Pearl Bailey Sings " Don't Like Goodbyes" from " House of Flowers." As Pearl Bailey did in an earlier Arlen/ Mercer show " St. Louis Woman ", she portrayed a somewhat domineering yet comic presence on stage. Portraying a Madam of a bordello, she had a commercial interest in her " ladies" as well as a certain rough-hewn affection for her "flowers" which is portrayed in a tender ballad " Don't Like Goodbyes." Originally written for Otillie, the young girl in love with Royal, Pearl Bailey appropriated the song for herself. it is a gentle goodbye song that uses everyday speech patterns but as Jenness & Velsey report " The song has the familiar upward glide. on words that convey yearning like the last syllables of " Don't like goodbyes, tears or sighs,,"--- and a stunning employing repeated notes on,first, the lowered 7, then the pure 7, before ending on the octave (note.)
Bailey does manage to convey her genuine regret at Ottilie leaving her " House" and is an affecting and memorable performance of a song that should be a standard, especially since saying goodbye is such a universal and poignant experience.
LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVM61ntxN90
'
Monday 30 December 2013
Monday 18 November 2013
" YOU''LL NEVER KNOW"-- EVOKES FOND MEMORIES OF THE WAR YEARS (WW 11)
" You'll Never Know" --Evokes fond memories of the War Years ( WW 11)
This is the final song post for this blog
For those of you old enough to remember the war years, a number of memorable songs are forever linked to those difficult and challenging times. " I'll Be Seeing You" " We'll Meet Again" come to mind as well as "You'll Never Know. That song was featured in a 1943 20th Century Fox movie " Hello Frisco" starring Alice Faye and Tyrone Power. There is a poignant aspect to the song since it was based on a poem written by a young war bride hoping that her beloved husband would return safely from the war. Adopted by lyricist Mack Gordon and composer Harry Warren, IT was sung very tenderly by Alice Faye, the blond movie girl-next-door in movies of the '30's and '40's.
As she sings" You went away and my heart went with you" it is hard not to recall the anxious moments that millions of families endured while they waited and prayed for the return of their loved ones.
Since this is the final post for this blog ,which started just a year ago, I wanted to thank the many people who took an interest in the Great American Songbook and the 100 unique songs that I was able to send your way.
Since the Songbook can be considered America's classical music, these songs will still be sung many years from now just as Mozart and Schubert songs are still being performed today.
Longevity is what defines a classic song and , to paraphrase an Ira Gershwin lyric, " It's very clear, Our songs are here to stay\Not for a year but forever and a day."
And perhaps ,we will meet again via the miracle of digital technology and the love of timeless, popular music
Max Weissengruber
LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXv9yderPxc
This is the final song post for this blog
For those of you old enough to remember the war years, a number of memorable songs are forever linked to those difficult and challenging times. " I'll Be Seeing You" " We'll Meet Again" come to mind as well as "You'll Never Know. That song was featured in a 1943 20th Century Fox movie " Hello Frisco" starring Alice Faye and Tyrone Power. There is a poignant aspect to the song since it was based on a poem written by a young war bride hoping that her beloved husband would return safely from the war. Adopted by lyricist Mack Gordon and composer Harry Warren, IT was sung very tenderly by Alice Faye, the blond movie girl-next-door in movies of the '30's and '40's.
As she sings" You went away and my heart went with you" it is hard not to recall the anxious moments that millions of families endured while they waited and prayed for the return of their loved ones.
Since this is the final post for this blog ,which started just a year ago, I wanted to thank the many people who took an interest in the Great American Songbook and the 100 unique songs that I was able to send your way.
Since the Songbook can be considered America's classical music, these songs will still be sung many years from now just as Mozart and Schubert songs are still being performed today.
Longevity is what defines a classic song and , to paraphrase an Ira Gershwin lyric, " It's very clear, Our songs are here to stay\Not for a year but forever and a day."
And perhaps ,we will meet again via the miracle of digital technology and the love of timeless, popular music
Max Weissengruber
LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXv9yderPxc
" DUKE ELLINGTON'S " SOPHISTICATED LADY"
Duke Ellington's " Sophisticated Lady" In 1933, Duke Ellington and lyric writer Mitchell Parish combined to write Sophisticated Lady an unusually constructed song that began as an instrumental showcase of Elligton's band. The lyrics, as was often the case with this prolific composer, arranger and pianist, were added after the melody was written and may have suffered from not having the music and words worked on together as in the case of so many effective song writing teams closely collaborating from beginning to end of the song creation.
As David Raksin, composer of Laura once told me, Director Otto Preminger wanted to use Sophisticated Lady as the main theme for the movie. Raksin argued that there too many memories already associated with the tune written 11 years before the movie was being finished. Preminger gave Raksin the weekend to come up with something he could accept or he would have used the Ellington/Parish song. Despite the fact Raksin just learned that weekend that his wife was leaving him, he managed to stumble through a number of melodic ideas before he hit on the essential tune which is the much cherished " Laura."
Ella Fitzgerald sings with a mature woman's understanding of the follies of so-called sophisticated lifestyles and ending of a love that flickered and died."
LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMig_hV1se8
As David Raksin, composer of Laura once told me, Director Otto Preminger wanted to use Sophisticated Lady as the main theme for the movie. Raksin argued that there too many memories already associated with the tune written 11 years before the movie was being finished. Preminger gave Raksin the weekend to come up with something he could accept or he would have used the Ellington/Parish song. Despite the fact Raksin just learned that weekend that his wife was leaving him, he managed to stumble through a number of melodic ideas before he hit on the essential tune which is the much cherished " Laura."
Ella Fitzgerald sings with a mature woman's understanding of the follies of so-called sophisticated lifestyles and ending of a love that flickered and died."
LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMig_hV1se8
" ALONE TOGETHER" --- POIGNANT LOVE SONG BY SCHWARTZ & DIETZ
"Alone Together" --Poignant Love Song by Schwartz & Dietz. For a 1932 show " Flying Colors" Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz wrote what Author Alec Wilder described as " Remarkable ,brooding ballad" and stating that he was " Simply surprised that the state of being together suggests such melancholy and that the aloneness is made more of in the melody than the togetherness, nor do I say that flippantly."
Nonetheless, it is a compelling song that more optimistically states in the bridge that " Our love, is as deep as the sea, our love, is as deep as a love can be" and concluding " And we can weather the great unknown, if we're alone.....together."
The dramatic structure and melody of the song is offset by the declaration of a sincere and undying love.
In this performance, Ella Fitzgeral teams with arranger Nelson Riddle in a driving, up-tempo version that does justice to the intense nature of the melody while stressing the nature of the singer's undying love. The rhythmic thrust maintains the tension created by both the words and the music. This is mature song writing craftsmanship.
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U84GERCaJic
Nonetheless, it is a compelling song that more optimistically states in the bridge that " Our love, is as deep as the sea, our love, is as deep as a love can be" and concluding " And we can weather the great unknown, if we're alone.....together."
The dramatic structure and melody of the song is offset by the declaration of a sincere and undying love.
In this performance, Ella Fitzgeral teams with arranger Nelson Riddle in a driving, up-tempo version that does justice to the intense nature of the melody while stressing the nature of the singer's undying love. The rhythmic thrust maintains the tension created by both the words and the music. This is mature song writing craftsmanship.
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U84GERCaJic
Sunday 17 November 2013
COLE PORTER STATED " I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU"
Cole Porter stated " I Get A Kick Out Of You."" In 1934, Cole Porter introduced one of his most famous Broadway scores. "Anything Goes" , in addition to the title song he also provided " All Through The Night" Blow, Gabriel Blow" "You're The Top" as well as " I Get A Kick Out Of You."
This song is comprised of a series of step-wise statements, a technique also favored by Richard Rodgers and it is one of Porter's best known and performed songs. Like many of Porter's songs, it is as popular as much for the witty lyrics as for the melody .Jazz musicians favor this song for its looseness and a structure that encourages improvising by jazz instrumentalists.
Frank Sinatra had a natural affinity for the lyrics of Cole Porter-they were sexy, saucy and often impudent, qualities that were quite natural for Sinatra to enact.. This version is an easy-going swinging arrangement with a smaller ensemble. The way Frank stretches out the word " fabulous" at the end of the verse singing " Your " ....FABULOUS face is indicative of what is to follow inn the main chorus. Every time Sinatra sings the word " kick" as in " I get a kick" out of you" there is a loud drum accent right after the word. It helps further emphasize Porter's desire to show how much the singer really gets an emotional boost out of the person to whom the song is directed.
This is Sinatra after his signing by Capitol Records and beginning to work with Nelson Riddle and Billy May whose arrangements were much more contemporary and swinging than those of Gordon Jenkins and some earlier arrangers from the Columbia years.
LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-62MuHsQBk
This song is comprised of a series of step-wise statements, a technique also favored by Richard Rodgers and it is one of Porter's best known and performed songs. Like many of Porter's songs, it is as popular as much for the witty lyrics as for the melody .Jazz musicians favor this song for its looseness and a structure that encourages improvising by jazz instrumentalists.
Frank Sinatra had a natural affinity for the lyrics of Cole Porter-they were sexy, saucy and often impudent, qualities that were quite natural for Sinatra to enact.. This version is an easy-going swinging arrangement with a smaller ensemble. The way Frank stretches out the word " fabulous" at the end of the verse singing " Your " ....FABULOUS face is indicative of what is to follow inn the main chorus. Every time Sinatra sings the word " kick" as in " I get a kick" out of you" there is a loud drum accent right after the word. It helps further emphasize Porter's desire to show how much the singer really gets an emotional boost out of the person to whom the song is directed.
This is Sinatra after his signing by Capitol Records and beginning to work with Nelson Riddle and Billy May whose arrangements were much more contemporary and swinging than those of Gordon Jenkins and some earlier arrangers from the Columbia years.
LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-62MuHsQBk
Saturday 16 November 2013
MEL TORME & GEORGE SHEARING -JAZZ MAGIC ON " PICK YOURSELF UP"
Mel Torme & George Shearing-Jazz Magic on " Pick Yourself Up"
Torme and Shearing performed as a duet team for a number of years and demonstrated complete compatibility and a marvellous interplay of ideas and technique. They thought and played as one voice as evidenced in the is Berlin concert version of Jerome Kerns and Dorothy Fields classic " Pick Yourself Up." Torme acts out both the Astaire and Rogers parts , including the verse before beginning the main chorus.
Then Shearing morphs into a J.S.Bach-like improvisational solo that takes off into the stratosphere before Torme joins into a spectacular series of improvised lyrics and melodic interplay.Near the end, Torme hits such a height of inspired jazz singing that Shearing throws up his hands in delight applauding Torme's inspired singing. This is singing and playing of the highest order and two jazz giants combining their talents in the same way that Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond would unite in lengthy improvised passages as in their classic performance of Kern's " All The Things You Are."
