn / Sid Kruger-2nd p / Bert Thomas-g / Jack Evetts-sb / Syd Bartle-d / Anne Lenner-Eric Whitley-v

“Scatterbrain” ¹ features delightfully playful music by American big band leader Frankie Masters and his two band members Kahn Keene and Carl Bean (the latter two collaborating under the name “Keene-Bean”) — but the tune’s cleverness is augmented considerably by the witty lyrics of Johnny Burke (who had already had remarkable success with “Pennies from Heaven” and who would go on to write “Only Forever” and “Swinging on a Star”). In the song, the singer’s beloved is described as having many desirable qualities but as being deficient in logic, reason, and polite conversation; he or she would appear to be a “scatterbrain.” There is admirable wordplay, with fun rhymes such as “apoplectic”/”hectic.” A hit in 1939, “Scatterbrain” would continue to be recorded well into 1940, and was featured in a film of the same name.

Burke’s complex lyrics deserve to roll off the tongue of a singer with excellent diction, so it is to our advantage that Carroll Gibbons had that paragon of enunciation, Anne Lenner, as one of his vocalists for his late 1939 recording of “Scatterbrain.” Her delivery is comically deliberate. The refrain is then repeated by Eric Whitley, another of Gibbons’s go-to vocalists at the time. There is something reassuring, I think, by the use of a male-female pair to deliver the funny lines; it is nice to know that being a dim or frenetic love interest is a role open to both sexes.

American bands that recorded “Scatterbrain” in 1939 include Frankie Masters and His Orchestra (v. Frankie Masters), Van Alexander and His Swingtime Band (v. Phyllis Kenny), Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (v. Louise Tobin), Freddy Martin and His Orchestra (v. Glen Hughes), Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians (v. Carmen Lombardo, Larry Owen, and Fred Henry), Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye (v. Charlie Wilson), and the Milt Herth Trio (v. O’Neil Spencer).

The other British bands that recorded “Scatterbrain” in 1939-1940 were Joe Loss and His Band (v. Chick Henderson), Jack Hylton and His Orchestra (v. Sam Browne), Arthur Young and the Hatchet Swingtette (v. Beryl Davis), Oscar Rabin and His Band (one version with Beryl Davis and Garry Gowan, and another purely instrumental one), Ambrose and His Orchestra (v. Jack Cooper), The Organ, the Dance Band and Me (dir. Billy Thorburn/v. Terry Devon), and Billy Cotton and His Band (v. Jack Cooper).