GREAT MELODY, GREAT LYRIC, GREAT RENDITION

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA - Everybody's Twistin'

Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio's Charles Pignone is hosting a reprise of his “Reprise Rarities” show and at this moment is sharing a lesser-known gem of the Sinatra canon – Everybody's Twistin'. Too obscure to have its own Wiki entry, the album listing includes a note:

"Sinatra And Swingin' Brass is a 1962 studio album by Frank Sinatra. This is the first time Sinatra worked with arranger/composer Neal Hefti on an album project, following a single-only session that took place in April 1962. For Sinatra and Swingin' Brass, the singer re-recorded a number of songs he ... Everybody's Twistin' (Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler) – 2:31 . . .

"…. and it didn't take long, before all the grown-ups were tryin' it – 'Who's Who' was buyin' it – all over town, you'll see 'em squirmin' and a-wormin' and a-twistin' around . . .

"It spread like a forest blaze, became a craze, that rocked the nation -- now? Ev'rybody's twistin'!"

The 'call and response' on this brilliant brass orchestration is a tip of the hat to Billy May by a then-new Sinatra arranger Neal Hefti.

Most viewed (10K) version at YouTube this day.
 

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

ROBERTA FLACK – A Cottage For Sale

Hit the “back 1 hr” button for Siriusly Sinatra streaming on the computer and . . . my “new favorite” version of COTTAGE FOR SALE (coincidentally the featured track on Willie Nelson's brand new Frank Sinatra tribute album – 2021). More wistful than sad, Roberta Flack with soulful, small jazz band accompaniment, that makes this old song 'all her own' -- like it was written for her -- by "Larry Conley and Willard Robinson" who never had another hit.

My “other favorite living singer/songwriter from North Carolina” turns 84 next month (February 10). What's not to love about Roberta Flack. Let's say a little prayer for her continued well-being this New Year.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

LARRY KOONSE – All The Things You Are

At this moment (just for me, as I like to say) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my “other favorite version” of WALTZ FOR DEBBY – by my favorite living singer Calabria Foti featuring a solo by her guitarist Larry Koonse.

Just a day ago I'd shared something about “My Mom's last words to me before her death” ('Talk to God!') when asked “What matters most at the end of our lives?” Calabria Foti left me a Facebook note that she'd been “moved to tears” and that “Your Mom was right!”

I responded with the “coincidence” that earlier in the day, I'd been thinking of a favorite track on one of Calabria's albums that featured her guitarist Larry Koonse – “one of my two favorite living jazz guitarists” – Bob Mann, Steve Tyrell's arranger, being my other “favorite studio musician” (who has performed live and in studios with a 'Who's Who' of the world's greatest singers.

But I'd despaired of ever finding Larry's work on videos at YouTube . . . until now! Here he is, performing my Mom and Dad's favorite song (mine too) ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE. His solo is reminiscent of Wes Montgomery – Wes' best ballad solo from a half a century ago on 'I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face.' Wes would have loved Larry Koonse's take on Jerome Kern's greatest tune – both the lovely tone on this featured instrument – and the content of his solos, which to my ears are always 'merely perfect.'
 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

BILLIE HOLIDAY - Any Old Time

[Too obscure to have its own Wikipedia entry, it merits an interesting historical note in Artie Shaw's own Wiki entry:]

In addition to hiring Buddy Rich, he signed Billie Holiday as his band's vocalist in 1938, becoming the first white band leader to hire a full-time black female singer to tour the segregated Southern U.S.[8] However, after recording "Any Old Time", Holiday left the band due to hostility from audiences in the South, as well as from music company executives who wanted a more "mainstream" singer.[8]Source: YouTube

"ART Shaw" -- 1938. One year later it was "Call me Artie." Loved hearing 'Lady Day' (as Frank dubbed her) at the peak of her powers -- her voice clear and strong and not flecked with any of the sadness and shortcomings that were still decades away. Loved too the accompanying slide show -- a real work of art. I'm listening for the third time now, to see all the details I missed. Freeze framing the picture of Artie embracing a leggy beauty (one of his wives?) in heels, with a "I'm through with Hollywood" -type headline. 

Most recent comment below video from a kindred spirit:

William Silva
4 months ago
This is a terrific recording. It should be given a posthumous Grammy. Someone commented on the sound being a bit thin, yet I like the sound of this particular presentation, and find myself listening to it over and over again.  