The Torme /Shearing performance also includes a sensitive performance of " Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish that demonstrates the versatility of the two musical partners to both swing hard and serenade ever so sweetly.
LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q97ho7npMcU
Torme and Shearing performed as a duet team for a number of years and demonstrated complete compatibility and a marvellous interplay of ideas and technique. They thought and played as one voice as evidenced in the is Berlin concert version of Jerome Kerns and Dorothy Fields classic " Pick Yourself Up." Torme acts out both the Astaire and Rogers parts , including the verse before beginning the main chorus.
Then Shearing morphs into a J.S.Bach-like improvisational solo that takes off into the stratosphere before Torme joins into a spectacular series of improvised lyrics and melodic interplay.Near the end, Torme hits such a height of inspired jazz singing that Shearing throws up his hands in delight applauding Torme's inspired singing. This is singing and playing of the highest order and two jazz giants combining their talents in the same way that Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond would unite in lengthy improvised passages as in their classic performance of Kern's " All The Things You Are."
The Torme /Shearing performance also includes a sensitive performance of " Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish that demonstrates the versatility of the two musical partners to both swing hard and serenade ever so sweetly.
LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q97ho7npMcU
Friday 15 November 2013
MEL TORME'S FINE SONG " BORN TO BE BLUE"
Mel Torme's Own Song- Born To Be Blue" As virtuoso a singer as he was, Mel Torme was also an excellent songwriter with his Christmas Song a perennial favourite starting with " Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.....") His song Born To Be Blue with lyrics by Robert Wells is excellent and to quote Jenness & Velsey " It's closer to real blues style than most pop songs, in that it uses the flatted 3 and 6 ( intervals) a lot and also has the pattern roughly, of the blues syllogism: two short declarative phrases followed by one long summative phrase." They also conclude that " The lyric is well-integrated invoking a range of color terms that renders blue more poignant."
If there is someone who comes closer to technically perfect singing than Torme, please let me know.
First of all, he has more musical training than most singers-he can arrange songs for orchestras, play piano and is also an excellent drummer. He is the only "scat" singer in the same league as Ella Fitzgerald and as his friend and intrepid scholar Will Friedwald recounts in A Biographical Guide ToThe Great Jazz and Pop Singers, no other singer could embody the tenderest poetry of Cole Porter one minute and then a song later, ditch the words altogether to fly off into the scatosphere."
Although Torme was a perfectionist, he may have lacked the emotional and dramatic
power of Sinatra or the happy "goomba" warmth of Tony Bennett. As a jazz singer he leaves both Sinatra and Bennett in the dust , especially in his thrilling improvisational flights of fancy with George Shearing which will be featured in the next post.
Listen and enjoy vocal artistry that your unlikely to hear again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJkdMMrIyRs
If there is someone who comes closer to technically perfect singing than Torme, please let me know.
First of all, he has more musical training than most singers-he can arrange songs for orchestras, play piano and is also an excellent drummer. He is the only "scat" singer in the same league as Ella Fitzgerald and as his friend and intrepid scholar Will Friedwald recounts in A Biographical Guide ToThe Great Jazz and Pop Singers, no other singer could embody the tenderest poetry of Cole Porter one minute and then a song later, ditch the words altogether to fly off into the scatosphere."
Although Torme was a perfectionist, he may have lacked the emotional and dramatic
power of Sinatra or the happy "goomba" warmth of Tony Bennett. As a jazz singer he leaves both Sinatra and Bennett in the dust , especially in his thrilling improvisational flights of fancy with George Shearing which will be featured in the next post.
Listen and enjoy vocal artistry that your unlikely to hear again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJkdMMrIyRs
Thursday 14 November 2013
W.C.HANDY' AND HIS " St. LOUIS BLUES"
W.C.Handy and his" St. Louis Blues" Alec Wilder , writing in American Popular Song: The Great Innovators; 1900-1950" concluded that " No American song is better known or has had more performances than St. Louis Blues. It most certainly is one of the most notable of popular music landmarks. Handy's many blues are a marvellous contribution to the body of American popular song." It is also is instructive to quote Isaac Goldberg writing about Handy's important blues development role in his book Tin Pan Alley.
" Willian Christopher Handy " the father of the blues" is not the inventor of the genre: he
is its Moses, not its Jehovah. It was he who, first of the musicians, codified the new spirit
in African (Negro) music and sent it forth upon its conquest of the North.
The " rag" has sung and danced the joyous aspects of Negro life.
The "blues," new only in their emergence, sang the sorrows of secular existence
Goldberg also said " Handy was the first to set jazz down upon paper-to fix the quality of the various 'breaks" as these wildly filled in pauses were named. With a succession of " blues' he fixed the genre."
The " blues " undoubtedly is the most purely indigenous American popular music invention. Other innovations in popular song were also created through harmonic and melodic devices which essentially were drawn from European and formal compositional roots. Even Duke Ellington's jazz pieces drew heavily upon the modern " French" harmony of Ravel and Debussy.
" St. Louis Blues" is quite unique since it is written in four distinct segments. It starts with the
usual 12 bar sections each with different lyrics. The third section is in the form of a tango reflecting early Spanish New Orleans. with the lyric stating" St. Louis Woman, wid her diamin' rings" . This "Spanish" segment is most unusual and instantly memorable.The final section is another 12 bar blues chorus. Not all recorded versions follow the sheet music since the song does inspire performers to take liberties with both the music and lyrics.
Bessie Smith, known as the" Empress of The Blues" is featured in a dramatized filmed segment in which she portray a sad and broken woman, living example of what Isacc Golberg had said what the blues were all about " The sorrows of secular existence" especially for Afro-Americans before and during W.C Handy's era.
Bessie is accompanied by an small orchestra and a chorus which lends an essence of the spiritual tradition in a song that is anything but spiritual in tone or intent. Bessie Smith's own life was filled with the sadness and despair echoed in the song and her performance does reflect what the blues is all about.
A more reflective version is provided by Maxine Sullivan who led a much different life than Bessie Smith which is evident in her more relaxed yet poignant style.. Two black women with different histories find commonality in an immortal W.C.Handy composition.
BESSIE SMITH LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Who6fTHJ34
MAXINE SULLIVAN LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_aai_ItJ7E
" Willian Christopher Handy " the father of the blues" is not the inventor of the genre: he
is its Moses, not its Jehovah. It was he who, first of the musicians, codified the new spirit
in African (Negro) music and sent it forth upon its conquest of the North.
The " rag" has sung and danced the joyous aspects of Negro life.
The "blues," new only in their emergence, sang the sorrows of secular existence
Goldberg also said " Handy was the first to set jazz down upon paper-to fix the quality of the various 'breaks" as these wildly filled in pauses were named. With a succession of " blues' he fixed the genre."
The " blues " undoubtedly is the most purely indigenous American popular music invention. Other innovations in popular song were also created through harmonic and melodic devices which essentially were drawn from European and formal compositional roots. Even Duke Ellington's jazz pieces drew heavily upon the modern " French" harmony of Ravel and Debussy.
" St. Louis Blues" is quite unique since it is written in four distinct segments. It starts with the
usual 12 bar sections each with different lyrics. The third section is in the form of a tango reflecting early Spanish New Orleans. with the lyric stating" St. Louis Woman, wid her diamin' rings" . This "Spanish" segment is most unusual and instantly memorable.The final section is another 12 bar blues chorus. Not all recorded versions follow the sheet music since the song does inspire performers to take liberties with both the music and lyrics.
Bessie Smith, known as the" Empress of The Blues" is featured in a dramatized filmed segment in which she portray a sad and broken woman, living example of what Isacc Golberg had said what the blues were all about " The sorrows of secular existence" especially for Afro-Americans before and during W.C Handy's era.
Bessie is accompanied by an small orchestra and a chorus which lends an essence of the spiritual tradition in a song that is anything but spiritual in tone or intent. Bessie Smith's own life was filled with the sadness and despair echoed in the song and her performance does reflect what the blues is all about.
A more reflective version is provided by Maxine Sullivan who led a much different life than Bessie Smith which is evident in her more relaxed yet poignant style.. Two black women with different histories find commonality in an immortal W.C.Handy composition.
BESSIE SMITH LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Who6fTHJ34
MAXINE SULLIVAN LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_aai_ItJ7E
Wednesday 13 November 2013
TONY BENNETT & CARRIE UNDERWOOD DUET " IT HAD TO BE YOU"
Tony Bennett & Carrie Underwood Duet-" It Had To Be You" Reputed to be Johnny Mercer's favorite song, " It Had To Be You" was written over 90 years ago by Isham Jones and lyricist Gus Kahn. I mention the age of the song because here we have Tony Bennett, an almost 90 year old
singer, pairing with a twenty-something young singer coming from a country/pop tradition to sing a 90 year old song.
Bennett has been on a life-long mission to present and preserve the best of what he and others have called America's classical music. By partnering in duets with a wide range of younger singers from pop, rock, country and blues, he and his duet partners explore different ways of performing the standards that come from The Great American Songbook. Bennett does not impose a rigid stylistic format on anyone with whom he sings . Rather he encourages duet partners to bring their own style and perspectives to the repertoire which has been chosen by Bennett.
A number of the singers have commented on how open and encouraging Bennett has been in the planning and recording session and this has made their collaboration memorable and enlightening.
In the video, Carrie Underwood expresses her appreciation of Bennnett's nurturing approach and it seems to always produce great performances from a highly diverse group of younger singers.
NOTE: Who would have ever thought that as provocative as performer like Lady Gaga would ever succcesfully record a classic Irving Berlin song with Bennett. " Steppin' Out With My Baby" is a delight and Tony visibly is turned on by her presence and outrageously hip style and persona.
" It Had To Be You" LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dspLgqlPMmk
singer, pairing with a twenty-something young singer coming from a country/pop tradition to sing a 90 year old song.
Bennett has been on a life-long mission to present and preserve the best of what he and others have called America's classical music. By partnering in duets with a wide range of younger singers from pop, rock, country and blues, he and his duet partners explore different ways of performing the standards that come from The Great American Songbook. Bennett does not impose a rigid stylistic format on anyone with whom he sings . Rather he encourages duet partners to bring their own style and perspectives to the repertoire which has been chosen by Bennett.
A number of the singers have commented on how open and encouraging Bennett has been in the planning and recording session and this has made their collaboration memorable and enlightening.
In the video, Carrie Underwood expresses her appreciation of Bennnett's nurturing approach and it seems to always produce great performances from a highly diverse group of younger singers.
NOTE: Who would have ever thought that as provocative as performer like Lady Gaga would ever succcesfully record a classic Irving Berlin song with Bennett. " Steppin' Out With My Baby" is a delight and Tony visibly is turned on by her presence and outrageously hip style and persona.
" It Had To Be You" LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dspLgqlPMmk
Monday 11 November 2013
JEROME KERNS LAST SONG " NOBODY ELSE BUT ME"
Jerome Kern's Last Song " Nobody Else but Me." Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein created " Showboat" in 1927. It was a landmark development in musical theatre and a distinctive departure from the European influenced shows that marked Kern;s earlier theatrical ventures. " Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine," " Make Believe " " Bill" " Why Do I Love You?" and, of course " Old Man River" are songs that are still well known and performed.
