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

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]Baubles, bangles and . . . good times![/h]

 

Came here today to praise an even greater guitarist/singer/arranger than his great father:

 

 

 

"You'll glitter and gleam so . . . and maybe someday, he may, buy you a ring, (ting-a-ling-ah) . . . "

 

 

 

'Playing Favorites' host, John (son of Bucky) Pizzarelli just shared with listeners on Sirius radio his favorite track from the “Jobim & Sinatra” album of 1967. His pick: “Drinking Water” (the track on which Frank sings the final stanzas in Brasilian Portuguese). After which John Pizzarelli introduces his own version of one of three songs on that album NOT composed by Jobim – “Baubles Bangles and Beads.”

 

 

 

“I'm John Pizzarelli and as I mentioned, I made an album “At 50” celebrating that great album by Frank and Carlos: My record was recorded with the grandson of Antonio Carlos – “Daniel” and so, from that album -- 'Baubles Bangles and Beads'

 

 

 

Historical note: John's father, jazz guitar great Bucky later in his career adopted an early Sinatra guitarist, George Van Epps' designed seven-string guitar. I'd not seen a seven string classical guitar before this video. Custom built for John!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Now,” says John, nearing show's end: “One from 'The Genius of Ray Charles' album -- LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL – the first stereo record engineered by Phil Ramone, and produced by Quincy Jones. This will just jump right out of your speakers” 'deed it do!

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

COME BACK TO ME – best ever version for so many reasons!

 

Catch a plane! Catch a breeze! On your hands, on your knees . . . only please . . .

 

Turn the highway to dust -- break the law if you must, move the world! – only just . . .

 

come back to me!

 

 

 

It's the fastest arrangement that Duke Ellington orchestra ever recorded – an arrangement given to a band of individual virtuosos that weren't as tight -- but twice as soulful -- as other big bands: handed to the musicians by Billy May himself who led them through the charts.

 

 

 

The closing notes, as the controlled riot of harmonies reaches its crescendo, our favorite singer impersonates a horn, improvising notes sung as loud as Frank ever sang them.

 

 

 

All this from the song just played (not for the first time this month) by my favorite radio programmer. Thank you, Jersey Lou.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The song never had a Wiki entry of its own. The only reference is to the 1965 Broadway show that it's from -- where it's the penultimate song before the show closer, the title track reprise:

 

 

 

"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner."

 

 

 

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The show, which has only these two really memorable songs, lasted 280 performances but was made into a movie that was so good, to this day it has a 100 per cent “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It cost 10 million to make and earned twice that amount:

 

 

 

"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a 1970 American musical comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is adapted from his book for the 1965 stage production of the same name. The songs feature lyrics by Lerner and music by Burton Lane. The American Film Institute has listed On a Clear Day You Can See Forever as one of the 100 greatest musical films ever."

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]WITCHCRAFT -- my 'other favorite version' by Ella[/h]

 

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra is playing my "other favorite version" of WITCHCRAFT -- a late in life rendition when, as Sinatra would say (about his own voice circa 1971) "the vibrato is beginning to broaden" -- but it's ELLA and like her friend Frank, she is able to turn weaknesses into strengths -- an endearing vulnerability in her voice that, as the Latins say, lends 'gravitas.' Is it at YouTube? Nope. But even better -- from a 2009 remastering of her Live in Hollywood recording, set to the most wonderful slide show. How we miss you, Ella!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the song itself, the Wikipedia entry in its entirety reads like one more footnote in our favorite singer's bio:

 

 

 

"Witchcraft" is a popular song from 1957 composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. It was released as a single by Frank Sinatra, and reached number six in the U.S., spending sixteen weeks on the charts.

 

 

 

"Elvis Presley sang this song in The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis.

 

 

 

"VERSIONS: Sinatra recorded "Witchcraft" three times in a studio setting. The first recording was in 1957, for his single release, and was later released on his compilation album All the Way (1961). Sinatra re-recorded "Witchcraft" for 1963's Sinatra's Sinatra, and finally recorded it as a duet with Anita Baker for Duets (1993)."

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE -- Ray & Betty Carter's best-ever orchestration of this song![/h]

 

At this moment Sirius is playing Ray and Betty Carter -- and the best orchestrated version ever of BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE. After a dark diversionary opening orchestral flourish, like a murder mystery scene on a darkened street -- suddenly we're into Ray's butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth invitation to Betty to spend the night here, where it's warm. Betty Carter had the sweetest voice and Ray kept it sweet too!

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

RAY & BETTY reprise my new favorite version of EV'RY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE

 

After re-playing their Baby It's Cold Outside, the YouTube shuffle as much as said, "Bet this will be your new favorite version" of an old Cole Porter song. Yes. It is. Really, how could you improve on this? I can only surmise this recording formed a part of Frank's recollections about Ray when he famously declared: "Ray's the only true genius in our business." (the business of singing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below the video "comment" reminding of where a newer generation has been introduced to this one -- in the re-make of THE PARENT TRAP

 

 

 

Andi Tarigan (5 months ago)

 

This is one of the most beautiful scenes in Parent Trap with rain and cold blue tone

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

Ray's LUCKY OLD SUN / Frank's 'live' OL' MAN RIVER

 

 

If there were no Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio I would have a lot less to share here (have you noticed?)