Edited January 15, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SHIRLEY HORN - My Funny Valentine

Sometimes ultra slow is the way to go. Out-of-tempo – 'rubato' as the Latins say. It's happening now at a quarter to three on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio. You know me -- "just quickly see what I'm missing."  

Coincidentally (or not) I'd just been thinking about what my wife's best friend (now living in Costa Rica) said about My Funny Valentine: “I hate that song. ('Is your figure less than 'Greek'? Is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, are you smart?'  -- who says things like that to someone you love?”

I pointed out to her that, “It's a girl song!” – best sung by a beautiful woman whose plain-looking man fully agrees with her – and wonders: 'What does she see in me? I am so lucky to be me!”

Anyway, my “new favorite version I never heard before” by Shirley Horn. Pray it is at YouTube. Yes!  First offering and most viewed 7K seven February's ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8bw67RM9Wo

[A friend at Sinatra Family - Forum - shared an "official version"]

 

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NANCY and the Rolling Stone (interview)

“You keep lyin' – when you oughta be truthin' / And you keep losin' when you oughta not bet . . . . and what's right is right -- and you ain't been right yet!"

I have three sons and my oldest, David (born in 1969) just sent me a link to the Rolling Stone interview with Nancy which featured this video -- nearing 16 million (correct) views and Nancy's loving thoughts about her Dad.

What’s the best piece of advice you got early in your career?

Well, my dad was pretty good at advice. And he gave me the advice about owning my own masters. He started Reprise, his label, because he was unable to own his masters at Capitol Records. And he made it possible for all the artists on Reprise to own their own masters after a certain period of time. I heard Taylor Swift’s masters were sold again. That’s a shame. I would say to young people: Don’t despair, hold on to your dreams, and don’t let anybody else own them.

What did you learn from your father from watching him perform every night?

He was a genius. He enjoyed it. He made the audience feel at home. The biggest thing I learned was consistency. He was meticulous about how he dressed. His shoes were always spotless. He was so professional.

What was he like at the dinner table?

He was quiet. And fun, sometimes funny — just like any other dad with his kids.

[Mark Blackburn]

FRANK SINATRA – This Happy Madness

Playing on Siriusly Sinatra channel 71 at this hour, the speaking voice of Tina Sinatra, introducing THIS HAPPY MADNESS as “one of my all-time favorite recordings by my father.”

A lovely melody by 'Brazil's Cole Porter' (as I like to say) – Antonio Carlos Jobim. The English words were composed by Canadian-born Gene Lees -- who was present that night as Frank's guest in the recording studio. (Same night I believe that Frank later entered an adjacent studio, to record Somethin' Stupid.) A lyric that lives up to its title!

"What should I call this happy madness? – all this unexpected joy, that turned the world into a bouncing baby's toy . . . the gods are laughing far above – one of them gave a little shove, and I fell gaily, gladly, madly, into love . . . "

Love the little refrain, sung by Jobim himself, in Brazilian Portuguese -- a phrase that sounds like “auld danDA” (always wondered what it means? Where is our “Lourdes” when we need her?) First version offered at YouTube this night, by someone who elicits the best comments! 
Most recent assessments from kindred souls who agree with Tina Sinatra take on this one:

Ed Preston (1 month ago)
My favorite Sinatra song. He was born to sing this.

Mike Thomas (6 months ago)
I have many favorite Sinatra tunes. This is most definitely one of them.

Gary Kimura (1 year ago)
Thank you for posting this beautiful rendition of a wonderful song. I remember purchasing this album on 8 track tape when it first came out. What a great song on a great album.

[mitunsSal]

Ich bin gegen covid 19. Was ist deine Meinung? mituns

[Mark Blackburn]

The intuitive genius that is YouTube 2021 just sent my way James Taylor's solo rendition of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. [I replied that] The last three notes are borrowed from 'Going Home' -- a haunting musical refrain in Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony (or so I imagine). My favorite version of this song since hearing a 'live' solo, by Oscar Peterson's great guitarist Herb Ellis, who told a Winnipeg audience exactly 21 years ago: "Now THIS should be our national anthem." [adding] "Musicians would agree." [A comment below this video speaks for millions of us.]