In 1946, there was another revival of " Showboat" for which Kern and Hammerstein wrote a new ( and which was to be Kern's last melody) called " Nobody Else But Me." Alec Wilder described it as " Avery beautiful song though far from simple. It was characteristic of Kern, Wilder relates " To undertake unusual melodic innovations and he raised song writing to the level of highly distinguished melodic composition." Comparing Kern;s later compositions with the operetta style of his earlier career demonstrates the extraordinary advancement in composition. Wilder notably concludes that " I must note that to me perhaps the most striking quality of " Nobody Else But Me" is its " American soundingness." It serves as a perfect epitaph to his career."
I have heard a great many jazz instrumental and vocal interpretations of this song which is further testament to the rich melodic and harmonic elements that jazz players are always seeking.
Betty Bennett, a little-known but excellent singer provides an interpretation of the song as it would have been performed in a musical theatre performance.
Pianist Brad Mehldau, in vivid contrast to a formal stage performance,, demonstrates the jazzman's improvisational delight in the dramatic chord changes of Kern's last song.
vOCAL LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khc7TaBtd20
Instrumental LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9QF5hFYt4c
In 1946, there was another revival of " Showboat" for which Kern and Hammerstein wrote a new ( and which was to be Kern's last melody) called " Nobody Else But Me." Alec Wilder described it as " Avery beautiful song though far from simple. It was characteristic of Kern, Wilder relates " To undertake unusual melodic innovations and he raised song writing to the level of highly distinguished melodic composition." Comparing Kern;s later compositions with the operetta style of his earlier career demonstrates the extraordinary advancement in composition. Wilder notably concludes that " I must note that to me perhaps the most striking quality of " Nobody Else But Me" is its " American soundingness." It serves as a perfect epitaph to his career."
I have heard a great many jazz instrumental and vocal interpretations of this song which is further testament to the rich melodic and harmonic elements that jazz players are always seeking.
Betty Bennett, a little-known but excellent singer provides an interpretation of the song as it would have been performed in a musical theatre performance.
Pianist Brad Mehldau, in vivid contrast to a formal stage performance,, demonstrates the jazzman's improvisational delight in the dramatic chord changes of Kern's last song.
vOCAL LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khc7TaBtd20
Instrumental LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9QF5hFYt4c
Saturday 9 November 2013
" YESTERDAYS" and " YESTERDAY"--JEROME KERN MEETS PAUL McCARTNEY
" Yesterdays" and " Yesterday"--Jerome Kern meets Paul McCartney" In 1933, Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach wrote "Yesterdays" for the musical Roberta. It is an very evocative, sombre song with a straightforward, overall structure but unforgettable for its ingenious harmonic progressions. The lyrics are a little old -fashioned rhyming " forsooth " with " truth" and " chaffed" with " laughed." I'm sure " forsooth" has not been part of regular English language use for at least 300 years. ( Cole Porter could have legitimately used in as part of his Shakespeare segments in Kiss Me Kate. ) Nonetheless, instrumentally the song has a somewhat brooding quality that is very compelling.
Frank Sinatra provides a performance of " Yesterdays" that is quite in keeping with the formal nature of the melody and the lyrics that lament of " Days that I knew as happy, sweet sequestered days" His performance transcends the archaic language which he does his best to downplay. After all, Frank was from Hoboken, New Jersey -not Stratford-On-Avon.
In 1965, Paul McCartney wrote both music and lyrics for " Yesterday." It deals with the break=up of a relationship, perhaps autobiographical and adorned only by a guitar and a string quartet. His lyrics are the everyday speech of the common man who sadly confesses that " I'm not half the man I used to be, There's a shadow hanging over me -------- and now I long for yesterday." This is a much more personal story being told by McCartney , especially when compared with the high flown sentiments provided by Otto Harbach.
Both songs are famous for their different reasons and I believe that the Kern composition is superior to McCartney's rather straightforward tune. However, McCartney's words are more heartfelt and compelling and reflect the emotional language of an ordinary man while avoiding the archaic and stilted vocabulary of Mr. Harbach.
Kern Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXjreu_32YE
McCartney Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho2e0zvGEWE
Frank Sinatra provides a performance of " Yesterdays" that is quite in keeping with the formal nature of the melody and the lyrics that lament of " Days that I knew as happy, sweet sequestered days" His performance transcends the archaic language which he does his best to downplay. After all, Frank was from Hoboken, New Jersey -not Stratford-On-Avon.
In 1965, Paul McCartney wrote both music and lyrics for " Yesterday." It deals with the break=up of a relationship, perhaps autobiographical and adorned only by a guitar and a string quartet. His lyrics are the everyday speech of the common man who sadly confesses that " I'm not half the man I used to be, There's a shadow hanging over me -------- and now I long for yesterday." This is a much more personal story being told by McCartney , especially when compared with the high flown sentiments provided by Otto Harbach.
Both songs are famous for their different reasons and I believe that the Kern composition is superior to McCartney's rather straightforward tune. However, McCartney's words are more heartfelt and compelling and reflect the emotional language of an ordinary man while avoiding the archaic and stilted vocabulary of Mr. Harbach.
Kern Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXjreu_32YE
McCartney Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho2e0zvGEWE
Thursday 7 November 2013
HANK WILLIAMS SR.- A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON 20TH CENTURY POPULAR SONG
Hank Williams Sr.-A Major Influence On 20th Century Popular Song: Although he died at the early age of 29, Hank Williams Sr. created memorable music across a broad musical spectrum. Country, folk, blues and gospel songs are all part of his song writing talents. " You're Cheatin' Heart" and " Hey,Good Looking"' were major hits and covered by a wide array of other performers.
He paved he way for the wave of other singer/songwriters who would come to dominate popular music for the past 40 years.
One of his gospel songs " House of Gold" is a serious attempt to warn people of the futility of pursuing money and material possessions. In a memorable recording, Kenny Rankin, a versatile singer, guitarist and composer almost pleads for us to heed Williams dire warning unless we " We Get Down On Our Knees and Pray" and abandon the quest for material gain.
I am by no means a religious person but Rankin's genuine poetic singing and playing forces one to sit up and listen. The string arrangement by Don Costa partway through the song only intensifies the musical and lyric message's impact on the complete performance.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF_nEbQELEw
He paved he way for the wave of other singer/songwriters who would come to dominate popular music for the past 40 years.
One of his gospel songs " House of Gold" is a serious attempt to warn people of the futility of pursuing money and material possessions. In a memorable recording, Kenny Rankin, a versatile singer, guitarist and composer almost pleads for us to heed Williams dire warning unless we " We Get Down On Our Knees and Pray" and abandon the quest for material gain.
I am by no means a religious person but Rankin's genuine poetic singing and playing forces one to sit up and listen. The string arrangement by Don Costa partway through the song only intensifies the musical and lyric message's impact on the complete performance.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF_nEbQELEw
Wednesday 6 November 2013
TONY BENNETT AND BILL EVANS---" WE'LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN"
Tony Bennett & Bill Evans--" We'll Be Together Again"---In the 1970's, two jazz influenced artists collaborated on a memorable 2 CD recording project highlighting the best of The Great American Songbook. Bennett had already performed with a number of notable jazz musicians and jazz influenced composers and arrangers like Johnny Mandel with whom Bennett has had a long and fruitful collaboration. Bennett has said that there was a minimum of planning and preparation with Evans improvising off a long list of possible standards and Bennett responding with heightened improvisational performances. Bennett has stated that " Evans played like an ocean in a storm." and the intensity engendered by Evans imaginative creations can be clearly heard in his own playing as well as Bennett's receptive and emotionally charged performances.
The song is a classic 1945 tune " We'll Be Together Again " written by Carl Fischer and Frankie Laine ( Fischer was Laine's long time accompanist.) It has been described as " A great illustration of pop ballad sophistication and its difference in character from a theatre ballad." Interestingly, the release or bridge, which usually takes on a different form and style from the main chorus, actually uses material of the refrain in the release. This is an unusual but welcome deviation from accepted song writing practice.
The song has been recorded by well over 100 artists with Sinatra's version in the iconic "
" Songs for Swinging Lovers" recording especially notable. That version had Sinatra backed by Nelson Riddle and a large orchestra. However, Bennett and Evans do equally well in their highly empathic two person, one- voice version..
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5eE_KRVIQ
The song is a classic 1945 tune " We'll Be Together Again " written by Carl Fischer and Frankie Laine ( Fischer was Laine's long time accompanist.) It has been described as " A great illustration of pop ballad sophistication and its difference in character from a theatre ballad." Interestingly, the release or bridge, which usually takes on a different form and style from the main chorus, actually uses material of the refrain in the release. This is an unusual but welcome deviation from accepted song writing practice.
The song has been recorded by well over 100 artists with Sinatra's version in the iconic "
" Songs for Swinging Lovers" recording especially notable. That version had Sinatra backed by Nelson Riddle and a large orchestra. However, Bennett and Evans do equally well in their highly empathic two person, one- voice version..
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5eE_KRVIQ
Tuesday 5 November 2013
" A QUIET THING" A LITTLE KNOWN CLASSIC
A Quiet Thing:--A Little known Classic: In 1965, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote an entertaining musical called Flora The Red Menace. This was one year before their smash hit Cabaret which Director Robert Fosse also turned into a successful motion picture starring Liza Minelli. A very young Liza starred in Flora the Red Menace portraying a politically naïve person flirting with ultra progressive ideologies. She was a great hit in her first major Broadway appearance and Kander and Ebb also wrote other material over the years for Liza Minelli. Kander and Ebb songs are often described as " jazzy ":featuring a strong rhythmic pulse as in the case of " New York,New York" a famous Sinatra anthem.
" A Quiet Thing" is much more reflective, fairly long and more melodic than much of the songwriter's other songs.
The marvellous American soprano Eileen Farrell teams with the great Canadian born arranger Robert Farnon in a beautifully orchestrated version of the song. Farnon is often acknowledged as the greatest writer for strings and this performance is clear evidence of that wonderful gift. He also introduces little instrumental passages introducing brass, woodwinds and a solo violin which do not intrude but complement the overall lush yet restrained arrangement. In the over-heated world of pop music and triumph of amateurism, this performance is an effective antidote to so much contemporary musical drivel.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwEsSHiShiM
" A Quiet Thing" is much more reflective, fairly long and more melodic than much of the songwriter's other songs.