 

 

 

I've spoken before about the 'interconnectedness' of Sirius programming – the 'mental telepathy' of consecutive songs: as if the programmer is having the exact same thought: "You know, THAT song should really be followed by THIS one."

 

 

 

It happened again, as I pulled up at my church this morning: I'd nearly turned off the ignition but, it was a few minutes early so I 'checked to see what's next.'

 

 

 

The rising sun is in my eyes and -- the “definitive” (ask any singer) version of LUCKY OLD SUN!! Mostly Ray accompanying himself as only he could at the piano, but with a great vocal chorus too. Almost perfect. And, as it's playing, I'm thinking, as I listen to the words about crossing the RIVER (Jordan) “wash all my troubles away” – I'm saying aloud to myself, “That song is a poor man's Ol' Man River!"

 

 

 

In the same sense that Cindy Walker's song (best recording by Ray) of YOU DON'T KNOW ME – with its line “afraid and shy, I let my chance go by” -- is a poor man's “IF I LOVED YOU” (just recorded beautifully by Trisha Yearwood for her Sinatra tribute album). Cindy Walker borrowed wholesale from Oscar Hammerstein's words in Carousel: “Longing to tell you but afraid and shy, I let my golden chances pass me by!"

 

 

 

As if to say “I hear you!” the very next song played on Sirius: OL' MAN RIVER – the incredible, 'live' (in Europe?) recording. For which performance -- rather than have a little thin-sounding orchestra straining to sound 'huge' at the crescendo, Frank chose to sing the entire masterpiece 'alone together' with Bill Miller who makes his piano sound positively orchestral.

 

 

 

Yes, if I didn't know better I'd say (all together now!) What a coincidence!

 

 

 

I'd need the wise men's help to find that Ol' Man River, but here's "the poor man's version of Ol' Man River" – the 'defining' version by “The only true genius in the business” (of singing).

 

 

 

Oh wait! More synchonicity! (The song's 'descriptive' at YouTube)

 

 

 

Hkiramijyan

 

Published on Jan 29, 2012

 

That Lucky Old Sun" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie. Like "Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Comment" below the video speaks for millions of us kindred spirits!)

 

 

 

Paul Keeley (4 years ago)

 

"Listened to Ray and Aretha's versions. Aretha is great but Ray's version just reaches into my chest and rips my heart to pieces."

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]SONG OF THE SABIA - arranged by “Deodato” (but not released)[/h]

 

The 'love I made' – to LOSE myself . . .

 

Those mistakes I made – to FIND myself

 

 

 

I'd forgotten the terrific lyric for SONG OF THE SABIA. It could pass for loving deathbed recollections of a man watching, in the movie-of-the-mind, “my life passing before my eyes.”

 

 

 

Never heard any other version of this most obscure song from Brazil before it was played years ago on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio – as it was a moment ago:

 

 

 

Finally appeared as a bonus track on the latter-day CD combining the Sinatra/Jobim recordings of two different sessions, the first and most famous, the 1967 with orchestrations by Polish-born, mostly-American arranger Claus Ogerman, the latter recordings arranged by Eumir Deodato (from the session that produced my favorite (Frank's too?) – WAVE).

 

 

 

Is it at YouTube? Yes! A version with 51-thousand “views” and the best (informed by Brazilians) “comments” (below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

leonardo rizzo 4 years ago (edited)

 

the original lyrics,was wrote by Chico Buarque de Holanda under influence of Exile Song, a poem by Gonçalves Dias, a brazilian romantic poet, that says: "My land has palms where the sabiá sings. The birds that sing here don't sing like there. God, don't give permission for my death before my return to my land..."

 

 

 

mark andre augustus

 

3 years ago

 

The opening melodic passage is taken note for note from the call of the sabia in the forest. This is so brilliant taken from nature. A very haunting melody. A Jobim classic. Love to hear it a cappella as well.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]KENNY RANKIN – Then I'll Be Tired of You[/h]

 

While I was sleeping . . . Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio played Kenny Rankin's THEN I'LL BE TIRED OF YOU. So beautiful. Without you, Jersey Lou, I would never have heard the late Mr. Rankin's version (my new favorite). It's a song so rarely heard, I'd forgotten who wrote this beautiful ballad. Turns out it's one from my Dad's favorite composer Arthur Schwartz, tune composed in 1934 – with words from a lyricist other than Schwartz's usual partner, Howard Dietz. Lyric by 'Yip' (Over the Rainbow) Harburg.

 

 

 

Kenny was a terrific finger-style guitarist but his preferred weapon was a nylon-string classical guitar – not a classic jazz archtop. The gorgeous solo on this one sounds (in both tone and content) like Diana Krall's former guitarist, Russell Malone (one of the best I've ever seen live). Short of buying the album (one of Kenny's that I don't yet own) I'm left wondering, “who dat cat?”