 

JEFF WOLINSKI (15 hours ago)

"Every song is better when given the JT treatment! You are one of finest human beings to have ever walked this planet, an absolute gift to America and the world." 

[Mark Blackburn]

MATT MONRO - Here's to My Lady

First, a Wiki note about REUBEN BLOOM (April 24, 1902 – March 30, 1976) A multi-talented Jewish-American songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and author . . . "

'Rube' Bloom was my age (73) when he died in 1976, leaving us with some of the greatest standards for which our favorite singer delivered the 'definitive' recordings. Wiki lists a few of them:

Songs[edit]

"Here's to My Lady" (1952) - lyrics by Johnny Mercer
"Day In, Day Out" - lyrics by Johnny Mercer
"Don't Worry 'Bout Me" - lyrics by Ted Koehler
"Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" - lyrics by Johnny Mercer
"Give Me the Simple Life" - with Harry Ruby
"Good-for-Nothin' Joe" - lyrics by Ted Koehler
"I Can't Face the Music" - lyrics by Ted Koehler
"Maybe You'll Be There" - lyrics by Sammy Gallop
"Out in the Cold Again" - lyrics by Ted Koehler
"Take Me" - lyrics by Mack David
"The Man from South"
"Truckin'" (revised as "Ev'rybody's Twistin'" (Frank Sinatra, 1962)

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my favorite version, by Matt Monro, of the first song on that list – and the last one Mr. Bloom composed with Johnny Mercer.

Coincidentally (or maybe not) I'd just been reading, for the first time, Sinatra's assessment of Matt Monro (from Frank's “personal quotes” at the IMDb site:

“If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business,” said Sinatra, “Matt would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciation letter perfect; his understanding of a song, thorough.”

Most viewed version at YouTube (nearing 9K) was posted a decade ago by a kindred soul in Australia who writes:

“From the early 1970s Australian stereo LP 'The Romantic Matt Monro' . . . One of the smoothest male voices of all time, in my opinion. I've always liked the sound of Matt Monro and I trust that you will enjoy this as much as I do.”
 

Only 54 when he left us according to his Wikipedia entry:

MATT MONRO (born Terence Edward Parsons, 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1950s and 1970s.

Died: 7 February 1985 ‎
Born: 1 December 1930‎
Years active: 1956–1985
Genres: Easy listening; pop.‎

Edited January 22, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

GEORGE MICHAEL – Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my favorite version of the song (by Yip 'Over The Rainbow' Harburg and Jay Gorney) that best captured the instant change in fortunes – especially on Wall Street – when the stock market crashed to herald the start of The Great Depression. But it's a 'live' version with introduction by George Michael. His powerful voice sounded just as good 'on stage' and in person as it did on his studio recording. Love what he did with these words especially

Half a million boots went slogging through hell
I was the kid with the drum
Say don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Say don't you remember, I'm your pal!
Brother can you spare a dime?

There is a 'live' performance at YouTube, uploaded by someone in France in 2012 nearing a quarter million 'views.' The full-sized orchestra is goosebump-inducing, you may agree?

[And a comment below the video from a like-minded fan:

CHRISTOPHER SCHULZ (3 years ago)
Frank Sinatra called George Michael, "One of the greatest voices of the 20th century." I have to agree...
 

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SHIRLEY HORN – Isn't It A Pity?

Google the song title “Isn't It A Pity?”-- Shirley Horn's version (my favorite) playing right now on Channel 71 – and the very first suggested offering is the George Harrison song of the same name from 1970. No, we want the Gershwin ballad, from four decades earlier in an unsuccessful Broadway show in 1933.

But it's what Shirley does on her 20 second solo piano opening -- an inspired snippet of “How Are Things In Glocca Morra?” – my favorite Irish-style ballad by the same fellow who wrote the words to “Over the Rainbow” and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” – Yip Harburg.

Shirley plays the opening melody, accompanying the words (from memory imperfect)

I hear a bird, a Londonderry bird,
It well may be, he's bringing me, a cheering word.
I hear a breeze, a River Shanon breeze,
It well may be, it's followed me across the seas.
So, tell me please . . . how are things in Glocca Morra?

Most recent comment (with Russian syntax) speaks for fans everywhere on earth:

Dmitry Agaev (3 years ago)
When I am going to die, I will ask for anyone, to put Shirley's Horn Records with me.