The marvellous American soprano Eileen Farrell teams with the great Canadian born arranger Robert Farnon in a beautifully orchestrated version of the song. Farnon is often acknowledged as the greatest writer for strings and this performance is clear evidence of that wonderful gift. He also introduces little instrumental passages introducing brass, woodwinds and a solo violin which do not intrude but complement the overall lush yet restrained arrangement. In the over-heated world of pop music and triumph of amateurism, this performance is an effective antidote to so much contemporary musical drivel.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwEsSHiShiM
Wednesday 30 October 2013
" WITH SO LITTLE TO BE SURE OF" SONDHEIM PROVES HE IS QUITE ACCESSIBLE AND TUNEFUL
" With So Little to be Sure Of"- Sondheim proves he is quite accessible and tuneful
Stephan Sondheim who has demonstrated his musical theatre versatility to be even more varied and adventuresome than Rodger & Hammerstein . Some critics believe that Sondheim's songs are too complex and his lyrics cold and clinical. What these critics forget is that Sondheim's songs are designed to further the plot and characters in his musical productions. His keen insights into character and personality will expose the inevitable flaws in human nature as opposed to the " moon and june" lyrics of conventioall musical theatre pieces. For example in the show " Anyone Can Whistle" the male and female leads realize that those " marvellous moments" they once had were now over. But instead of bitter recriminations, both characters acknowledge what they had gained from their love for each other . When they sing " We had a moment, a marvellous moment" Sondheim demonstrates an astute insight into personality and character. . The song has been accurately described as " A wonderfully made,touching, nonmaudlin ballad that should be considered by anyone who finds Sondheim obscure."
In the original cast ,Harry Guardino and Lee Remick play the departing lovers. Although both are essentially actors, they bring their dramatic talents to bear in a very affecting manner with their own marvellous singing moments.
I also provide a concert version by Bernadette Peters who has always been a singer associated with Sondheim ( Sunday In The Park" Into the W oods.")
There is a wonderful piano accompaniment that highlights Sondheim's composition and the string section finally enters to create an emotionally charged conclusion.
LINK": Guardino/Remick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe3vldX7iJc
LINK" PETERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF3QCI4C2wk
"With So Little To Be Sure Of" Sondheim proves he is quite accessible and tuneful.
Stephan Sondheim has often been accused of being to complex and clinical a writer, especially as related to his lyrics. What critics forget is that ll Sondheim music and lyrics are crafted with the intention to further the story and characters of the musical theatre productions for which he has written both music and words. He works very closely with his librettists lto ensure that any songs are tailored very closely to what the book writer has created in conjunction with Sondheim, the director, choreographer and arranger.
For example, in the musical " Anyone Can Whistle" the well-known actress sings a touching ballad to express her longing for
9
Stephan Sondheim who has demonstrated his musical theatre versatility to be even more varied and adventuresome than Rodger & Hammerstein . Some critics believe that Sondheim's songs are too complex and his lyrics cold and clinical. What these critics forget is that Sondheim's songs are designed to further the plot and characters in his musical productions. His keen insights into character and personality will expose the inevitable flaws in human nature as opposed to the " moon and june" lyrics of conventioall musical theatre pieces. For example in the show " Anyone Can Whistle" the male and female leads realize that those " marvellous moments" they once had were now over. But instead of bitter recriminations, both characters acknowledge what they had gained from their love for each other . When they sing " We had a moment, a marvellous moment" Sondheim demonstrates an astute insight into personality and character. . The song has been accurately described as " A wonderfully made,touching, nonmaudlin ballad that should be considered by anyone who finds Sondheim obscure."
In the original cast ,Harry Guardino and Lee Remick play the departing lovers. Although both are essentially actors, they bring their dramatic talents to bear in a very affecting manner with their own marvellous singing moments.
I also provide a concert version by Bernadette Peters who has always been a singer associated with Sondheim ( Sunday In The Park" Into the W oods.")
There is a wonderful piano accompaniment that highlights Sondheim's composition and the string section finally enters to create an emotionally charged conclusion.
LINK": Guardino/Remick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe3vldX7iJc
LINK" PETERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF3QCI4C2wk
"With So Little To Be Sure Of" Sondheim proves he is quite accessible and tuneful.
Stephan Sondheim has often been accused of being to complex and clinical a writer, especially as related to his lyrics. What critics forget is that ll Sondheim music and lyrics are crafted with the intention to further the story and characters of the musical theatre productions for which he has written both music and words. He works very closely with his librettists lto ensure that any songs are tailored very closely to what the book writer has created in conjunction with Sondheim, the director, choreographer and arranger.
For example, in the musical " Anyone Can Whistle" the well-known actress sings a touching ballad to express her longing for
9
Saturday 19 October 2013
" FOOLS RUSH IN-WHERE ANGELS MEN FEAR TO TREAD"
" Fools Rush In --Where Angels Men Fear To Tread" In 1940, Rube Bloom again teamed with Johnny Mercer to write Fools Rush In. This is quite a interesting phrase to start a song that warns about the perils of pleading to another to " Open up your heart and let this fool rush in." It was an instant hit for Glenn Miller and Ray Eberle as well as Frank Sintart singing with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra and was always a song Sinatra kept in his repertoire. Ironically, it might have had a poignant relevance during Sinatra's tempestuous romance with Ava Gardner since his pleading to Ava was not successful.
There is a sadness in Sinatra's big band version that is quite touching.
Doris Day also teamed with Andre Previn in a fine performance that showcased Day's superior pop vocal capabilities and Previn's sensitive skills as an wonderfully supportive accompanist. He also provided solo accompanist duties for such female singers as Leontyne Price, Julie Andrews, Sylvia McNair and Eileen Farrell. Please listen to the lovely verse as sung by Doris. As always, Johnny Mercer can create such wonderful images with the imaginative use of ordinary, every day language.
Sinatra Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYKStouuBI
Day/Previn Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAfIu-2XGEA
There is a sadness in Sinatra's big band version that is quite touching.
Doris Day also teamed with Andre Previn in a fine performance that showcased Day's superior pop vocal capabilities and Previn's sensitive skills as an wonderfully supportive accompanist. He also provided solo accompanist duties for such female singers as Leontyne Price, Julie Andrews, Sylvia McNair and Eileen Farrell. Please listen to the lovely verse as sung by Doris. As always, Johnny Mercer can create such wonderful images with the imaginative use of ordinary, every day language.
Sinatra Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYKStouuBI
Day/Previn Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAfIu-2XGEA
Friday 18 October 2013
" DON'T WORRY 'BOUT ME" A RE START FOR THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK BLOG:
Don't Worry 'Bout Me" A Re Start for the Great American Songbook Blog: I previously had announced a hiatus period for this blog since I wanted to start a new blog dealing specifically with the life and career of Harold Arlen and his numerous lyricist partners. That blog now has 30 posts in just over one month with another 50 or so in the plan.
That blog is : haroldarlentheamericannative.blogspot.com.
In reviewing the many songs Arlen created, I also kept discovering more great songs that originally were not included in the initial blog project. I will try to rectify that situation by adding new songs drawn from the same deep well of compositions written in the classic popular music style.
" Don't Worry About Me" Rube Bloom was a great piano player who wrote only a few songs but of a very high standard. An earlier post on this blog drew attention to 1939's "Day In-Day Out" with an excellent lyric by Johnny Mercer. It was a song with an insistent melody, passion and rhythmic drive.
In the same year, Bloom , now with lyricist Ted Koehler, wrote " Don't Worry 'Bout Me " whose verse starts with a mournful almost depressngl soliloquy . However, the chorus now adopts a completely different attitude than the title had suggested.. The line "Don't Worry 'Bout Me, I'll get Along "" suggest that things will work out regardless of the obstacles in life and in relationships. The first section is replete with repeated notes which do generate musical tension but in the second section, the melody adopts a more graceful arc that singers caress very gracefully.
The performance is by Joni Mitchell, a wonderful singer songwriter who has demonstrated an ability to sing jazz standards in a very authoritative and soulful manner, especially since her voice has deepened and added sonic coloration as evidenced in this song.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80F982r5dh4
That blog is : haroldarlentheamericannative.blogspot.com.
In reviewing the many songs Arlen created, I also kept discovering more great songs that originally were not included in the initial blog project. I will try to rectify that situation by adding new songs drawn from the same deep well of compositions written in the classic popular music style.
" Don't Worry About Me" Rube Bloom was a great piano player who wrote only a few songs but of a very high standard. An earlier post on this blog drew attention to 1939's "Day In-Day Out" with an excellent lyric by Johnny Mercer. It was a song with an insistent melody, passion and rhythmic drive.
In the same year, Bloom , now with lyricist Ted Koehler, wrote " Don't Worry 'Bout Me " whose verse starts with a mournful almost depressngl soliloquy . However, the chorus now adopts a completely different attitude than the title had suggested.. The line "Don't Worry 'Bout Me, I'll get Along "" suggest that things will work out regardless of the obstacles in life and in relationships. The first section is replete with repeated notes which do generate musical tension but in the second section, the melody adopts a more graceful arc that singers caress very gracefully.
The performance is by Joni Mitchell, a wonderful singer songwriter who has demonstrated an ability to sing jazz standards in a very authoritative and soulful manner, especially since her voice has deepened and added sonic coloration as evidenced in this song.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80F982r5dh4
Sunday 8 September 2013
The Last Post
The Last Post: No-the title is not about a last ditch frontier battle with John Wayne riding to the rescue of some settlers in the Arizona desert. It marks the end of one song related blog and the creation of a new, more highly focused venture which I will be describing. For the past ten months, it has been my constant joy to write about the composers and lyricists who created the substantial body of songs that are often referred to as The Great American Songbook tradition. It is America's cultural gift to the world along with jazz, the blues and Hollywood films. Since 1950, I have been collecting sheet music of the songs created by a considerable number of song writers whose innovations fashioned a uniquely American musical style that conquered the world. It involved innovations in both musical composition and lyric writing, a combination that shed itself of earlier song writing that was highly influenced by European traditions. A century earlier, Stephan Foster wrote in a new fashion that has been described as the false spring of American song but he died in the 1860's.
It was only in the 1920's that Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin began to create a more natural American style of song writing and soon were joined by Cole Porter, George Gershwin,Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen whose collective body of works represented the major innovations in what has also been called Classic American Popular Song. Of course, there were also other fine composers and lyricists who contributed to the body of work which I have presented in the 80 plus posts ..I thought it was important to not only talk about the composers and lyricists , describe their most representative songs and listen to the finest performers and musicians adding their own unique talents to these songs . A song is just a bunch of notes on a page until someone actually performs it.
As I said, this is the " Last Post". I hope the blog it has been both informative and rewarding for those who have chosen to participate. I am heartened by the fact that many of the viewers come from all around the globe and , at one time, there were more Latvian viewers than US, Canadian and British viewers combined.
I have now started a blog called Harold Arlen-The American " Natural.' I will be making the case for recognition of Arlen as the most purely American of all the great song writers. The blog will be a chronological sequence of Arlen's life and creative output featuring his significant output in variety shows, musical theatre and film.
The blog address: haroldarlentheamericannatural@blogspot.com
I hope you will have a look at this highly partisan depiction of a great American song writer.