 

 

 

Thanks Sirius programmer for including this one overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Comment" below the video (most recent) sums up well -- for us kindred spirits!

 

 

 

John Mueller

 

1 year ago

 

"I LOVE this song; and of all the arrangements I've heard (and I've listened to several) this is my favorite. Kenny Rankin and the musicians backing him created a beautiful arrangement of this song. It is so relaxing while giving each note a purpose. Kenny's voice is the perfect vehicle to allow this arrangement to envelope the listener and take him/her to another dimension."

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]I like a Gershwin tune – how about you?[/h]

 

On my drive to church this morning (just for me) a batch of songs by Gershwin. On the way home I was thinking of that great line ABOUT Gershwin – from a Burton Lane song, made famous by Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey:

 

 

 

“I like New York in June, I like a Gershwin tune!” Sure enough, as I'm pulling up in my driveway Sirius plays the finest version ever recorded, for the most important up-tempo album of “Songs for Swingin' Lovers” – the later 1956 version where our favorite singer switched from FDR's looks to the beloved Jimmy Durante:

 

 

 

I'm mad about good books – can't get my fill

 

and James Durante's looks give me a thrill.

 

 

 

I'd forgotten that the words to this great Burton Lane tune were written by a Canadian-born lyricist. Understandably obscure – it was his only hit song. [says Wiki]

 

 

 

Ralph Freed (1 May 1907, Vancouver - February 13, 1973) was an American lyricist and television producer.[1]

 

Freed's collaborators included Sammy Fain and Harry Barris. With Burton Lane, Freed wrote "How About You?" for the Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney musical Babes on Broadway. The song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song at the 15th Academy Awards.[2]

 

Freed was the brother of Ruth, Walter, and Arthur Freed. [but no relation to our “Bob in Boston.”]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

Best song ever written about baseball -- written for Sinatra

 

 

I'm thanking God – literally at this moment – that I'm alive in the era of YouTube! These are the good old days. Google the four words, “There used to be . . . “ – and the search engine completes your thought before you can type the next words: . . . “a ball park.” As I type this, Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing this 'made-for-Sinatra' song -- maybe our favorite composed (words & music) by Joe (Not Easy Being Green) Raposo.

 

 

 

I often think that there are 'tell me' lyrics and there are “show me” -- and the latter are better every time. The sounds the smells -- you are THERE at the ball park. Even without the marvelous slide show for this most watched version at YouTube, this rendition by our favorite singer evokes such emotion – even in those of us who never got to see Jackie hit a ball at Ebbets Field (I was born the year he joined the team and made history.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of “comments” below the video speak volumes. Beginning with a young woman from Chicago:

 

 

 

Bianca Bello1 year ago (edited)

 

I am so nostalgic for baseball and when I was a kid and adored the game throughout its greatest decade 2000-2010. I cry when hearing frank Sinatra; especially this song as well as "New York New York" Despite me moving on to football, the playoffs always awakens that old kid in me who just adored baseball and the rivalries not to mention my beloved Cubs & White Sox. I miss so much about baseball. I'm going to silently cry and reminisce over a song like "There Used to Be a Ballpark Right here" about a time that although I was never a part of, speaks for me in terms of the baseball past that I left behind. Go White Sox, Go Cubs, go Yankees & Red Sox rivalries. Etc

 

 

 

Arthur Archambeau1 year ago

 

I can't help but think that the world was, in so many ways, just a better place when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn .

 

 

 

Hector Espino 4 years ago

 

Ebbets Field was the [most] Legendary Ballpark never seen, I never knew this ballpark, because I born in 1957, but the story of this Stadium is something phenomenal for me.

 

 

 

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The Wikipedia entry keeps expanding for this great song!

 

 

 

"There Used to Be a Ballpark" is a song written by Joe Raposo and recorded by Frank Sinatra for Sinatra's 1973 album, Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back.

 

 

 

The song expresses sadness at the loss of a baseball team and its ballpark, which once gave its fans and players joy, along with other childhood delights such as "rock candy and a great big Fourth of July".

 

 

 

A key phrase in the song is "Now the children try to find it / And they can't believe their eyes / For the old team just isn't playing / And the new team hardly tries."

 

 

 

The song has often been cited by books and websites that discuss old-time baseball. It is typically assumed to be about Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers, even though composer Joe Raposo once told Larry King the song was about the Polo Grounds, which had been the home of the New York Giants until 1957 and which had been the home of the New York Mets in 1962 through 1964 (who, ironically, won the National League pennant in 1973), which explains why the lyrics refer to two different baseball teams: "Cause the old team just isn't playing And the new team hardly tries." In his Joe Raposo Songbook writes that he went to Brooklyn with Pete Hamil to gather material for a Barbra Streisand TV special. First stop - Ebbets Field housing project with sign "No Ball Playing Allowed.

 

 

 

The song can also be seen as a metaphor for any kind of loss, as suggested by the next-to-last line in the song, which is not necessarily connected with baseball: "And the sky has got so cloudy, when it used to be so clear..."

 

 

 

It was used in the HBO documentary Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush.