[Mark Blackburn]

MIKE MELVOIN – “That's Life” (present at the creation)

Don't you love anecdotes about musical events, recounted by those who were actually present at the moment of creation? And when the story-teller is a born raconteur, as articulate as the late great sessions pianist MIKE MELVOIN . . . well, the pleasure is magnified! Deepest thanks to a friend “Gary - Cha Bobba” for sharing a link to this “golden groove of The Wrecking Crew.”

An online bio reminds us that Mike Melvoin (May 10, 1937 – February 22, 2012) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger – a prolific studio musician, whose short list of career high lights included performing on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966), Frank Sinatra's That's Life (1966), the Jackson 5's ABC (1970), John Lennon's "Stand by Me" (1975), Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), and Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" (1976) . . . 

Mike worked in the early 1970s as a music director on The Partridge Family recordings, often playing keyboard, and also began composing for film and television including contributing scores to Fame and MacGyver.

His children, Wendy (of Prince's band The Revolution, and later of Wendy & Lisa), Susannah and Jonathan all became professional musicians.

Mike Melvoin was “the first active musician to serve as the head of NARAS.” When the Academy introduced 'category changes' to the Grammys in 2011, he opposed them.

Melvoin died in Burbank, California on February 22, 2012 of cancer, at age 74.
 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BOBBY DARIN - (other favorite version of) "Oh! Look At Me Now"

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is reminding us of our “other favorite” version of OH! LOOK AT ME NOW by Bobby Darin – complete with a brilliant arrangement by Billy May. Recalling a moment in time when Frank's only real rival among male singers was wowing crowds in Vegas with songs like this one. Please be at YouTube. Yes! There is a “Digital Remaster 2001” but it doesn't include “comments” like these (from a version posted 9 years ago, nearing 40K “views”):
 

Ruby AC (3 years ago)
Great voice! Great rendition! "He's got the swing on this one" ( to quote one youtuber when Darin's was compared to Frank's version:-)

The Shed Singer (3 years ago)
Great number. I've studied the lot and Darin was the finest swinger, he really was, stunning,

George Ralph (3 years ago)
He never regained consciousness when he underwent open heart surgery . And so, at age 37, one of the brightest lights in music was quietly extinguished.

Grandye20 (9 years ago)
Whatever he sang, he gave it his all! Nobody comes even close today! Had a pure and true love of all music that touches us as we listen! Thank you for this!

[Title track from an album with its own comprehensive Wiki entry]

Oh! Look at Me Now is an album by American singer Bobby Darin, released in 1962. It was his first on Capitol label and reached number 100 on the Billboard 200.[1] It is out of print, however eight of the 12 songs were released as part of the 1995 CD Spotlight on Bobby Darin.

Reception[edit]

In his ALL MUSIC review, critic JT Griffith wrote "The classic Billy May arrangements make the album one of Darin's most swinging albums and a surefire favorite with fans who have discovered him from the Swingers soundtrack."[1]

TRACK LISTING

"All by Myself" (Irving Berlin) – 3:05
1. "My Buddy" (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 2:34
2. "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" (Al Jolson, Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose) – 2:40
3. "Roses of Picardy" (Frederick Weatherly, Haydn Wood) – 2:11
4. "You'll Never Know" (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon) – 2:55
5. "Blue Skies" (Berlin) – 2:32
6. "Always" (Berlin) – 2:21
7. "You Made Me Love You" (James V. Monaco, Joseph McCarthy) – 2:51
8. "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin) – 3:02
9. "I'm Beginning to See the Light" (Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, Harry James) – 2:18
10. "Oh! Look at Me Now" (Joe Bushkin, John DeVries) – 2:43
11. "The Party's Over" (Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green) – 2:26

Edited January 25, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

Favorite song about crocodiles - yours too?

I awoke today humming the words to Never Smile at a Crocodile, then (in the shower) segued in song to You Can Fly! – my two favorite songs from my all-time favorite Disney animated feature film Peter Pan.

Actually my all-time favorite moment in film history is when Peter and the children are flying above the clouds in nighttime London, landing on the minute hand of Big Ben with enough weight to advance the time, and make the bells chime.

That song You Can Fly was commissioned because the producers needed a song “right now” and thus turned to Sammy Cahn, Hollywood's go-to lyricist on just such occasions. (Sammy was nominated for 26 “Best Original Song” Oscars and won four. But you knew that, right?)