Max Weissengruber
It was only in the 1920's that Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin began to create a more natural American style of song writing and soon were joined by Cole Porter, George Gershwin,Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen whose collective body of works represented the major innovations in what has also been called Classic American Popular Song. Of course, there were also other fine composers and lyricists who contributed to the body of work which I have presented in the 80 plus posts ..I thought it was important to not only talk about the composers and lyricists , describe their most representative songs and listen to the finest performers and musicians adding their own unique talents to these songs . A song is just a bunch of notes on a page until someone actually performs it.
As I said, this is the " Last Post". I hope the blog it has been both informative and rewarding for those who have chosen to participate. I am heartened by the fact that many of the viewers come from all around the globe and , at one time, there were more Latvian viewers than US, Canadian and British viewers combined.
I have now started a blog called Harold Arlen-The American " Natural.' I will be making the case for recognition of Arlen as the most purely American of all the great song writers. The blog will be a chronological sequence of Arlen's life and creative output featuring his significant output in variety shows, musical theatre and film.
The blog address: haroldarlentheamericannatural@blogspot.com
I hope you will have a look at this highly partisan depiction of a great American song writer.
Max Weissengruber
Monday 12 August 2013
BLOG-- TIME OUT FOR NOW
BLOG --TIME OUT FOR NOW
It has been immensely rewarding to create the 82 posts of some of the greatest songs from The Great American Songbook or Classic American Popular Song traditions. The pageview responses from Latvia have often been twice the total of all 3 English speaking countries Canada, the USA and Great Britain. Who would have predicted that ?
However, I feel it is important for me to concentrate on completing some original research focused on what ordinary listeners believe what is great about the " The Great American Songbook." There have been several ground breaking studies providing detailed analyses of the defining characteristics of the Classic American Popular Song Tradition.
I have extensively cited two essential studies on a number of my earlier posts.
The most detailed and comprehensive survey of the songs written between 1900 and 1950 was conducted by " Alec Wilder in AMERICAN POPULAR SONG
The Great Innovators 1900-1950.( Oxford University Press 1972." This period is often referred to as The Golden Age of American Popular Song when Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin,Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen were identified as having the most influence on the flowering of the " Songbook" tradition.
Wilder examined over 17,000 individual songs deposited for copyright in the 1900-1950 time period.
The breadth of his analysis cannot be questioned although he described his focus was on" the singing line" or melody and attributes such as intensity, unexpectedness, originality,, sinuosity of phrase, clarity, naturalness, control, unclutteredness, sophistication and honest sentiment. Those are a lot of terms that may have relevance but one person's view of " sinuosity of phrase" may be another persons "too simplistic a melodic line.." Since artistic terms are essentially arbitrary, any attempt to have a group of listeners use those rather ambiguous terms to rate a group of songs would soon result in disarray. Wilder was passionate about his subject, he was knowledgeable, he worked in the industry as a composer, lyricist and arranger and even had Frank Sinatra conduct a number of his smaller concert pieces, much to Wilder's acclaim. His book has been almost a daily reference for me for over forty years and he always made a distinction between " good" songs as opposed to " hit" songs, popular but without merit according to his criteria.
,
" David Jenness and Don Velsey's CLASSIC AMERICAN POPULAR SONG The Second Half- Century 1950-2000 (Routledge Press, 2006.) acknowledge a huge debt to Wilder. They also provide a broader set of criteria as to what makes a great song as opposed to an hit song that may not have any distinctive stylistic characteristics. Harmonic elements are given a more detailed examination as well as the combined effect of combining words with music. Jenness and Velsey examined over 4,000 songs written after 1950, gave some consideration of 1800 and finally selected1200 songs for analysis withmusical or text illustrations for 130 songs. Unlike Wilder, these authors have found that the classic popular song tradition had not died and continues to flourish. Since 1950, a number of excellent songs have been written by such composers like Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Johnny Mandel, Stephan Sondheim, Henry Mancini, Burton Lane, Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen, Jules Styne and Broadway composer Frank Loesser as well as Lerner and Loewe. The authors also believe that there is still public appreciation of the maturity and sophistication of American popular songs which stand in sharp contrast to the cacophony and illiteracy inherent in much of todays " pop music" offerings.
Phillip Furia's "The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America's Great Lyricists" ( Oxford Press, 1992) covers the songbook tradition focusing on the lyrics, the oft forgotten component of what constitutes a song-words performed by a singer. These 3 sources indicate what expert musicologists and literary analysts have written about what they believe are the hallmarks of a great popular song. THey are eminently qualified to make their detailed assessments and provide their own rationale or criteria for song writing excellence.
QUESTION: Has anyone asked the listening public why they feel that a certain song is great? They may not have the technical expertise like those we have just cited. However, they are consumers and they will have their own opinions and personal tastes.
I have conducted some initial focus group survey work which I now want to summarize and share with interested " Songbook" devotees.
Max Weissengruber
Wednesday 7 August 2013
I'M GLAD THERE IS YOU- A STRONG BALLAD BY JIMMY DORSEY
I'm Glad There Is You- A Strong Ballad By Jimmy Dorsey: Jimmy Dorsey was an instrumentalist and bandleader who was not as prominent as his brother, trombonist Tommy Dorsey. However, in 1941, Dorsey wrote a splendid ballad " I'm Glad There is You" with poignant lyrics by Paul Madeira. Alec Wilder points out Dorsey's use of repeated notes ( a particular sore point Wilder continually points out in his book " American Popular Song: The Great Innovators 1900-1950." Wilder even posthumously chastises George Gershwin for his tendency to use repeated notes as a hallmark of his compositional style. Wilder did acknowledge that repeated notes do create a rhythmic tension that can be quite effective in certain songs.
For the most part, Dorsey's melody moves continually forward while the lyrics positively conclude that " More Than Ever, I'm Glad There Is You."
Natalie Cole has a very fine live version of the song. It provides an excellent example of what is so distinctive and attractive about classic American popular song interpretations.. The singing is , first of all , natural, unforced with interpretation of the lyrics a major vocal priority. Then there is the ability to slightly alter a few notes which, in some cases, may even be an improvement on the original melody. .Sinatra, Fitzgerald and Bennett will often alter a note or melodic line to add their particular interpretation of a song. In a way, they become partners in the creative process that started with the creation of the song in question. Natalie Cole's interpretation of the lyrics artfully convey what Paul Madeira provided with his original lyrics. The arrangement combines strings, brass and woodwinds as well as a chorus of singers but they work in unison never impeding but only augmenting Natalie's own deeply felt interpretation.
LINK: http://youtu.be/t1bWhkjx-Hg
For the most part, Dorsey's melody moves continually forward while the lyrics positively conclude that " More Than Ever, I'm Glad There Is You."
Natalie Cole has a very fine live version of the song. It provides an excellent example of what is so distinctive and attractive about classic American popular song interpretations.. The singing is , first of all , natural, unforced with interpretation of the lyrics a major vocal priority. Then there is the ability to slightly alter a few notes which, in some cases, may even be an improvement on the original melody. .Sinatra, Fitzgerald and Bennett will often alter a note or melodic line to add their particular interpretation of a song. In a way, they become partners in the creative process that started with the creation of the song in question. Natalie Cole's interpretation of the lyrics artfully convey what Paul Madeira provided with his original lyrics. The arrangement combines strings, brass and woodwinds as well as a chorus of singers but they work in unison never impeding but only augmenting Natalie's own deeply felt interpretation.
LINK: http://youtu.be/t1bWhkjx-Hg
Sunday 4 August 2013
DAY IN- DAY OUT- A RHYTHMIC GEM
Day In- Day Out- A Rhythmic Gem: In 1939, pianist Rube Bloom wrote a relentlessly swinging song called " Day In- Day Out." Alec Wilder had occasion to write an arrangement for a song like no other he had heard before. H went on to describe a " Melodic line that soared and moved across the page in a lovely brush stroke. It never knotted it self up in cleverness or pretentiousness. And it had, remarkable for any any pop song, passion." The operative word was " passion"since the song does achieve what Wilder also said " great emotional intensity. The lyrics by Johnny Mercer support s the melody matching the emphatic placement of notes that never relent . Mercer's exotic images " That same old voodoo follows me about" " When I awake I get up with a tingle, one possibility in view, that possibility of may be seeing you" and finally " Then I kiss your lips and the pounding becomes an ocean's roar, a thousand drums." are all artfully fitted to the unrelenting intensity of the music which increases with each repetition of the main melody.
There is a particularly fine version performed by Frank Sinatra in a television program that opens with Sinatr surrounded by a bewildering array of drums and exotic percussion instruments. Nelson Riddle's arrangemnt maintains the passion inherent in the song itself and the drums are front and center throughout.
All the elements that make for a great song and performance are in place. The melody perfectly matched by Mercer's lyrics, the arrangement that never relents in its pulsating character, Sinatra's obvious enjoyment in belting out one of his characteristic " swingers" and Riddle's perfect setting for such a an intense songwriting collaboration.
LINK: http://youtu.be/ZdzMPQXK3D8
There is a particularly fine version performed by Frank Sinatra in a television program that opens with Sinatr surrounded by a bewildering array of drums and exotic percussion instruments. Nelson Riddle's arrangemnt maintains the passion inherent in the song itself and the drums are front and center throughout.
All the elements that make for a great song and performance are in place. The melody perfectly matched by Mercer's lyrics, the arrangement that never relents in its pulsating character, Sinatra's obvious enjoyment in belting out one of his characteristic " swingers" and Riddle's perfect setting for such a an intense songwriting collaboration.
LINK: http://youtu.be/ZdzMPQXK3D8
Thursday 1 August 2013
AMERICAN POPULAR SONG- STEPHAN FOSTER - WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
American Popular Song-Stephan Foster - Where It All Began: Stephan Foster has been properly identified as the Father of American Music. Born in 1826 and died in 1864, Foster wrote lovely ballads with striking melodic characteristics ( Beautiful Dreamer, My Old Kentucky Home ,Old Folks at Home and Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair. He also wrote songs in a style that Alec Wilder has described as " A peculiarly native quality borrowed from Negro music and his unique sensitivity and ability to transmute it into the forms and requirements of white popular song." Songs like " Oh Susannah, De Camptown Races, and Old Black Joe, are still sung 150 years later.
I am focusing on the ballads which have such a natural melodic charm, sometimes described as" pure" melodies, or also as " A singing line", a feature of songs included in The Great American Songbook tradition.
In particular, I have a very personal reason for talking about " I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair." My father, a fine singer and guitarist was born in Austria and brought with him to Canada, a fondness for Shubert lieder , songs that demonstrated Shubert's supreme mastery of elegant melodies. Once in Canada, he learned some of Foster's ballads and was particularly fond of " I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair." For my father, making the transition from Shubert to Stephan Foster was effortless because of the supreme melodic styles of both composers.( As an aside, Stephan Sondheim who knows more about American Popular song traditions than anyone alive describes Jerome Kern as the American Shubert because of his own ability to create fine melodies like " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and " Look For the Silver Lining.")