 

 

 

Terry Cashman sang the song in the 1990s on the "Passin' it on" LP. In the beginning of the song, Cashman lists the names of all of the former stadiums in which the professional teams use to play, including the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field, which were all demolished.

 

 

 

On October 2, 2016, the song was played over the PA at the conclusion of post-game ceremonies following the final Atlanta Braves baseball game at Turner Field.

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]I've got your number -- TOM WOPAT[/h]

 

"Oh yes, you brag a lot – but you're unsure a lot. You're a lot like . . . ME

 

We'll break the rules a lot, we'll be damn fools a lot but then . . .

 

why should we not? How could we not . . . combine?"

 

 

 

I'm a sucker for a jazz samba – and at this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing a favorite example of the species: TOM WOPAT – “I've Got Your Number.” Recorded with a small but terrific jazz band. Love the brief trumpet solo by . . . someone good.

 

 

 

If Calabria Foti is my favorite living singer (and she is) Tom Wopat is her male equivalent in my books: She's womanly. He's manly. Vivre la difference. Can't imagine a more wonderful rendition of this seldom-heard song by the great Cy Coleman – with words by my favorite female lyricist, Carolyn (Young at Heart) Leigh. [From the same Broadway show, LITTLE ME, that produced the marvelous “Real Live Girl.”]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comment below the video speaks for thousands of us who have 'discovered' Tom Wopat:

 

 

 

Kamakiri Sassorichan (2 years ago)

 

 

 

"Wow, who knew? I had no idea this guy existed. I'm a long time Frank fan (back to the 50's) so I love coming across singers like this. How come I never heard of him? Obviously I've seen the guy around on TV, but this? He's really good!"

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]ROCKY RACCOON -- Jack Sheldon (my favorite instrumental version)[/h]

 

I don't believe this. I awoke from a (long) nap and I'm singing my favorite McCartney song from The Beatles' "White Album" -- the stanza that goes (from memory)

 

 

 

Rocky Raccoon, fell back in his room, only to find Gideon's Bible.

 

Well Gideon checked out, and he left it, no doubt,

 

to help with Good Rocky's revival . . .

 

 

 

Just before the Nancy for Frank Tuesday replay (just for me) Siriusly Sinatra played my all-time favorite trumpet virtuoso, playing my all-time favorite song by my second-favorite composer, Harry (Salvatore Guaragna) Warren: THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU. It's my go-to, 'test-a-guitar-at-the-music-store' song -- never heard Jack Sheldon's version. Is it at YouTube? Nope. But, raising the hair on the back of my neck -- "Jack with Benny Goodman, live at Carnegie Hall 1978, ROCKY RACCOON."

 

 

 

Skip the opening banter between old friends and band mates -- go directly to 2:10 where the music begins. That I should be led to this particular thing of beauty for the first time, right now . . . Thinking of Mom and her "There ARE no coincidences!" sacred catch phrase!

 

 

 

 

 

 

p.s. Below the seldom-seen video, this informed historical note:

 

 

 

Steve Smith (3 years ago)

 

"For Jack Sheldon, comedian - singer - trumpeter - to get away with all of this at Carnegie Hall with the great Benny Goodman (clarinet) is amazing. And this is a Beatles' song performed by big band / jazz veterans in the 1970s on the 40th anniversary of Goodman having the first jazz band at that, back then, classical hall."

 

[Mark Blackburn]

REAL LIVE GIRL – favorite version of my favorite Carolyn Leigh song

 

In 1962, Cy Coleman and “my favorite female lyricist” Carolyn Leigh had a Broadway show together, LITTLE ME. It's “other good song” – besides “I've Got Your Number” (Tom Wopat recording mentioned above) was REAL LIVE GIRL.

 

 

 

As I type this Siriusly Sinatra is playing a young Jack Jones' early version of REAL LIVE GIRL. Reminded me that my favorite version (with a full symphony orchestra, arranged by the great Billy Byers, I believe) was Barry Manilow's rendition for his “Broadway Showstoppers” album more than a decade ago.

 

 

 

Is it at YouTube? Yes!

 

 

 

My favorite line (though every word of this song is Carolyn Leigh at her most brilliant!)

 

 

 

“I'll take the flowering hat and the towering heel – and the squeal -- of a real, live girl.”

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2](Today I feel NY is really) “My Personal Property” – PEGGY LEE[/h]

 

An extravagance of riches! That's what I call “Siriusly Sinatra” satellite radio. Today, every single track this morning is one I've loved (about one-in-four, I've already commented on here!). But Jersey Lou & Co keep introducing me to things, new and old, that I've not heard before. A moment ago it was LISA ADDEO, with a lovely cabaret 'live' version of “Let's Fall in Love” (echoing Johnny Mandel and Frank's decision to make a snippet of the song's bridge/release the opening verse – FS would get a kick out of that!)

 

 

 

Followed, a moment ago, by my favorite female singer with a “live at the Copacabana 1968” recording I never heard before! Peggy was such a great songwriter, I'd have assumed that this – my 'new favorite ode to New York' – was another one she composed herself. But in her live spoken introduction she reminds her audience that this great song is “from the upcoming movie version of the Broadway smash, 'SWEET CHARITY.' Favorite phrases:

 

 

 

“The Lincoln Center & the great U.N. – they're all my personal property!