Never Smile at a Crocodile --played only as an instrumental in the movie -- was every kid's favorite from the subsequent 78 rpm recording. "Lyric by Jack Lawrence" for those who read the small print.

Jack Lawrence left us, age 96, in 2009 – exactly 70 years after he co-wrote Frank Sinatra's very first solo hit All Or Nothing at All.

Born Jacob Louis Schwartz, according to his extensive Wikipedia entry, Mr. Lawrence wrote so many timeless standards. His song list entries at Wiki culminate with the note:

"Lawrence wrote two Disney songs, Never Smile at a Crocodile with Frank Churchill’s music, which was featured as an instrumental in the film Peter Pan, and Once Upon a Dream with Sammy Fain’s music from Sleeping Beauty."

Don't you love stories about song writers whose parents wanted them to “amount to something” more than writing poetry and lyrics? In Jack's case:

" . . . he enrolled in the First Institute of Podiatry where he received a doctoral degree in 1932. The same year, his first song was published and he immediately decided to make a career of songwriting rather than podiatry. That song, "Play, Fiddle, Play", won international fame and he became a member of ASCAP that year at age 20."

One of Lawrence's first major [hits] after leaving the service was "Yes, My Darling Daughter", introduced by Dinah Shore on Eddie Cantor's radio program. The song was Shore's first record. His song "If I Didn't Care" introduced the world to The Ink Spots. And although Frank Sinatra was already a well-known big band singer, Lawrence's "All or Nothing at All" was Sinatra's first solo hit.

In 1946, Lawrence published a song he had written during his tour of duty in World War II. It was released in February 1947 and eventually spent 2 weeks at #1. He wrote it for the then-five-year-old daughter of his attorney, Lee Eastman: Linda Eastman, future first wife of Beatle Paul McCartney. The song was called "Linda".

Lawrence also wrote the lyrics for "Tenderly", Sarah Vaughan's first hit and Rosemary Clooney's trademark song (in collaboration with composer Walter Gross), as well as the English language lyrics to "Beyond the Sea" (based on Charles Trenet's French language song "La Mer"), Bobby Darin's signature song.

Another French song for which Lawrence wrote English lyrics was "La Goualante de Pauvre Jean", becoming "The Poor People of Paris".

Lawrence also wrote the lyrics to "Sleepy Lagoon", a hit by The Platters. The music to "Sleepy Lagoon" was written by Eric Coates in 1940. It was originally a hit for Harry James and his Orchestra in the early 1940s.

Now where did this start? Oh yes. Never smile at a crocodile. I defy you not to!

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – Don't Worry 'bout Me

“I frankly believe that this next song is one of the great American standards, of the repertoire of this nation” the singer declares at the outset.

Still my favorite song performance of the entire 'Sinatra at the Sands' album -- playing right now on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio.

At song's end, over warm applause Frank says: “A marvelous song – a really GREAT standard!” What he does with the lyric IS marvelous – especially on the words

“Look out . . . . for yourself should be the rule . . .
Baby, why stop and cling to some fading (losing) thing that used to be?
So (well) if you can forget? Don't you worry 'bout me.

Yet another (almost) overlooked gem that Sinatra rescued from obscurity – to the delight of composer Rube Bloom and his lyricist Ted Koehler -- almost twenty years after the song's introduction.

The Wiki entry for “DON'T WORRY 'BOUT ME notes his recordings:

Frank Sinatra – This Is Sinatra! (1956), Where Are You (1957), Sinatra at the Sands (1966). His 1954 single reached No. 17 in the Billboard charts that year.[4]

Yes, the Count Basie Orchestra's finest hour -- at least as arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

It remains the least-known of the standards Sinatra performed “At The Sands.” But you can tell, by the smile in 'The Voice' that Frank had a special place in his heart for this one.
 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

FRANK SINATRA JR – Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise

For the passions that thrill Love, and take you high to Heaven
Are the passions that kill Love, and let it fall to hell
so ends the story

Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing Frank Sinatra Jr – my favorite version of one of the oldest standards in the Great American Songbook. A former employer of mine – retirement age when I joined the firm 30 years ago – said, when asked 'What's your favorite song?' SOFTLY, AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE. He was surprised that I could tell him who wrote it: "Words by Oscar Hammerstein II set to a pre-existing melody by Sigmund Romberg." Frank Jr must have loved it too – enough to record and perhaps introduce younger listeners to its beauty. A poignant 'Is that all there is?' sort of lyric, that fits the tune to a 'T'.