Both the music and lyrics for" I Dream of Jeannie" were created by Stephan Foster. I am somewhat emotionally overcome remembering the then strong, clear tenor voice of my father as he sang his favorite Foster song as I accompanied him on old Heintzmann upright piano purchased for $50 dollars in 1943.
I offer two versions , one instrumental: violinist Isaac Stern with orchestra that lets you hear the flowing melodic contour of the song without lyrics.
LINK STERN:
http://youtu.be/qiFWsNVw-sY
The second is by Kate Smith, a beloved American singer and a personal favorite of Irving Berlin.
LINK SMITH:
Smith Link: http://youtu.be/emI-Gu6aI5w
I am focusing on the ballads which have such a natural melodic charm, sometimes described as" pure" melodies, or also as " A singing line", a feature of songs included in The Great American Songbook tradition.
In particular, I have a very personal reason for talking about " I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair." My father, a fine singer and guitarist was born in Austria and brought with him to Canada, a fondness for Shubert lieder , songs that demonstrated Shubert's supreme mastery of elegant melodies. Once in Canada, he learned some of Foster's ballads and was particularly fond of " I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair." For my father, making the transition from Shubert to Stephan Foster was effortless because of the supreme melodic styles of both composers.( As an aside, Stephan Sondheim who knows more about American Popular song traditions than anyone alive describes Jerome Kern as the American Shubert because of his own ability to create fine melodies like " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and " Look For the Silver Lining.")
Both the music and lyrics for" I Dream of Jeannie" were created by Stephan Foster. I am somewhat emotionally overcome remembering the then strong, clear tenor voice of my father as he sang his favorite Foster song as I accompanied him on old Heintzmann upright piano purchased for $50 dollars in 1943.
I offer two versions , one instrumental: violinist Isaac Stern with orchestra that lets you hear the flowing melodic contour of the song without lyrics.
LINK STERN:
http://youtu.be/qiFWsNVw-sY
The second is by Kate Smith, a beloved American singer and a personal favorite of Irving Berlin.
LINK SMITH:
Smith Link: http://youtu.be/emI-Gu6aI5w
Friday 19 July 2013
MELODIC MASTERY 0F-RICHARD RODGERS " HE WAS TOO GOOD TO ME"
Melodic Mastery of Richard Rodgers " He Was Too Good to Me." There is general agreement that America's masters of the " pure melodic line" are Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers. Both came from a middle class Germanic family background which may account for their more educated training and formal melodic creations. Others like George Gershwin,Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen came from poor Eastern European immigrant families which may account for their more vigorous syncopation and jazz influenced writing. Rodgers was particularly adept at step-wise writing where he would start with just a few notes, relatively close together and then create a wider melodic arc generating additional drama and tension . A perfect example is " He Was Too Good To Me" with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for a 1930's show " Simple Simon"
A rather rueful verse introduces the singer's lament of how she ended up losing her one great love even though she acknowledges, throughout the main section, how wonderfully he treated her.
The final line ends sadly with " He Was Too Good -------To Be True."
Carly Simon provides a very respectful and heartfelt rendition made even more personal because her family and the Rodgers Family were quite good friends in NY Café Society. Her father founded the publishing firm of Simon & Shuster
LINK: .
http://youtu.be/EKD0Xk6aBuc
A rather rueful verse introduces the singer's lament of how she ended up losing her one great love even though she acknowledges, throughout the main section, how wonderfully he treated her.
The final line ends sadly with " He Was Too Good -------To Be True."
Carly Simon provides a very respectful and heartfelt rendition made even more personal because her family and the Rodgers Family were quite good friends in NY Café Society. Her father founded the publishing firm of Simon & Shuster
LINK: .
http://youtu.be/EKD0Xk6aBuc
ANGEL EYES: A GREAT " SALOON" SONG
Angel Eyes: A Great " Saloon" song. In his live performances, Frank Sinatra often would group together what he called " saloon " songs.In addition to his iconic " One More For My Baby," he often would sing " Angel Eyes". This is a song written by Matt Dennis, a talented pianist, composer, singer and arranger for the Tommy Dorsey band. Written in 1946, with lyrics by Earl Brent, the song has been very popular with jazz performers because of the interesting harmonic patterns and meandering melodic line.
Dennis was an excellent performer of his own materials which includes such other well known standards like
" Everything Happens To Me" " Will You Still Be Mine ?" " The Night We Called It a Day" and "Violets For Your Furs" , all songs written in 1941 with lyrics by Tom Adair.
The first version features Ella Fitzgerald in a live performance and a brief introduction by Sinatra himself.
FITZGERALD: http://youtu.be/BLcjQpI9cXg
The second version is Sinatra"s epic performance in the Nelson Riddle arranged LP " Only The Lonely."
This song was the one chosen by Sinatra as the last song he would perform before his official retirement.
LINK: http://youtu.be/o0HoodY9pXg
Dennis was an excellent performer of his own materials which includes such other well known standards like
" Everything Happens To Me" " Will You Still Be Mine ?" " The Night We Called It a Day" and "Violets For Your Furs" , all songs written in 1941 with lyrics by Tom Adair.
The first version features Ella Fitzgerald in a live performance and a brief introduction by Sinatra himself.
FITZGERALD: http://youtu.be/BLcjQpI9cXg
The second version is Sinatra"s epic performance in the Nelson Riddle arranged LP " Only The Lonely."
This song was the one chosen by Sinatra as the last song he would perform before his official retirement.
LINK: http://youtu.be/o0HoodY9pXg
Thursday 18 July 2013
APRIL IN PARIS: WHAT A DELIGHTFUL THOUGHT AND-------- A GREAT SONG
April in Paris: What a Delightful Thought and a Great Song: I have already lauded the melodic and harmonic richness of Vernon Duke ( born Vladimir Dukelsky),. The expatriate Russian composer was a contemporary of Igor Stravinsky who composed major classical works in ballet, symphonic and other styles. He also managed to write some genuine American popular songs like " Autumn in New York:, an earlier blog and one sung brilliantly by Dawn Upshaw
." "April in Paris" written in 1932 for the musical " Walk A Little Faster" has very evocative lyrics by E,Y, Harburg which tell of" Chestnuts in blossom, Holiday tables under the trees"etc., imagery that is almost a musical travelogue. The song has an extended verse that unfortunately is not utilized in most vocal recordings.
In the release or middle section, the lyrics continue" I never knew the charm of Spring, Never met it face to face, I never knew my heart could sing, Never missed a warm embrace , till, April in Paris, Whom can I run to, What have you done to my heart? "
The version featured here is by Frank Sinatra who gives it a very dramatic and impassioned reading. In fact, he starts with the release or mid section, and the returns to the beginning section, repeats the bridge and ends with " What have you done to my heart ?
In the 1950's Count Basie had a hit up-tempo instrumental version proving that the music itself was noteworthy and when evocative lyrics are added, " April in Paris" stands as an excellent marriage of words and music.
LINK:
http://youtu.be/VkTMiV2_rw0
BONUS:
Singers Unlimited "April in Paris" A voices only track, 4 singers over dubbing as many as 20 separate vocal lines to end up sounding like an orchestra.
LINK: http://youtu.be/GDYkDt2ilIA
." "April in Paris" written in 1932 for the musical " Walk A Little Faster" has very evocative lyrics by E,Y, Harburg which tell of" Chestnuts in blossom, Holiday tables under the trees"etc., imagery that is almost a musical travelogue. The song has an extended verse that unfortunately is not utilized in most vocal recordings.
In the release or middle section, the lyrics continue" I never knew the charm of Spring, Never met it face to face, I never knew my heart could sing, Never missed a warm embrace , till, April in Paris, Whom can I run to, What have you done to my heart? "
The version featured here is by Frank Sinatra who gives it a very dramatic and impassioned reading. In fact, he starts with the release or mid section, and the returns to the beginning section, repeats the bridge and ends with " What have you done to my heart ?
In the 1950's Count Basie had a hit up-tempo instrumental version proving that the music itself was noteworthy and when evocative lyrics are added, " April in Paris" stands as an excellent marriage of words and music.
LINK:
http://youtu.be/VkTMiV2_rw0
BONUS:
Singers Unlimited "April in Paris" A voices only track, 4 singers over dubbing as many as 20 separate vocal lines to end up sounding like an orchestra.
LINK: http://youtu.be/GDYkDt2ilIA
Sunday 7 July 2013
HAUNTED HEART- A SCHWARTZ & DIETZ FAVOURITE
Haunted Heart- A Schwartz & Dietz favourite: Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz were a composer and lyricist team whose many songs ended up in the 1953 MGM musical " The Bandwagon " with " That's Entertainment" rivalling " There's No Business Like Show Business" as the flag waving favourite for the entertainment industry. Schwartz started life as a lawyer , then had a fine career as a composer and also became a Hollywood film producer. Howard Dietz a dedicated craftsman with words had a lengthy career as a publicist with MGM Pictures where it was said he wrote lyrics on the back of MGM Stationery.
In 1948, they collaborated on a musical revue called " Inside USA" based on a popular book by John Gunther. Haunted Heart is from that show and is a most tender and evocative love song that laments the fact that the singers haunted heart won't let her be free and that ghost within her has captured her completely. Given the nature of the lyrics , it must be sung with consummate sincerity and conviction or it could risk becoming maudlin.
Jane Monheit, a promising cabaret and jazz singer does treat the song with the tenderness it demands with every word uttered passionately yet controlled. Her performance forces you closer and closer to listen attentively. The response of the audience at the Rainbow Room is evidence of the spellbinding quality of her performance. Certainly the hushed string arrangement only enhances the mood conveyed by the piece itself and Jane Monheit's reverent treatment. The song was once made popular by Perry Como and Jo Stafford but this version is the best I have been able to unearth. This is not a song for the cynical but for those who still maintain a spark of romance in their private moments.. Other songs like " I See Your Face Before Me" and " If There is Someone lovelier Than You" provide further evidence of this writing team's ability to create some of the most deeply romantic songs of the Twentieth Century
LINK: http://youtu.be/oYLI0tfiBpU
'
Link: http://youtu.be/oYLI0tfiBpU
In 1948, they collaborated on a musical revue called " Inside USA" based on a popular book by John Gunther. Haunted Heart is from that show and is a most tender and evocative love song that laments the fact that the singers haunted heart won't let her be free and that ghost within her has captured her completely. Given the nature of the lyrics , it must be sung with consummate sincerity and conviction or it could risk becoming maudlin.