 

The planetarium – mine alone! The old Aquarium, I also own . . .

 

Tell you what I'm gonna do – I'm gonna split it all with YOU! (60/40? 80/20?)”

 

 

 

The only version at YouTube has zero comments and two 'thumbs up.' Let's do something about that!

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

IT MIGHT BE YOU -- Stephen Bishop/Dave Grusin & The Bergmans

 

 

In 1982 the Academy Award winning Dustin Hoffman movie TOOTSIE needed an Oscar-nominated theme song. It got one from previous Oscar-winners, Dave Grusin & The Bergmans.

 

 

 

Hard to believe it's almost 40 years since this almost-forgotten song topped the “adult contemporary” charts in Canada and the U.S. IT MIGHT BE YOU was the song that introduced us to the voice of Steven Bishop – whose one other hit for which he wrote words & music, was ON AND ON (with those words FS fans love to hear sung: – “put on Sinatra and he starts to cry.”)

 

 

 

After Andre Previn, pianist/composer Dave Grusin is my favorite "spontaneous arranger" -- beyond jazz, able to improvise in orchestral fashion solo piano. Dave composed the beautiful melody, and asked his good friends Marilyn & Alan (Nice 'N' Easy) Bergman to come up with another Oscar winning lyric. Nominated for the Best Song Academy Award that year (forget which lesser melody won that year).

 

 

 

"Time, I've been passing time watching trains go by – all of my life,

 

Lying on the sand, watching seabirds fly, wishing there would be

 

Someone waiting home for me . . . something's telling me it might be YOU"

 

 

 

Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played my favorite version by Jack Jones. Is it at YouTube? Nope. But the original, -- a version with 2.6 million views -- is there, (in all its 1980's shiny, reverberation glory).

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbe2DAs39M

 

 

 

I was poised to weep tears of joy at the beauty of this song. Got the trigger I needed with this most recent "comment" below the video:

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew Cortez

 

4 weeks ago (edited)

 

My mom passed away due to suffering to Dementia the last 11 years. She passed on February 21 2019 at 7 pm and this is her and my dad’s wedding song when they danced together. Makes me sad and I cry every time I hear this song ��

❤️

I miss you mom.

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]JUDY GARLAND -- More Than You Know[/h]

 

A friend my age at SinatraFamily.com recalled seeing Judy Garland at a 'live' concert appearance before a really large audience whose emotional reaction was beyond anything Stanley had ever experienced at a live show. Wondering at this moment (2 a.m.) if she performed my favorite of Judy's songs – MORE THAN YOU KNOW – played just now on Sirius radio.

 

 

 

The one-line Wikipedia entry for the song lists more than 50 artists who recorded it – but no mention of Judy Garland's studio recording -- from 1958 when she was at the peak of her powers.

 

 

 

Just checked Wikipedia and her entry is utterly unique – no other singer has such comprehensive praise for her ability to move the hearts of listeners. Five paragraphs under a unique heading you won't find anywhere else: "ARTISTRY" (below) -- first, the song -- one of the two best songs composed by Vincent Youmans with words by Edward Eliscu. Their other great one – WITHOUT A SONG (without which, our Nancy would need a different show-opener each week!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just one "comment" below the video:

 

 

 

Saxon C

 

1 year ago

 

At 1:59 she starts the assault on your emotions! Pure genius!

 

 

 

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Judy's unique Wikipedia category:

 

 

 

"Artistry[edit]

 

 

 

"Garland possessed the vocal range of a contralto.[147][148] Her singing voice has been described as brassy,[14] powerful, effortless and resonant,[149] often demonstrating a tremulous,[150] powerful vibrato. Although the octave range of her voice was comparatively limited, she was capable of alternating between female and male-sounding timbres at will with little effort.[152]

 

 

 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch correspondent Tony Farrell wrote that Garland possessed "a deep, velvety contralto voice that could turn on a dime to belt out the high notes",[153] while Ron O'Brien, producer of tribute album The Definitive Collection – Judy Garland (2006), wrote that the singer's combination of natural phrasing, elegant delivery, mature pathos "and powerful dramatic dynamics she brings to ... songs make her [renditions] the definitive interpretations".[154]

 

 

 

The Huffington Post writer Joan E. Dowlin called the period of Garland's musical career between 1937 and 1945 the "innocent years", during which the critic believes that the singer's "voice was vibrant and her musical expression exuberant", taking note of its resonance and distinct, "rich yet sweet" quality "that grabs you and pulls you in".[154]

 

 

 

Garland's voice would often vary to suit the song she was interpreting, ranging from soft, engaging and tender during ballads to humorous on some of her duets with other artists.[154] Her more joyful, belted performances have been compared to entertainers Sophie Tucker, Ethel Merman and Al Jolson.[152] Although her musical repertoire consisted largely of cast recordings, show tunes and traditional pop standards,[155] Garland was also capable of singing soul, blues and jazz music, which Dowlin compared to singer Elvis Presley.[154]

 

 

 

Camille Paglia, social critic for The New York Times, joked that even in Garland's adult life, "her petite frame literally throbbed with her huge voice", making it appear as though she were "at war with her own body".[152] Theater actress and director Donna Thomason stated that Garland was an "effective" performer because she was capable of using her "singing voice [as] a natural extension of [her] speaking voice", a skill that Thomason believes all musical theater actors should at least strive to achieve.[149] Trussel agreed that "Garland's singing voice sounded utterly natural. It never seemed forced or overly trained."

