Play: 02 Pennies from Heaven (Single)

“Pennies from Heaven” was a popular song of the 1930’s written by Johnny Burke and music by Arthur Johnston. Bing Crosby introduced the song with the movie under the same title name. The song was later recorded by big names, such as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong. Bing conveys through his rendition of the song that “without the occasional trouble… we would never appreciate the good things in life.” (Dickstein 418) The lyrics reflect this with “That’s what storms are made for / And you shouldn’t be afraid for / Everytime it rains, it rains.” (“Pennies from Heaven”) Bing allows the listener to realize that if there were not troubled times in life, we wouldn’t appreciate the sunshine. One of the first verses of the song contains this sentiment with “But no one appreciated / A sky that was always blue / And no one congratulated / A moon that was always new,” (“Pennies from Heaven”) conveying that sunny days would go under appreciated, if everyday was bright and carefree. As humans, we need the storms to appreciate the sunshine. Through Crosby’s exceptional sincerity, it is said that “Not until Gene Kelly danced his way through ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ would any performer bring such sunny conviction to bad weather.” (Dickstein 418) Crosby proves to the public that storms and troubles are necessary to combat in order to have and enjoy the blue-skied days of carefree emotions.