Jane Monheit, a promising cabaret and jazz singer does treat the song with the tenderness it demands with every word uttered passionately yet controlled. Her performance forces you closer and closer to listen attentively. The response of the audience at the Rainbow Room is evidence of the spellbinding quality of her performance. Certainly the hushed string arrangement only enhances the mood conveyed by the piece itself and Jane Monheit's reverent treatment. The song was once made popular by Perry Como and Jo Stafford but this version is the best I have been able to unearth. This is not a song for the cynical but for those who still maintain a spark of romance in their private moments.. Other songs like " I See Your Face Before Me" and " If There is Someone lovelier Than You" provide further evidence of this writing team's ability to create some of the most deeply romantic songs of the Twentieth Century
LINK: http://youtu.be/oYLI0tfiBpU
'
Link: http://youtu.be/oYLI0tfiBpU
THE FOLKS WHO LIVE ON THE HILL- A RODGER'S & HAMMERSTEIN CLASSIC
The Folks Who Live On The Hill- A Rodgers & Hammerstein Classic: Much of the appeal of this song may be based on a universal desire to find that psychological sense of security where we can take refuge from the outside world and feel safe as well as comfortable. The lovely verse talks about how some men having " lofty goals " strive for success and recognition . Hammerstein takes a different point of view where "All I want is just a plot of land and live there with you." The main refrain then begins with a gradual upward ascent before a very short bridge or mid section ending with " And when the kids grow up and leave us " to introduce the final segment that ends with " And we like being called, what we have always been called, the folks who live on the hill." The melody gently supports the domestic sentiments of the lyrics which seem to have the greatest impact on the popularity of the song.
The version featured is one with a sensitive vocal presentation by Peggy Lee and an understated arrangement by Nelson Riddle. A high muted trumpet passage has an eery quality and together with a supportive string section provide a fine backup to the tender but expressive voice of Peggy Lee. Her greatest vocal assets are precise articulation, great interpretive powers and a restraint that brings the meaning of the song into such a clear focus. It is further proof that female singers don't have to bellow at full volume like so many of today's younger performers. Sensitivity is something that singers tend to acquire as their vocal artistry matures.
A Purely Personal Observation: There is a gentle sadness that pervades this performance, not just from Peggy Lee's singing but the orchestral background and the lonely trumpet passages. Could it be that the ideal of a home away from the troubles of the world is something that might not be realized and that influenced both the singer and he arranger ? Just a idle speculation on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
LINK:
http://youtu.be/---Uh2ctBcA
The version featured is one with a sensitive vocal presentation by Peggy Lee and an understated arrangement by Nelson Riddle. A high muted trumpet passage has an eery quality and together with a supportive string section provide a fine backup to the tender but expressive voice of Peggy Lee. Her greatest vocal assets are precise articulation, great interpretive powers and a restraint that brings the meaning of the song into such a clear focus. It is further proof that female singers don't have to bellow at full volume like so many of today's younger performers. Sensitivity is something that singers tend to acquire as their vocal artistry matures.
A Purely Personal Observation: There is a gentle sadness that pervades this performance, not just from Peggy Lee's singing but the orchestral background and the lonely trumpet passages. Could it be that the ideal of a home away from the troubles of the world is something that might not be realized and that influenced both the singer and he arranger ? Just a idle speculation on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
LINK:
http://youtu.be/---Uh2ctBcA
SOME OF MY FAVOURiTE SONGS AND PERFORMANCES
Some of My Favourite Songs and Performances: one of my most perceptive blog followers asked me to name a favourite song or performance. Let me explain my own criteria which his question forced me to think about in greater depth. In some cases, I have been so overwhelmed by a singer's performance that I would select the performance even though the song itself might not be one at the top of my list. An example would be Eydie Gorme singing " I'll Take Romance " from a live television performance on Youtube- Eydie Gorme I'll Take Romance) .Her voice is very clear and emotionally penetrating and near the end she dramatically climbs 4 octaves to end on a shattering high note. I first heard this on a vinyl record in 1958. I have never forgotten how powerful and compelling her singing was. The song is a good one but no where near the top of my list.
Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's " Blues in the Night" with Sinatra singing wistfully is, on one hand a perfect evocation of the classic blues form, one of America's greatest contribution to world music. You Tube- Frank Sinatra " Blues in the Night"(The blues tradition in its myriad of forms is as popular and powerful now as it ever was. Johnny Mercer's lyrics, anchored by the recurring words, " My Momma done told me" her cautionary advice that a woman's a " A worrisome thing, who'll leave you to sing, the Blues in the night." In this performance, the words,music,Sinatra's performance and Nelson Riddle's arrangement combine to create a near perfect work of art and one that could only have arisen from the fertile soil of the classic American popular songbook tradition.
As one who is attracted to complex harmonic construction, " All The Things You Are " is also a favourite of jazz musicians who cherish the lush chords and tricky modulations of Jerome Kern's composition which is sometimes thought of as an art song suitable as a concert piece given it's classical orientation and the rather styilized lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein Jr. I have selceted a jazz performance by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond showing the improvisational flights of fancy that rich harmonic song construction can provide. You Tube-Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond-All the Things You Are."
Finally ,I would come to a song that has a very deep and personal connection. It's AlecWilder's " I'll Be Around " . It is a good song but may not have the same emotional resonance with a listener who has not vowed that they too will still be around " When he or she is gone !" You Tube-Sarah Connally sings jazz " I'll Be Around " By Alec Wilder?)
These thoughts were written at 3:30 AM as I start to recover from hip replacement surgery and who knows, on another day there would be different songs and reasons offered. It underscores the fact that popular song choices are a highly individual matter. What listeners will offer to explain the reasons for their exuberant shout " I really Love That Song" is one of my long range research goals. It is an area that has been relatively unexplored to date and one in which blog followers can participate. Glad to be back..
Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's " Blues in the Night" with Sinatra singing wistfully is, on one hand a perfect evocation of the classic blues form, one of America's greatest contribution to world music. You Tube- Frank Sinatra " Blues in the Night"(The blues tradition in its myriad of forms is as popular and powerful now as it ever was. Johnny Mercer's lyrics, anchored by the recurring words, " My Momma done told me" her cautionary advice that a woman's a " A worrisome thing, who'll leave you to sing, the Blues in the night." In this performance, the words,music,Sinatra's performance and Nelson Riddle's arrangement combine to create a near perfect work of art and one that could only have arisen from the fertile soil of the classic American popular songbook tradition.
As one who is attracted to complex harmonic construction, " All The Things You Are " is also a favourite of jazz musicians who cherish the lush chords and tricky modulations of Jerome Kern's composition which is sometimes thought of as an art song suitable as a concert piece given it's classical orientation and the rather styilized lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein Jr. I have selceted a jazz performance by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond showing the improvisational flights of fancy that rich harmonic song construction can provide. You Tube-Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond-All the Things You Are."
Finally ,I would come to a song that has a very deep and personal connection. It's AlecWilder's " I'll Be Around " . It is a good song but may not have the same emotional resonance with a listener who has not vowed that they too will still be around " When he or she is gone !" You Tube-Sarah Connally sings jazz " I'll Be Around " By Alec Wilder?)
These thoughts were written at 3:30 AM as I start to recover from hip replacement surgery and who knows, on another day there would be different songs and reasons offered. It underscores the fact that popular song choices are a highly individual matter. What listeners will offer to explain the reasons for their exuberant shout " I really Love That Song" is one of my long range research goals. It is an area that has been relatively unexplored to date and one in which blog followers can participate. Glad to be back..
Wednesday 26 June 2013
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS-SOME LISTENER FEEDBACK
Songs Without Words- Some Listener Feedback: To even mention the very idea of songs without words may cause semantic deliberation. If one thinks of songs, there is an implicit assumption that someone will be singing words set to music. However, can a musical composition that has no accompanying lyrics technically be called a song ? For our purposes, we will use the term instrumental composition to distinguish between music either with or without words. On to the music.
In addition to the initial focus group survey asking listeners to choose one of two Frank Sinatra versions of " Night & Day" we also asked listeners to indicate specific reasons for their choices, one important dimension being the impact of lyrics or the story-telling aspect of the song.
Those results are in the process of being summarized as the initial research report.
Having acquired some interesting comments on lyrics and their significance on listener assessment of a song, it occurred to me to ask how would listeners respond to a composition without lyrics. I decided to provide a composition that was relatively unknown to the general public, with a reasonably discernible tune or melody.
Why ? Without previous memory association of either a melody or any lyric cues, the listener would have to engage in some free association to describe their instinctive reaction upon hearing the composition. " Lotus Blossom" by jazz artist Billy Strayhorn is a short piano piece that is played pretty well as written without the normal jazz improvisational treatment that can sometimes make it difficult to hear the unadorned melody. (Rodgers & Hart did write a song called " I Like to Recognize the Tune." )
Some very preliminary findings indicated that , in the absence of any previous connection or association with the piece, listeners had no choice but to engage in some free association responses.
One group of listeners went to brief one word descriptions of what they felt the melody
evoked in them. This would include this statement " Soothing, calming,charmingly simple"
Another more detailed response was " It produced a sad feeling that gradually turned
positive as the melody was musically resolved , ending on a satisfactory high leaving me
with a sense of relief." This could be considered an argument for music as therapy.
One respondent felt that the melody was pretty but that there were too many chord
changes producing a rambling effect, in fact, it was musically unresolved.
Finally, one interesting response was the listener's desire to keep wanting to add his
own lyrics , ones with which he was familiar , in this case " I Only Have Eyes for You.."
One thing does seem clear: When listeners hear a melody with which they are not familiar
and which has no lyrics, they have no choice but to free associate their responses so that
the exercise becomes a king pf projective psychological device, like a musical Rorschach
Test. We will continue to explore this interesting subject area for which there seem to be little
available research data.
In addition to the initial focus group survey asking listeners to choose one of two Frank Sinatra versions of " Night & Day" we also asked listeners to indicate specific reasons for their choices, one important dimension being the impact of lyrics or the story-telling aspect of the song.
Those results are in the process of being summarized as the initial research report.
Having acquired some interesting comments on lyrics and their significance on listener assessment of a song, it occurred to me to ask how would listeners respond to a composition without lyrics. I decided to provide a composition that was relatively unknown to the general public, with a reasonably discernible tune or melody.
Why ? Without previous memory association of either a melody or any lyric cues, the listener would have to engage in some free association to describe their instinctive reaction upon hearing the composition. " Lotus Blossom" by jazz artist Billy Strayhorn is a short piano piece that is played pretty well as written without the normal jazz improvisational treatment that can sometimes make it difficult to hear the unadorned melody. (Rodgers & Hart did write a song called " I Like to Recognize the Tune." )
Some very preliminary findings indicated that , in the absence of any previous connection or association with the piece, listeners had no choice but to engage in some free association responses.
One group of listeners went to brief one word descriptions of what they felt the melody
evoked in them. This would include this statement " Soothing, calming,charmingly simple"
Another more detailed response was " It produced a sad feeling that gradually turned
positive as the melody was musically resolved , ending on a satisfactory high leaving me
with a sense of relief." This could be considered an argument for music as therapy.
One respondent felt that the melody was pretty but that there were too many chord
changes producing a rambling effect, in fact, it was musically unresolved.
