'Lesser' American Songbook

[Jack Pine]

As a longtime lurker of this site I've been seriously enlightened by the recommendations of everyone here. I'm hoping that I can get some suggestions of great, but underappreciated standard tunes. Tunes considered standards, included in fakebooks, but not performed or recorded as much. I offer a few of my own favorites, and the basic metric I used was it had been recorded less than 100 times.

It's Always You by Jimmy Van Heusen. Maybe this song was just a little too sweet to catch on like It Could Happen To You or some of his others, but it has everything one could want in a romantic ballad, also works as a mid-tempo swinger.

Deep In A Dream also by Jimmy V is a wonderful song, great lyrics, great harmony, memorable simple melody.

Foolin' Myself by Peter Tinturin and Jack Lawrence. Clever, humorous lyrics, great changes and melody.

Dream Dancing by Cole Porter is an interesting case. Recorded more than 100 times, but seems to have fallen from fashion in the 1940s only to have been rediscovered and recorded more frequently in the 1990s up until today.

[danasgoodstuff]

How would I know if a tune has been recorded less than 100 times, is there an easily accessible source for this info that can be trusted to be complete/accurate?

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, danasgoodstuff said:

How would I know if a tune has been recorded less than 100 times, is there an easily accessible source for this info that can be trusted to be complete/accurate?

You used to be able to find this info at the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) aka Songfile website. Haven't checked in a couple of years but it is worth checking.

[danasgoodstuff]

29 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

You used to be able to find this info at the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) aka Songfile website. Haven't checked in a couple of years but it is worth checking.

Thanks.

[Jack Pine]

I should have mentioned, secondhandsongs.com is my go to site for seeing all the recordings of a tune. I admit I sometimes find recordings they miss though, so they aren't perfect.

https://secondhandsongs.com/work/4849