The Song:
In order for it to feel more authentic, Beck filled out his Song Reader book with fragments of melodies and songs, and even fictional album collections and song titles. On the back of "Old Shanghai," then, he included a list of "far-flung melodies," all song titles referring to various exotic locations.
The song titles throughout the book often refer to older sheet music/songs, but these seem to be mostly made-up. However, this particular one could be referencing a 1920 jazz track of the same name by Beverly Kenney. (More modernly, Kenney's recording is on the Mad Men soundtrack, so it's not as obscure as it may seem.)
In order for it to feel more authentic, Beck filled out his Song Reader book with fragments of melodies and songs, and even fictional album collections and song titles. On the back of "Old Shanghai," then, he included a list of "far-flung melodies," all song titles referring to various exotic locations.
The song titles throughout the book often refer to older sheet music/songs, but these seem to be mostly made-up. However, this particular one could be referencing a 1920 jazz track of the same name by Beverly Kenney. (More modernly, Kenney's recording is on the Mad Men soundtrack, so it's not as obscure as it may seem.)