Ruth Etting, who acquired the nickname “America’s Sweetheart Of Song”, was a singer and actress who was one of the most popular and successful performers during the 1920s  and early 1930s, who retired from the business in 1937 when she was about 40 years old. As a young girl Etting had wanted to become an artist and from the age of 16 attended art school in Chicago. While working at the Marigold Gardens nightclub, she decided to give up art classes in favour of a career in show business and went on to perform regularly on the Broadway stage.

Many of her 60 hit songs were early versions of Great American Songbook classics from the popular musicals and revues of the era. This 71-track 3CD collection comprises all her 62 records which are listed as hits, along with selected other recordings of some of the great songs of the time from her releases on the Columbia, Melotone, Brunswick, Banner and Decca labels. It features her No.1 with Life Is A Song, and her other classic hits ’Deed I Do, Love Me Or Leave Me, Back In Your Own Back Yard, Ten Cents A Dance, I’ll Get By, Mean To Me, Guilty, Body And Soul, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Try A Little Tenderness and many more. On turning her back on celebrity, Etting settled in Colorado Springs and lived a quiet life before her passing at the age of 81 in 1978. Etting’s life was the basis for the fictionalised 1955 film, Love Me or Leave Me which starred Doris Day (as Etting) alongside James Cagney and Cameron Mitchell.

This collection offers a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for a performer who was a highly distinctive vocalist, with a personal way with a song, and her music was very much of its era.

TRACKS

CD 1
1. LET'S TALK ABOUT MY SWEETIE Ruth Etting (Columbia 580) 1926 
2. LONESOME AND SORRY Ruth Etting (Columbia 644) 1926 
3. BUT I DO, YOU KNOW I DO Ruth Etting (Columbia 644) 1926 
4. (I'VE GROWN SO LONESOME) THINKING OF YOU Ruth Etting (Columbia 827) 1927 
5. DEED I DO Ruth Etting (Columbia 865) 1927 
6. SAM THE OLD ACCORDION MAN Ruth Etting (Columbia 908) 1927 
7. IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU Ruth Etting (Columbia 908) 1927 
8. HOOSIER SWEETHEART (SAY WHO) Ruth Etting (Columbia 924) 1927 
9. WISTFUL AND BLUE Ruth Etting (Columbia 924) 1927 
10. (WHAT DO WE DO) ON A DEW-DEW-DEWY DAY Ruth Etting (Columbia 979) 1927 
11. AFTER YOU'VE GONE Ruth Etting (Columbia 995) 1927 
12. I'M NOBODY'S BABY Ruth Etting (Columbia 1104) 1927 
13. IT ALL BELONGS TO ME Ruth Etting (Columbia 1113) 1927 
14. SHAKING THE BLUES AWAY Ruth Etting (Columbia 1113) 1927 
15. THE SONG IS ENDED (BUT THE MELODY LINGERS ON) Ruth Etting (Columbia 1196) 1928 
16. TOGETHER WE TWO Ruth Etting (Columbia 1196) 1928 
17. KEEP SWEEPING COBWEBS OFF THE MOON Ted Lewis & His Band With Ruth Etting (Columbia 1242) 1928 
18. BACK IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD Ruth Etting (Columbia 1288) 1928 
19. WHEN YOU'RE WITH SOMEBODY ELSE Ruth Etting (Columbia 1288) 1928 
20. RAMONA Ruth Etting (Columbia 1352) 1928 
21. SAY YES TODAY Ruth Etting (Columbia 1352) 1928 
22. BECAUSE MY BABY DON'T MEAN MAYBE NOW Ruth Etting (Columbia 1420) 1928 
23. BELOVED Ruth Etting (Columbia 1420) 1928 
24. HAPPY DAYS AND LONELY NIGHTS Ruth Etting (Columbia 1454) 1928