Softly as in a morning sunrise
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away

Somewhere there may be a video of Frank Sinatra Jr reflecting on why he selected certain more obscure songs to record. Would love to have asked him, jokingly: “What made you 'pluck THIS one from obscurity'?” A world-class musicologist, he would have had an enjoyable story to tell.

20 years ago I purchased tickets to see Frank Sinatra Jr perform with Winnipeg's world-class symphony orchestra (which had backed at least one Sinatra impersonator I've seen twice since). It broke our hearts when his scheduled tour of western Canadian cities had to be canceled, and tickets refunded without explanation. I like to think this song would have been included. The arrangement reminiscent of Nelson Riddle is by Bill Rogers. For my favorite of his CD's THAT FACE! (2006).
 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

"He did talk about it" replied the youngest of the 'Wise Men' at Sinatra Family, "Andrew T." And shared this link -- Sinatra Junior telling Philadelphia radio broadcaster Sid Mark about this song and the others his Dad wanted to record "but never got around-to." 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

BILLY JOEL -  The Longest Time

Listening to satellite radio - the latest "Nancy for Frank" 3-hour weekly show on channel 71 -- playing an old favorite from Billy Joel:  (For) The Longest Time. Not the most eloquent lyric, but if the rendition is just right (leave it to Billy) it works magic with our hearts:

Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time . . .
If you said goodbye to me tonight
There would still be music left to write
What else could I do?
I'm so inspired by you!
That hasn't happened for the longest time

The centerpiece of my favorite segment in the latest, 3-hour “Nancy For Frank Show” #524 on Channel 71.

30. The Second Time Around (FS - Reprise)
31. Better Luck Next Time (Judy Garland)
32. The Longest Time (Billy Joel)
33. Get Me To The Church On Time (FS - Sinatra at The Sands)
34. Satisfy Me One More Time (FS - Reprise)

Coincidentally or not, I'd just been sampling at Amazon, a book about the lost art of 'street corner acappella' singing:  

“DO-WOP A CAPPELLA - A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies” (Lawrence Pitilli) “Gone forever are those acappella days when four or five guys sing doo-wops on the corner with a sound beyond compare. ... “Gone too is the lamp post and the subway platform that served as a lighting device and a stage where their harmony would always fill the air.”

I close my eyes and picture four or five teenagers, gathered on a cold night around a 50-gallon oil-drum fire pit providing them with a little warmth -- trying their best to sound this good.

First version at YouTube this day -- the one with the most views - 12,648,815 – and the best comments below the video from kindred spirits like JULIANNE HANNES (4 years ago) "Why is this song so damn soothing? It's like a hot bath."

Edited January 26, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BOBBY DARIN – Something to Remember You By

Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is streaming 24/7 on my computer. Hit the “back 1 hour” feature (the novelty will never wear off) and it's Bobby Darin – “Something to Remember You By” -- dare I say, “My Favorite Version”? The power combined with charm in that young voice, when he sings the musical bridge/release:

“So, I will pray for you, ev'ry single day for you . . . it will see me through like a charm . . . until you return.”

Who wrote this gem? I used to know. Dietz & Schwartz? And who arranged? Just listen to the closing orchestral flourish: so beautiful!

First version offered at YouTube this day – is “official” Bobby Darin – Topic -- with 13 (correct) views and zero comments (“comments are turned off”).

[The Wiki entry confirms I still have some marbles left.]

"Something to Remember You By" was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz in 1930.

"Something to Remember You By" was introduced in the musical revue "Three's a Crowd" which played on Broadway at the Selwyn Theatre, October 15, 1930 to June 6, 1931. "Three's a Crowd" starred Clifton Webb and Fred Allen and was produced by Max Gordon.[1] It also featured Libby Holman; who introduced "Something to Remember You By" as well as the Johnny Green and Edward Heyman song "Body and Soul". Ms Holman was the first to record "Something to Remember You By" in September 1930 on the Brunswick label.[2]

The song was also recorded by Helen Morgan on September 12, 1930 for Victor (with the B side being "Body and Soul").[3] That same year an orchestral version was recorded by Tommy Christian and his Orchestra with vocal by Jack Arthur.[4] Later recordings were made by Vera Lynn, Jo Stafford, Irene Kral, and many others. Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1975 for his album At My Time of Life.