 

 

 

Writing for Turner Classic Movies, biographer Jonathan Riggs observed that Garland had a tendency to imbue her vocals with a paradoxical combination of "fragility and resilience" that eventually became a signature trademark of hers.[150] Louis Bayard of The Washington Post described Garland's voice as "throbbing", believing it to be capable of "connect[ing] with [audiences] in a way no other voice does."

 

 

 

Bayard also believes that listeners "find it hard to disentwine the sorrow in her voice from the sorrow that dogged her life",[159] while Dowlin argued that, "Listening to Judy sing ... makes me forget all of the angst and suffering she must have endured."[154]

 

 

 

Garland stated that she always felt most safe and at home while performing onstage, regardless of the condition of her voice.[162] Her musical talent has been commended by her peers; opera singer Maria Callas once said that Garland possessed "the most superb voice she had ever heard", while singer and actor Bing Crosby said that "no other singer could be compared to her" when Garland was rested.[157]

 

 

 

Garland was known for interacting with her audiences during live performances; the New York Times obituarist wrote that Garland possessed "a seemingly unquenchable need for her audiences to respond with acclaim and affection. And often, they did, screaming, 'We love you, Judy – we love you.'"

 

 

 

Garland herself explained in 1961: "A really great reception makes me feel like I have a great big warm heating pad all over me ... I truly have a great love for an audience, and a real determination to make people enjoy the show!"[163]

 

 

 

Michael Musto, a journalist for W magazine, wrote that in her film roles Garland "could project decency, vulnerability, and spunk like no other star, and she wrapped it up with a tremulously beautiful vocal delivery that could melt even the most hardened troll".[168]

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]“Better than ANYTHING” (except shopping) Natalie & Diana[/h]

 

Elsewhere this day someone wanted to know about the song BETTER THAN ANYTHING. When I reviewed I think my favorite of Natalie Cole's 'standards' albums (“Ask a Woman Who Knows”) I asked the same rhetorical question – I couldn't find anything on line about the song, “Better Than Anything.” I suspected Natalie and Diana updated / customized the lyric to suit them to a T.

 

 

 

And eventually my review elicited a comment from a relative of one of the song's co-writers, “Bill Loughborough.” The original (circa 1977) was a paean to jazz giants, each stanza returning to “nothing better than Love.”

 

 

 

Better than Bill Evans' ballads, better than Joe Williams' blues

 

Better than hearing Lady Day, or checking in at Monterey

 

Better than anything – except being in love!

 

 

 

When it comes to my favorite concert DVDs this one by Natalie with Diana as guest is yes, my favorite. Recorded I believe in England and I think that's Alan Broadbent at the piano. When Diana Krall appeared at our Jets hockey arena with Winnipeg Symphony musicians, it was the New Zealand-born Alan Broadbent conducting the arrangements – his own, and Johnny Mandel's and Claus Ogerman's. More info than you need, I know. Let the Ladies take it from here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Yeah, yeah! Mike Miller on the guitar" says Natalie after the terrific bridge/solo on that forest green Fender Strat.

 

 

 

p.s. Checked my Amazon review of 14 January's ago where I'd singled out "track 10" on ASK A WOMAN WHO KNOWS

 

 

 

10. "Better Than Anything" - A refreshingly new jazz waltz devoted to, of all things-`Women Shopping.' Guest Diana Krall seems in perfect agreement that spending money is the best thing in life ("better than honey on bread, better than breakfast in bed"----lyrics Cole Porter could have written and would have loved).

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]THE MUSIC THAT MAKES ME DANCE -- favorite version -- Natalie[/h]

 

"I know he's around, when the sky and the ground started ringing

 

I know that he's here, by the thunder I hear in advance

 

His words, and his words alone, are the words that can start my heart singing

 

And his is the only music that makes me dance!"

 

 

 

An old friend emailed me today to say that, at that very moment, her husband was listening to this version of "The Music That Makes Me Dance" --- my favorite performance of an almost forgotten Bob Merrill song. A girl song sung by Barbra in the Broadway musical but dropped from the film version of “Funny Girl.”

 

 

 

And who was Bob, you ask? Well Merrill wrote musicals that deserved to succeed (such as "Take Me Along" Jackie Gleason, Walter Pigeon) plus some fifties 'gimmick' songs like "How Much is that Doggie in the Window? . . . and, eventually, such magnificences as "People" (with Jule Styne).

 

 

 

But this is where I came in . . .

