A Kiss by Lake Catani by Johnny Wade and his Hawaiians

We were lucky to come across this recording by Johnny Wade and his Hawaiians of A Kiss by Lake Catani. I already had the sheet music - the song was written by Reg Hudson - read about him and see the lyrics, here - but this is even more exciting!    We have made a digital recording of the record, you can access it by clicking on this link, here.

         

So what do we know about Johnny Wade? Not a lot, but I came across this book The Strat in the Attic 2: more thrilling stories of guitar archaeology by Deke Dickerson (Voyage Press 2014) There is a chapter on the book written by Steve Lees, The first Australian Startocaster, about the first Fender Stratocaster guitar in Australia, which was owned by Johnny Wade.  Johnny Wade was a cousin of Steve's dad, who was also a guitar player. Steve tracked down Johnny (real name Charlie Wade) who still had the guitar which he got in about 1956 from an American friend. (Fenders were not imported into Australia until the early 1960s), which eventually Steve bought from him. Amongst other things Steve also had this information about Johnny Wade - a major Hawaiian music star in Australia in the 1950s with over 70 albums to his name....in the late 1950s or early 1960s Johnny Wade played guitar at  the Brighton Hotel where he had  a residency. 

I put his name into Trove to see what I could find out about him - he started getting noticed in 1939, where a paper described him as a 'Sydney singer.' The Cumberland Argus of May 24, 1939 described him as a young vocalist whose voice is said to bear a remarkable resemblance to Bing Crosby. The first mention I can find of  Johnny Wade and his Hawaiians is in December 1947 - in this advertisement from the Melbourne Herald where the band is listed as recording for Regal Zonophone along with three other Hawaiian bands including the Hawaiian Club Quartet. See the original advertisement here.

 The  Darwin newspaper, The Northern Standard, of  February 3 1955 has this short biography of Johnny -

Although he likes to specialise in Hawaiian music, Johnny Wade is well-known as a straight singer. He has sung in many A.B.C. shows - he made his radio debut at the age of 9 as a boy soprano in the A.B.C. Children's Session-and sang and played in the band at the Prince Edward Theatre, Sydney, for many years. 

With various groups, he has recorded numerous Hawaiian numbers. His present group was formed six months ago specially for a new series of recordings and for these broadcasts. Members are Django Kahn and Neville Kahn (steel guitars), Johnny Wade (Spanish guitar), Noel Gilmore (vibraphone) and Wally Wickham (bass) 

The Kahn brothers and Johnny Wade have been associated with Hawaiian music for many years they met at Sydney's Hawaiian Club which Johnny joined to learn the guitar after his voice broke.

In 1949, Johnny visited the home of Hawaiian music-Honolulu-on his way to America. He sang at the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel with Bill Akamohou's orchestra, and at Don the Beachcomber's, a Waikiki night club. He intends to send some of his new recordings, to be released here in February, to the hotel and hopes to get an engagement for his group.

There is a  photo of the band on the National Film and Sound Archive website of  Johnny and the band  and they list the band  members as Eric Kahn, bass; Norm Scott, ukulele; Neville Kahn, steel guitar; Johnny Wade, Spanish guitar and vocals. The band is labelled as the Hawaiian Club Quartet - even though as we have seen in the advertisement from 1947, above, this was a separate band to Johnny Wade and his Hawaiians - so is the photo incorrectly labelled? or  did Johnny have two bands? I don't know.

Left to right Eric Kahn, Norm Scott,  Neville Kahn  and Johnny Wade. They have the photo dated as 1939,  I don't believe this date is correct, photo looks later than that, either way - click on this link here https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/hawaiian-music-australia# and you can hear the band play Aloha Oe.

I don't have any information about when and if Johnny Wade was married or when or where he died.

This is the record cover, I believe the record was recorded in 1949, as it is advertised as a 'latest popular song hit' in the October, see ad here, however we know that it was written in at least 1947.  Listen to the digital recording we had made of this record, here.

I have created a list of newspaper articles on Johnny Wade on Trove, you can access them here.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Issac Hermann for getting the digital recording of this record and Paul Caine for finding the photo of the band on the NFSA.

A kiss by Lake Catani composed by Reg Hudson

Very excited to find that there is a Carlo related song! A Kiss by Lake Catani was written by Reg Hudson around 1947*. Lake Catani, on Mt Buffalo, in Victoria,was named after Carlo in 1911 in recognition of the work he undertook to open up Mt Buffalo as a tourist resort.

The song sheet and music of A Kiss by Lake Catani, recorded by Johnny Wade and his Hawaiians, you can read about them and listen to the recording, here.

Here  are the lyrics -

Underneath the moon by Lake Catani
When the forest trees were all a-glow
There you said you'd be mine eternally
That is why I love you so

I thrilled to your caress
When we kissed by Lake Catani in the moonlight
I never knew that I could care
The way I do till I met you

I had to answer yes
To your plea by Lake Catani in the moonlight
The magic of your fond embrace
Will always be a memory

The lyrebirds were calling, sweet music filled the air
Moon beams were falling and love was everywhere
You brought me happiness
With  a kiss by Lake Catani in the moonlight

My heart forever holds the thrill of stars above
We two in love


This is what I now about Reg Hudson - He was born Reginald William Schuetze to Gottleib  Wilhelm Schuetze and Mary Anne Hudson, on April 25, 1904 and obviously changed his surname to that of his mothers. According to an article in Smith’s Weekly of April 17, 1926, his father  played the piano at the first picture show to open in South Australia, and he could not read music. Reg realised that he could also play by ear and formed an orchestra called Harmony Four and played at dances. An early song was Mypolonga Moon in which Reg wrote the lyrics and played the tune to a friend who did the orchestration.  The  article claimed he could be Australia's Irving Berlin. He later worked with Maurice Sheard, who collaborated with him on A Kiss by Lake Catani amongst other works (The Mail April 2, 1949)

Reg became an advertising executive, had four children, married Rose Louisa Langham in 1933 and died January 9, 1967.

His songwriting could be summed up by this quote - My great ambition in life is to wean Australians away from their fondness for songs about Kalamazoo, Idaho, Indiana, Alabama, and other American places. Surely we in Australia can develop our own popular music. (Evening Advocate March 17, 1949)

Here's an incomplete list of his works  - I'll add others as I find them. Reg is, as you can see, a master of the lococantio** - songs about places or have place names in the title.
Mypolonga Moon (a town on the Murray, north of Murray Bridge)
All for the love of you
Just how I need you
Is everybody happy?
It can not be true
I've set sail for Innisfail
The Jacaranda time (about Grafton)
A Kiss by Lake Catani
I long to be at the Victor (Victor Harbour)
Vintage Song (for a Barossa Valley wine festival)
In the Valley of the Sun (Murray Valley) is this the same song as Sunraysia Melody - which was also written about the Murray Valley?
Pack up a dream and head for Hayman Island
There's someone waiting somewhere for you
Your love and my love

 I have created a list of newspaper articles about Reg Hudson on Trove, click here to access the list. 

* The first date I can find the song mentioned is in February 1947, when the Adelaide News talks about the song being featured on the All Australian Hit Parade. See article, here.

** loco=place + cantio=song  - we made this word up just to describe the songs that Reg Hudson wrote - songs about places or have place names in the title. I claim some credit, but it was really my fellow Carlo enthusiast, Isaac Hermann, that coined this phrase. If it's good enough for William Shakespeare to invent words, then it's good enough for us!