CD 2 
1. SONNY BOY Ruth Etting (Columbia 1563) 1928 
2. MY BLACKBIRDS ARE BLUEBIRDS NOW Ruth Etting (Columbia 1595) 1928 
3. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME Ruth Etting (Columbia 1595) 1929 
4. I'M BRINGING A RED RED ROSE Ruth Etting (Columbia 1680) 1929 
5. YOU'RE THE CREAM IN MY COFFEE Ruth Etting (Columbia 1707) 1929 
6. I'LL GET BY (AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU) Ruth Etting (Columbia 1733) 1929 
7. GLAD RAG DOLL Ruth Etting (Columbia 1733) 1929 
8. MEAN TO ME Ruth Etting (Columbia 1762) 1929 
9. BUTTON UP YOUR OVERCOAT Ruth Etting (Columbia 1762) 1929 
10. DEEP NIGHT Ruth Etting (Columbia 1801) 1929 
11. AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' Ruth Etting (Columbia 1958) 1929 
12. WHAT WOULDN’T I DO FOR THAT MAN Ruth Etting (Columbia 1998) 1929 
13. THE RIGHT KIND OF MAN Ruth Etting (Columbia 1998) 1929 
14. MORE THAN YOU KNOW Ruth Etting (Columbia 2038) 1929 
15. CRYIN' FOR THE CAROLINES Ruth Etting (Columbia 2073) 1930 
16. TEN CENTS A DANCE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2146) 1930 
17. A COTTAGE FOR SALE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2172) 1930 
18. EXACTLY LIKE YOU Ruth Etting (Columbia 2199) 1930 
19. IT HAPPENED IN MONTEREY Ruth Etting (Columbia 2199) 1930 
20. DANCING WITH TEARS IN MY EYES Ruth Etting (Columbia 2216) 1930 
21. THE KISS WALTZ Ruth Etting (Columbia 2280) 1930 
22. DON'T TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME Ruth Etting (Columbia 2280) 1930 
23. BODY AND SOUL Ruth Etting (Columbia 2300) 1930

CD 3
1. JUST A LITTLE CLOSER Ruth Etting (Columbia 2307) 1930 
2. I'LL BE BLUE JUST THINKING OF YOU (FROM NOW ON) Ruth Etting (Columbia 2307) 1930 
3. LAUGHING AT LIFE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2318) 1930 
4. REACHING FOR THE MOON Ruth Etting (Columbia 2377) 1931 
5. OVERNIGHT Ruth Etting (Columbia 2398) 1931 
6. LOVE IS LIKE THAT (WHAT CAN YOU DO)? Ruth Etting (Columbia 2445) 1931 
7. FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN Ruth Etting (Columbia 2445) 1931 
8. WERE YOU SINCERE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2445) 1931 
9. MOONLIGHT SAVING TIME Ruth Etting (Columbia 2470) 1931 
10. I'M GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT LOVE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2505) 1931 
11. NOW THAT YOU'RE GONE Ruth Etting (Columbia 2529) 1931 
12. GUILTY Ruth Etting (Columbia 2529) 1931 
13. GOOD NIGHT SWEETHEART Ruth Etting (Columbia 2557) 1931 
14. CUBAN LOVE SONG Ruth Etting (Columbia 2580) 1932 
15. WHEN WE'RE ALONE (PENTHOUSE SERENADE) Ruth Etting (Columbia 2630) 1932 
16. THE NIGHT WHEN LOVE WAS BORN Ruth Etting (Columbia 2681) 1932 
17. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL Ruth Etting (Melotone 12450) 1932 
18. TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS Ruth Etting (Melotone 12625) 1933 
19. SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES Ruth Etting (Brunswick 6769) 1934 
20. WITH MY EYES WIDE OPEN I'M DREAMING Ruth Etting (Brunswick 6914) 1934 
21. LIFE IS A SONG (LET'S SING IT TOGETHER) Ruth Etting (Columbia 3031) 1935 
22. SHINE ON HARVEST MOON Ruth Etting (Columbia 3085) 1935 
23. IN THE CHAPEL IN THE MOONLIGHT Ruth Etting (Decca 1084) 1937 
24. MAY I HAVE THE NEXT ROMANCE WITH YOU Ruth Etting (Decca 1107) 1937