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]Ann Hampton Callaway -- SKYLARK[/h]

 

Good morning! First song of the day -- playing right this minute -- my new favorite version of my second-favorite Johnny Mercer song, SKYLARK. Ann Hampton Callaway. Really, can you imagine a better rendition than hers? Listen to the words. I believe that after I REMEMBER YOU, this was Johnny's favorite of his lyrical children. Then again like a real parent or grandparent, you're not allowed a favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiki entry (expanded)

 

 

 

"Skylark" is an American popular song with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Hoagy Carmichael, published in 1941.[1] Carmichael wrote the melody, based on a Bix Beiderbecke cornet improvisation, as "Bix Licks," for a project to turn the novel Young Man With a Horn into a Broadway musical. After that project failed, Carmichael brought in Johnny Mercer to write lyrics for the song.[2] Mercer said that he struggled for a year after he got the music from Carmichael before he could get the lyrics right.[3] Mercer recalled that Carmichael initially called him several times about the lyrics but had forgotten about the song by the time Mercer finally wrote them.[4] The yearning expressed in the lyrics was based on Mercer's longing for Judy Garland, with whom he had an affair.[5] This song is considered a jazz standard.[6] Additionally, it is believed to have inspired a long-running Buick car of the same name that was produced from 1953 to 1998.[7]

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]AUTUMN LEAVES -- 'virtuoso version' by BARBRA[/h]

 

I'm pulling up in my driveway and Sirius is playing Barbra Streisand's latter-day version of AUTUMN LEAVES – for which obscure French melody, Johnny Mercer penned (within minutes, according to legend) one of his very best lyrics.

 

 

 

Barbra chooses to open, to solo violin accompaniment, with a snippet of the original French lyric whose literal translation into English was . . . unmemorable; the song would have died in France without the resuscitative intervention of Johnny Mercer.

 

 

 

The arrangement is strikingly unusual. A violin (or viola) of great character (it would sound 'too large' in a small room) is being put through its paces – pizzicato plucking, double and triple stop (chords) – by a virtuoso. I'm picturing one of the young lions on fiddle these days – Joshua Bell and his “Red Violin” – a Stradivarius; coincidentally the subject of a movie of that title, RED VIOLIN for which I set my television to record for me last night; a film I've yet to see all the way through -- a semi-fictional account of the life one Strad, those amazing spruce-top-maple-back-and-sides creations made in Cremona Italy (and never surpassed) nearly 400 years ago.

 

 

 

So. Is it at YouTube? – Barbra and this virtuoso? Yes, and no: "Most viewed" this day is a much earlier (1966) version that features a viola (Sinatra's voice at mid-life before he blossomed into what Riddle called “a rich cello”).

 

 

 

This version has a more fulsome string quartet than what I heard on the small speakers in my car. Is it possible that Siriusly Sinatra just played a re-mastered version? Well, to coin a phrase, "This is Frank's world" and there are people in it who know all the answers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.1 million views and some “comments” from people who know what they're talking about.

 

 

 

Brvyn2 years ago

 

What's the name of the action where the viola plays the fast notes at the beginning?

 

 

 

2001spaceoddessy2 years ago

 

Ricochet technique; it's used a lot during the Romantic era (i.e., Mendelssohn's E- Violin Concerto) really as a show-off skill.

 

 

 

 

 

Vladimir Steinberg2 years ago

 

All the violin virtuoso tricks were added on by the interpreting violinists, not by piano playing composers... save Paganini, and many other composers who actually were violinists....

 

 

 

p.s. A propos nothing but the most gifted young American virtuoso and his precious fiddle. Wiki says,

 

 

 

Stradivarius "Red Violin"

 

Joshua Bell's instrument is a 300-year old Stradivarius violin called the 'Gibson exHuberman', which was made in 1713 during what is known as Stradivari's Golden Era.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

Cary singing (and speaking) "My little one -- sleep well -- Merry Christmas!"

 

 

At SinatraFamily this day, "Mentor Andrew T" provided the name of one of Peggy Lee's arrangers, Dick Hazzard circa 1967 -- and a link to a song he arranged, "Christmas Lullaby," written by Peggy Lee and Cy Coleman.

[i replied]

 

 

 

Oh my! 1967 and FM radio was just taking off in Canada's capitol city where I was born. I can remember hearing this that first Christmas with 'Hi-Fi' radio! Haven't heard it since, until this minute. Did I say thanks, Andrew?

 

 

 

An actor so beloved no one ever had a bad word to say about him -- dear friend of our favorite singer. His spoken introduction in the first minute and ten seconds -- with just flutes and strings behind his gentle voice, anticipating the melody of this CHRISTMAS LULLABY. This is a note to self: One never knows if we'll live to see another Christmas. So bookmarking this one, to share with my three youngest grandchildren, Charlotte, Kaitlyn and Adeline. Especially the closing words of Mr. Grant's introduction:

 

 

 

"All this joy you will share because of the birth of the Christ child, who taught us that, in loving, and giving, we find our OWN happiness; and that angels DO watch over us!"

