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A great melody first, then lyrics,(only) THEN 'vocals'


Mark Blackburn

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I awoke this morning thinking about all the great songs that "should have won the Oscar." I turned on satellite radio (Saturday morning is my favorite for 'regular programming' by a fellow named "Jersey Lou" Simon) and what was playing? A song that shouldda won the Oscar! -- NEVER LET ME GO.

It wasn't even nominated. But the fellows who wrote it, won the "Best Original Song" Oscar anyway! with a little ditty from the movie THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself. Indulge me in a Saturday morning pre-Oscars ramble, won't you?

----

It

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"I think the line is "I can't look at hobbles" (not "hovels)."

As in, to "hobble your horse," (of course!) Thank you, Lee Charles Kelley! Suddenly that line by Porter makes sense: I admit though, I had to google "how to hobble a horse" and the first link informs us tenderfoot/green horns that,

"The hobbles I'm referring to here are similar to a pair of handcuffs that are placed, wrapped, tied or buckled around the pasterns or cannon bones of the front legs of a horse. They come in many styles including, burlap, figure eight, chain or chain link. [and]

"The historical use of hobbles with a trained or "broke" horse was, and remains, primarily to slow him from wandering too far, too quickly. These devices cannot generally keep a horse in one place. In fact, I have chased horses a mile or more on a couple of occasions. Not a classic lope (more of a three legged, rambling stumble at speed) but they can motor down the trail quite well and fast enough to leave me out of breath were I to try and match the pace. Keep that in mind if you ever use them and are a long way from the home place." [and]

"With sufficient prior and proper preparation, to borrow a phrase from a renowned horseman, little struggle or panic should result when hobbling a horse for the first time. No guarantees, these are horses after all. But a little, well, let's be honest, a lot of patience and time will pay huge dividends in the end."

[Cole Porter, who loved to ride, suffered permanent, crippling, painful injuries when his legs were crushed, by a horse that threw him.]

And thank you to Lee Knight, a kindred spirit who has visited the department of broken hearts!

"I've never heard that tune. The lyric is just great. Beautiful and sad for sure. Cause we all know... "

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It's a lazy holiday Monday in Canada ("Louis Riel Day" here in Manitoba) and satellite radio just played perhaps my favorite song to sing aloud -- with words by Ned Washington (Bing Crosby's version) -- THE NEARNESS OF YOU. It's a lyric that is almost too simple to celebrate here; but it works so perfectly and is memorably mated to one of Hoagy Carmichael's very best melodies!

Which had me thinking again, about the

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["Re-phrase, your Honour?"]

Barbra Streisand became the first female tunesmith to be honoured at the Oscars for the music to "EVERGREEN' (from "A Star is Born" - 1976).

Since then, Best Song Oscars have gone to,

Carole Bayer Sager (music) for "ARTHUR'S THEME" (Best That You Can Do" from ARTHUR (1981).

Buffy Sainte-Marie (1982) for her music ("Up Where We Belong" from An Officer & a Gentleman)

Irene Cara for her lyrics (1983) "FLASHDANCE . . . What a Feeling")

Carly Simon (words & music) for LET THE RIVER RUN (from "Working Girl" (1988)

Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh (words & music) for INTO THE WEST from "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)

Melissa Etheridge (music & lyrics) "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006)

Marketa Irglova (music & lyrics) for "Falling Slowly" from "Once" (2007).

[Other than that? my statement was correct!]

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Thanks, LCK! But did you know this, Mr. Kelley? -- your "current favorite (Jerome) Kern song" was the one that actually marked the START of the 'Great American Songbook' -- literally, the very first American popular song that SOUNDED "American" -- without any trace of West End London 'music hall' or 'Viennese operetta' influences that characterized all previous songs heard on the Broadway stage?

The year was 1914 and the forgotten lyricist was someone with a name like "Herbert" (I'll look it up and post at the bottom of this page) -- this was before Kern worked with the entire "Who's Who?" of great wordsmiths with names like Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and that "other guy" -- what's his name? Hammerstein!

I loved this song, THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME, since hearing a 'parody' that closed the movie, 'Oh, What a Lovely War!' -- played as a helicopter-mounted camera begins its ascent above countless white grave markers, "crosses row-on-row that mark our place," in a huge French military cemetary, as the singer delivers a heart-wrenching parody whose last words have stayed with me almost 50 years (I've never seen it since)

" . . . and when they ask me, and they're certainly going to ask me, the reason WHY I didn't win the Croix de Guerre? Then I'm going to tell them: I'll certainly tell them, There was a 'front' -- but damned if we knew where!"