Films featuring the song include:

Mr. Lucky (1943)[5]
Her Kind of Man (1946)
Dancing in the Dark (1949)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Telephone Book (1971)
A Safe Place (1971)
Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

[Mark Blackburn]

GLORIA ESTEFAN – What a Wonderful World

At a moment when we all need reminding that this really IS a big old “wonderful world” – Channel 71 right now is playing my new favorite version of a song Louis Armstrong made famous. Let's call it the best since Pops' original. From an album of standards Gloria Estefan recorded eight years ago. Can't spot the arranger but the orchestration is so fresh and inventive. So wonderful. Tears of joy.

Is it at YouTube? Even better! – a live television performance with full symphony orchestra. For these and other wonderful reasons I keep telling the grandkids: 'This is the best time in human history to be alive!' (Usually adding) 'And don't let any old sourpuss tell you otherwise.'

[Concerning the song, Wiki notes]

"What a Wonderful World" was written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single, which topped the pop charts in the United Kingdom,[1] though it performed poorly in the United States because Larry Newton, the president of ABC Records, had set himself against it.

After appearing in the film Good Morning, Vietnam, the song was re-released as a single in 1988, and it rose to number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

By April 2014, Louis Armstrong's 1967 recording had sold 2,173,000 downloads in the United States after it was released digitally.[11]

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – Blame It On My Youth

"It's not what you are, it's what you don't become that hurts." – Oscar Levant

Funny, I'd just been thinking about Oscar Levant – one of my musical father's favorite pianists (and one of the very few who 'made it big' in Hollywood). Specifically, I'd been thinking about his best song – BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH. Sure enough (just for me, as I like to say) satellite radio is playing it right now: The 'definitive' recording by our favorite singer – from his Close To You album with 'The Hollywood String Quartet.'

Just to give myself further goosebumps, I'd been re-reading moments earlier, an old thread at Sinatra Family Forum  about this very album, CLOSE TO YOU – with its spare but gorgeous orchestrations by Nelson Riddle, who included some brilliant bits of additional instrumentation – like clarinet and celeste (chimes).

That old thread (with posts from 'friends no longer with us') noted that the Close To You album "suffered sales-wise" from being released between two, brilliant up-tempo albums that were among Sinatra's best-sellers. To paraphrase posters on that thread: At a time when most of us had money for “only one-or-two” of those black vinyl LPs per visit to record shops (remember those?) this more sedate offering wasn't going to 'make the cut.'

Still my favorite track – this one: Composed by Oscar Levant with words by Edward (Body & Soul) Heyman – a perfect match (especially on words like these)

If I forgot to eat, and sleep, and pray – blame it on my youth
And if I cried a little bit, when first I learned the truth
Don't blame it on my heart, blame it on my youth.

Wikipedia: OSCAR LEVANT (December 27, 1906 – August 14, 1972) was an American concert pianist, composer, music conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian and actor. Though awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recordings featuring his piano performances, he was as famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and later in movies and television, as for his music . . .

DEATH: A lifelong heavy smoker and longtime pharmaceutical drug user, Levant died at his home in Beverly Hills of a heart attack in 1972 at age 65. His death was discovered by his wife June when she called him from their bedroom to meet for an interview with Candice Bergen, a photojournalist at the time.

According to Bergen's memoir titled 'Knock Wood' she had visited the same Beverly Hills house on the previous day [and taken a few] photographs. Bergen said that Levant asked her to return the next day to take more photographs, and she agreed.[18] While she was driving with her camera in her car on the following day, she did not know he had died.[19]

Levant is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. In citing an old joke, some comedians have told an apocryphal story about Levant: that his epitaph reads, "I told them I was ill."[20]

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[Favorite quotes (almost timeless) ranging, like Levant himself, between flippant and profound:]

- The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too.

- Everyone in Hollywood is gay, except Gabby Hayes — and that's because he is a transvestite.

- It's not a pretty face, I grant you, but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character. (From An American in Paris) [and, drum-roll ]

"It's not what you are, it's what you don't become that hurts."