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlhKpd3Gi7c

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE -- my umpteenth favorite version[/h]

 

I have so many favorite versions of BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE – I didn't think I had failed to appreciate any good ones out there. Just woke up to this one – playing right now: In its own way, dare I say, it's my new favorite. Jazz pianist Les McCann and . . . wonder who his wonderful duet partner is? No comments, let alone info, at the only version at YouTube this day. Yes, as usual I don't know -- but know someone who might.

 

 

 

Each of my new 'favorite versions' has entertaining banter at song's end. No exception here:

 

 

 

HE: I will keep you warm FOREVER

 

SHE: You naughty, naughty man

 

HE: Compared to who?

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

THESE are the good old days!

 

If you want to impress the girls, sing them this one, every single time you see them. Just shared at SinatraFamily.com this: "Funny, isn't it? We live in an age when our best friends may be the people that we never get to meet. I just got an email from "my favorite living singer," Calabria Foti -- saying my note to her (yesterday) reduced her to "tears" (of joy). I'd shared, as I have here, about singing to my youngest grand daughter Adeline (16 months) every time I see her, "I Thought About You" and how she indulges me with a great big smile, when I tell her, "That's Johnny Mercer!"

 

Calabria, who says today she is working on "the best thing I've ever done" (to be "released June 1") agrees with us that "This IS the best time in human history to be alive."

 

Best ever version of my favorite Mercer/Van Heusen tune. Wish there were a Hi-Fi version of this, the most watched 'first up' version with a third of a million "views."

 

 

 

 

https://sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/50225-My-Favorite-Version-%28yours-too-%29/page22

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]VOLARE -- Deana Martin's 60th anniversary version[/h]

 

Playing right now – my favorite melody from my favorite year (1958). I think it won the Song of the Year Grammy for Deana's Daddy. One of my go-to melodies for trying out a Gibson Girl at the music store. Seems to me that Grammy for Dean eclipsed a nomination for my all-time favorite album of ballads by Sinatra (“Only the Lonely”) at the first-ever Grammy awards show (1959). Coincidentally Sirius, just before this, played the title track from NICE 'N' EASY – which would have been a shoe-in for the song of the year Grammy the next year. Except for a song called “Georgia” sung by Ray Charles. Competition was tougher in those days. Deana and my favorite version of VOLARE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wiki entry is huge – but only a one-liner about the lyricist – the great Mitch Parish. And that, “Alternative English lyrics were written in 1958 by Gracie Fields, and they were used in most concerts she performed in from then until her death in 1979. She often changed the words to suit her performance and age.

 

 

 

[in part] Wikipedia notes:

 

 

 

"Nel blu, dipinto di blu" (Italian pronunciation: [nel ˈblu diˈpinto di ˈblu]; "In the blue [sky] [as I was] painted blue" or "In the blue-painted blue [sky]"), popularly known as "Volare" (pronounced [voˈlaːre]; "To fly"), is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Franco Migliacci and Domenico Modugno, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958.[1]

 

 

 

Winning the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958, where it won third place out of ten songs in total. The combined sales of all the versions of the song exceed 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular Eurovision songs of all time and the most successful Sanremo Music Festival song ever.

 

 

 

It spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboard's number-one single for the year. Modugno's recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Yearand Song of the Year at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1958.

 

 

 

The song was later translated in several languages and it was recorded by a wide range of performers.

 

The song was featured in the film "The 15:17 To Paris" (2018).

 

[Mark Blackburn]

[h=2]TIME AFTER TIME (the definitive version according to the composers)[/h]

 

This week's show closer on Nancy Sinatra's three-hour, weekly Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio show, is TIME AFTER TIME -- the Capitol years recording. It's a man's song. As composer Jule Styne observed, it's drained of its emotional content when sung by a woman: he was referring to the Sammy Cahn words, "the one you run to see in the evening when the day is through."

 

 

 

I remember Nelson Riddle once said, in speaking in admiration of his good friend Henry Mancini, that he (Nelson) would trade his entire catalog of arrangements "for just one of his (Mancini's) hit songs." Around the time Hank and Johnny Mercer were winning two consecutive "Best Original Song" Oscars for Moon River and The Days of Wine and Roses.

 

 

 

In his self-deprecating style, Nelson Riddle was short changing the powerful, unforgettable 'counter-melodies' he worked into dozens of his best arrangements. One which I noticed years ago, and referred to in my review for the "SEDUCTION" compilation, re a late-in-life arrangement by Joe Parnello, "sometimes band-leader/pianist for Sinatra."

 

 

 

"A friend at SinatraFamily.com points out the similarities in the Parnello arrangement's opening bars, to `Edelweiss' (from THE SOUND OF MUSIC) - just a hint, suggesting "that Joe Parnello was paying homage to Richard Rodgers."

 

 

 

My favorite composer, Dick Rodgers perhaps inadvertently, once paid similar homage to Nelson Riddle's great `counter-melodies -- borrowing, as his five opening notes of "The Sound of Music," the same sequence of notes you'll hear on the closing orchestral flourish of Riddle's great arrangement (4 years earlier) of Sinatra's "TIME AFTER TIME."