It started me writing parodies, an affliction from which I've continued to suffer all my life. If you twist my arm, I'll share the one I wrote about IN FLANDERS FIELDS (a poem from that same "great war to end all wars" (WWI).

[Oh and Mr. Diana Krall (as we know him in Canada) is accompanying himself on this one; the 'Piano Jazz' NPR series host -- England's other greatest gift to jazz (after George Shearing) -- Marian McPartland could play that modest piano part with one hand!]

So then: how well does a song from almost a full century ago stand up?

---

And when I told them how beautiful you are,
They didn't believe me. They didn't believe me!

Your lips, your eyes, your cheeks, your hair,
Are in a class beyond compare,
You're the lovliest girl that one could see!

And when I tell them,
And I cert'nly am goin' to tell them,
That I'm the man whose wife one day you'll be.
They'll never believe me. They'll never believe me.
That from this great big world you've chosen me!

And when I told them how wonderful you are,
They didn't believe me. They didn't believe me!
Your lips, your eyes, your curly hair,
Are in a class beyond compare,
You're the lovliest thing that one could see!

And when I tell them,
And I cert'nly am goin' to tell them,
That I'm the girl whose boy one day you'll be.
They'll never believe me. They'll never believe me.
That from this great big world you've chosen me!

Footnote according to Wiki: "They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.

"First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success."

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At the recent Grammy Awards, Winnipeg's Neil Young (he went to Kelvin High School -- ask him about it!) was sitting in the front row, looking healthy & happy -- even though he didn't win that night in the "classic rock" category. As I watched him, I recalled that Neil Young was nominated once for an "Best Original Song" Oscar -- the title song for the movie PHILADELPHIA, for which he wrote both words & music. [Neil lost that year to another song nominated from the same film -- "Streets of Philadelpia," "words & music" by his buddy, Bruce Springsteen.]

I recalled Neil Young's best song-writing advice, after re-reading words I shared near the start of this thread from another distinguished member of the "Song Writers Association of Canada" -- Christopher Ward (who composed (words & music) a single "world-wide, Number 1 chart record," BLACK VELVET). In the course of advising young song writers about his own personal writing habits, Mr. Ward recalled that succinct advice from Mr. Young:

"I think inspiration, like success, has many fathers: The trigger for the

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First, I read your observation which I'd never seen expressed before, (let alone quite so well):

"And to take it a step farther...

"What memories are stronger? The song to the movie, or the movie to the song. Like "Theme to a Summer Place." Or may I add..."Play Misty For Me."

"I love the old standards. Songwriting at it's best.

Till we meet again,

Colonel Robert Morris."

Then I read your credentials. "If I had a hat like HIS," I just said to my wife Irene, as we looked at your avatar, "I'd be tipping it" in (your) direction."

"Rockabilly Hall Of Fame
Traditional Country Hall Of Fame
Pro Writer~NSAI
Member~ASCAP
Who's Who In America In Music
Governor's Awards From Mississippi And Tennessee For Music Excellence
Lifetime Achievement Award From Memphis Music Heritage Inc."

http://www.arts.state.ms.us/folklife...=morris_robert

http://www.silverdollarmusic.com

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Randy Newman just won his 2nd "Best Original Song" Academy Award for WE BELONG TOGETHER (from Toy Story 3).

A moment ago, in his funny acceptance speech Randy noted that "my percentages haven't been too good" -- two Oscars, out of eleven Best Song nominations (and 20 Oscar nominations in total when "Best Original Score" nominations are included).

But he chided the Academy for coming up with "only four nominees this year," [whereas] "There are FIVE nominees for cinematography! -- C'mon! Couldn't they come up with a fifth 'Best Song' [nominee]? But then," he added with a smile, "that one might have beat me!"

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postscript:

A moment ago, the Oscars ended with the best musical conclusion I've ever seen. With Randy Newman beaming at their musicality, and the first to walk up behind them, (leading a phalanx of tonight's Top Oscar winners), 65 children -- grade 5 students from "Public School 22 Staten Island New York" -- performed in four part harmony, most everyone's favorite film song, OVER THE RAINBOW. Every Academy Awards night should have so good an ending.

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