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Most recent re-mastered version at YouTube from “Sinatra 80” (260 views, zero comments):
 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

"Kris Kristofferson retires, age 84 -- blames failing memory"

I'm partial to Mr. Kristofferson for lots of reasons, but especially for writing the best song you may never have heard-of. He told Canadian viewers on a 2009 television show hosted by Mr. Diana Krall Elvis Costello, that the song he'd selected to sing was "Johnny Cash's favorite" -- inspired by the movie 'Grapes of Wrath' in Oklahoma, in the Dust Bowl, Great Depression days. A scene where two kids "with only a penny between them" ask a waitress "how much are them candies?" [I took notes that night a decade ago]

"I read in his (Johnny Cash's) autobiography that this might be his favorite song."

[Then, looking heavenwards, his speaking voice choked with apparent humility at that thought ]

"And so I sing it for him."

-----

The scene, is a small roadside café, the waitress is sweeping the floor;
Two truck drivers, drinking their coffee, and two Okie kids by the door

"How much are them candies?" they asked her.
"How much have you got?" she replied
"We've only a penny, between us."
"Them's `2-for-a-penny' she lied.

And the daylight grew heavy with thunder, with the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain't that just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again!
[KEY CHANGE]
One truck driver called to the waitress, after the kids went outside,
"Them candies ain't two for a penny!"
"So? What's that to you?" she replied.
In silence they finished their coffee - got up, and nodded Goodbye;
She called out "Hey! You left too much money!"
"So? What's that to you?" they replied.
And the daylight was heavy with thunder, with the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain't that just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again."
 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE – I'm Glad There Is You

"I live to love . . . and love to live, with you beside me . . . "

It's 2 a.m. and Siriusly Sinatra is playing one of my favorite songs by Natalie Cole – I'M GLAD THERE IS YOU. From my favorite of her albums, ASK A WOMAN WHO KNOWS, for which I wrote an Amazon review, 16 Januaries ago (2005) titled “Like fine wine – getting better with age!” I'd singled out this song:

Track 9. "I'm Glad There Is You" - A haunting Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira Latin-influenced ballad from 1941--- ignored by everyone since the fifties. (Old-timers will immediately recognize this beautiful tune.) This time the orchestra is arranged by the (almost) incomparable Alan Broadbent. (If Sinatra were still with us, he'd be doing albums with Alan.)

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Is it at YouTube? Even better! -- a 'live' TV performance – from my favorite of her DVDs, a concert in England, I think. God how I miss Natalie Cole and waiting for her “next album of standards.”
 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

CHICO MARX (Funny, you look Italian!)

My musical father – a very good pianist – wasn't crazy about The Marx Brothers' humor -- but he'd seen all their movies because of Chico's keyboard virtuosity. I close my eyes and see my Dad 'shooting' the keys of the piano – his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, just like Chico did.

The intuitive genius that is YouTube circa 2021 just sent my way “Chico Marx Playing Piano” - 10 Films!!” A 19 minute feature that flies by in no time – so pleasurable to watch. Stick around at least to 5:10 and “Horse Feathers” (1932). I'm not Italian (except at heart) and always assumed that Chico Marx was every bit the Italian he made himself out to be. And yet . . . no he was not! [Wiki notes]

Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, musician, actor and film star.[1] He was a member of the Marx Brothers (with Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx). His persona in the act was that of a charming, uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat . . .

Chico was born in Manhattan, New York City, on March 22, 1887.. . . The Marx family was Franco-German Jewish . . .
Billing himself as Chico, he used an Italian persona for his onstage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. His non-Italian-ness was specifically referred to twice on film. In their second feature, Animal Crackers, he recognizes someone he knows to be a fish peddler impersonating a respected art collector:

Ravelli (Chico): "How is it you got to be Roscoe W. Chandler?"
Chandler: "Say, how did you get to be an Italian?"
Ravelli: "Never mind—whose confession is this?"

In A Night at the Opera, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho:

Driftwood (Groucho): "Well, things seem to be getting better around the country."
Fiorello (Chico): "I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself."

A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:

S. Quentin Quayle (Groucho): "Can you talk Indian?"
Joe Panello (Chico): "I was born in Indianapolis!"

There are moments, however, where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds

"I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction!"
 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Mark Blackburn