Finally, one interesting response was the listener's desire to keep wanting to add his
own lyrics , ones with which he was familiar , in this case " I Only Have Eyes for You.."
One thing does seem clear: When listeners hear a melody with which they are not familiar
and which has no lyrics, they have no choice but to free associate their responses so that
the exercise becomes a king pf projective psychological device, like a musical Rorschach
Test. We will continue to explore this interesting subject area for which there seem to be little
available research data.
Sunday 23 June 2013
SONG LYRICS-TOO OFTEN THEY PLAY SECOND FIDDLE TO THE MELODY
Song Lyrics-Too often they play second fiddle to the melody: Songwriters-the people who create the music that we hear seem to have a more dominant role in the public eye than the wordsmiths who actually tell the story. Why is it that one always hears people say " Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust ? Is Mitchell Parish chopped liver?
A Tin Pan Alley urban legend has someone mention that Richard Rodgers wrote " Oh What a Beautiful Morning" for " Oklahoma." Mrs. Oscar Hamerstein, wife of the illustrious lyricist Oscar Hammerstein Jr. ,tartly reminded the speaker that " Richard Rodgers wrote DOH RAY ME ETC--just a bunch of black and white notes on a piano.. My husband wrote " Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Oh What a Beautiful Day, I've got a wonderful feeling, Everything's going my way." Point taken. Even the most sweeping and engaging melody needs the companionship of words to present the story that singers tell.
Harold Arlen, one of the great songwriters of the Twentieth Century, said " Words make you think a thought.
Music makes you feel a feeling but a song makes you feel a thought." A well crafted song represents an artful combination of feeling provided by the music and meaning conveyed by the words.
In my recent focus group study of listeners to the Great American Songbook repertoire, they emphatically stated that the lyrics to Cole Porter's " Night & Day" were the dominant factor in their appreciation of the song. They pointed out that one Frank Sinatra version did not use the powerful verse or introduction. These are those powerful and repetitive rhyming phrases:
" Like the " beat,beat,beat of the tom,tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick,tick.tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip,drip,drip of the raindrops
When the summer shadows" through
A voice within me keeps repeating
You,You You!
Even if one just reads these lyrics, the intensity of the emotions is quite evident.
When combined with the equally forceful melody, with its own repeated notes, the verse foreshadows the impassioned lyrics that state " Night and Day, You are the one !"
Without that verse introduction, the refrain or chorus does not convey what one focus group respondent felt that Cole Porter was trying to convey-the total abandonment of oneself to a loved one.
On a related note, Alec Wilder , in discussing Arlen/Mercer's famous song story One More For My Baby said that " Marvelous as is the musical setting, I believe the honors must go to the lyric." One rarely hears the song as an instrumental so strong is the sad story of the man drowning his tears. Frank Sinatra almost creates a dramatic scenario when performing live so convincing is the story that Mercer unfolded.
Lyricists, if they were to form a militant union ,would surely bargain for equal recognition with tunesmiths.
Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser , Noel Coward, Jerry Herman and Stephan Sondheim luckily escape the anonymity of the lyric writer since they write both words and music.
We will devote more attention in future blog posts to the contributions of these storytellers in song.
A Tin Pan Alley urban legend has someone mention that Richard Rodgers wrote " Oh What a Beautiful Morning" for " Oklahoma." Mrs. Oscar Hamerstein, wife of the illustrious lyricist Oscar Hammerstein Jr. ,tartly reminded the speaker that " Richard Rodgers wrote DOH RAY ME ETC--just a bunch of black and white notes on a piano.. My husband wrote " Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Oh What a Beautiful Day, I've got a wonderful feeling, Everything's going my way." Point taken. Even the most sweeping and engaging melody needs the companionship of words to present the story that singers tell.
Harold Arlen, one of the great songwriters of the Twentieth Century, said " Words make you think a thought.
Music makes you feel a feeling but a song makes you feel a thought." A well crafted song represents an artful combination of feeling provided by the music and meaning conveyed by the words.
In my recent focus group study of listeners to the Great American Songbook repertoire, they emphatically stated that the lyrics to Cole Porter's " Night & Day" were the dominant factor in their appreciation of the song. They pointed out that one Frank Sinatra version did not use the powerful verse or introduction. These are those powerful and repetitive rhyming phrases:
" Like the " beat,beat,beat of the tom,tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick,tick.tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip,drip,drip of the raindrops
When the summer shadows" through
A voice within me keeps repeating
You,You You!
Even if one just reads these lyrics, the intensity of the emotions is quite evident.
When combined with the equally forceful melody, with its own repeated notes, the verse foreshadows the impassioned lyrics that state " Night and Day, You are the one !"
Without that verse introduction, the refrain or chorus does not convey what one focus group respondent felt that Cole Porter was trying to convey-the total abandonment of oneself to a loved one.
On a related note, Alec Wilder , in discussing Arlen/Mercer's famous song story One More For My Baby said that " Marvelous as is the musical setting, I believe the honors must go to the lyric." One rarely hears the song as an instrumental so strong is the sad story of the man drowning his tears. Frank Sinatra almost creates a dramatic scenario when performing live so convincing is the story that Mercer unfolded.
Lyricists, if they were to form a militant union ,would surely bargain for equal recognition with tunesmiths.
Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser , Noel Coward, Jerry Herman and Stephan Sondheim luckily escape the anonymity of the lyric writer since they write both words and music.
We will devote more attention in future blog posts to the contributions of these storytellers in song.
Monday 17 June 2013
WHO SAYS WHAT IS A GREAT AMERICAN POPULAR SONG ?
Who says what is a great American popular song ? The Classic American popular song tradition and its continued popularity is based on a great many songs written beginning in the 1920's. That tradition is maintained even today despite the banality and crudeness of much of what is heard over the airwaves today. I have often referred to Alec Wilder's monumental research culminating in American Popular Song The Great Innovators 1900 -1950. He played over 17,000 songs written in that time period and the breadth of his study cannot be questioned. It resulted in criteria that he maintained represent the best of American popular song. He insisted on the importance of " The singing line and including the elements of intensity,unexpectedness,originality,sinuosity of phrase,clarity, naturalness, control, unclutterdness, sophistication and honest sentiment." Quite a laundry list. Only occasionally did he refer to the lyrics of the songs he considered great but listeners hear both words and music and are well aware of the lyrics because that is what the singer provides. One may disagree with any number of conclusions Wilder espouses and he certainly has some very strong opinions about individual songs. However,one should respect the effort involved in producing such a comprehensive study,
However, does anyone ask the average listeners making them proudly explain " I really love that song ? " Knowledgeable critics certainly help define musical excellence but ,ultimately, they too are prisoners of their own prejudices, likes and dislikes.
Following Wilder, and building on his initial period for analysis, David Jenness and Don Velsey examined songs written from 1950-2000 in their excellent book " Classic American Popular Song The second Half-Century, 1950-200. Picking up where Wilder left off, the authors felt that Wilder took too narrow a view with his insistence on the primacy of " the singing line " finding it " Too limiting" and that " A great song has simultaneously two or more " predominant aspects.----the horizontal contour that is a tune, the movement through time that is a tempo or meter, the gait that is rhythm AND the color and vertical density that harmony provides. " The authors maintain that music should be viewed as a gestalt or combination of elements rather any single factor. Most importantly , they believe that " A good song has an emotional impact in the very moment it is heard." This is a very important point and one with which I most wholeheartedly agree. Theoretical analysis of a song may be relevant and technically informed but it pales in comparison with the emotional reaction by a listener to a song that is always greeted by the words" I really love that song !
I have embarked on my own research into finding out from the listener, the reasons people cite when they exclaim" I really love that song !" We need to acknowledge the very serious scholarship and analysis of songwriting by knowledgeable musicologist but they are still opinions albeit by informed writers.
Some initial focus group survey results reveal some surprising reasons people mention for their response to songs. They have little in common with what Wilder, Vanness and Velsey have established as their criteria for excellence in the popular song . Listener's criteria d do provide evidence of listener based opinions and they will form the foundation of our ongoing survey design, Surprisingly, musical " experts" and everyday listeners do agree on what they believe is a great song.
BUT THEY DO HAVE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR THINKING THAT A SONG IS GREAT
Stay tuned for further evidence from our pursuit of what listeners like about great popular songs.
'
However, does anyone ask the average listeners making them proudly explain " I really love that song ? " Knowledgeable critics certainly help define musical excellence but ,ultimately, they too are prisoners of their own prejudices, likes and dislikes.
Following Wilder, and building on his initial period for analysis, David Jenness and Don Velsey examined songs written from 1950-2000 in their excellent book " Classic American Popular Song The second Half-Century, 1950-200. Picking up where Wilder left off, the authors felt that Wilder took too narrow a view with his insistence on the primacy of " the singing line " finding it " Too limiting" and that " A great song has simultaneously two or more " predominant aspects.----the horizontal contour that is a tune, the movement through time that is a tempo or meter, the gait that is rhythm AND the color and vertical density that harmony provides. " The authors maintain that music should be viewed as a gestalt or combination of elements rather any single factor. Most importantly , they believe that " A good song has an emotional impact in the very moment it is heard." This is a very important point and one with which I most wholeheartedly agree. Theoretical analysis of a song may be relevant and technically informed but it pales in comparison with the emotional reaction by a listener to a song that is always greeted by the words" I really love that song !
I have embarked on my own research into finding out from the listener, the reasons people cite when they exclaim" I really love that song !" We need to acknowledge the very serious scholarship and analysis of songwriting by knowledgeable musicologist but they are still opinions albeit by informed writers.
Some initial focus group survey results reveal some surprising reasons people mention for their response to songs. They have little in common with what Wilder, Vanness and Velsey have established as their criteria for excellence in the popular song . Listener's criteria d do provide evidence of listener based opinions and they will form the foundation of our ongoing survey design, Surprisingly, musical " experts" and everyday listeners do agree on what they believe is a great song.
BUT THEY DO HAVE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR THINKING THAT A SONG IS GREAT
Stay tuned for further evidence from our pursuit of what listeners like about great popular songs.
'
Sunday 9 June 2013
"THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME"-JEROME KERN BEAKTHROUGH
"They Didn't Believe Me"-Jerome Kern Breakthrough: Jerome Kern is generally regarded as the composer who led American popular song away from its European/Viennese operetta roots. It was something more genuinely reflecting what Alec Wilder thought was " More American -sounding songs like being heard in vaudeville, music halls and on records....and the new music growing out of ragtime." Kern had deep roots in English musical comedy roots having started his professional theater career in London in 1902. In 1914, in " The Girl From Utah" , he introduced They Didn't Believe Me" , a song quite different from what he had earlier written. Wilder commented that " The melodic line is as natural as walking and It is evocative, tender, strong,shapely.' " I can't conceive how the alteration of a single note could do nothing other than harm the song." His comments reflect what he maintained as a key criterion in establishing what was excellent and innovative in American popular song writing, namely the importance of " the singing line." Although Kern's later works like " All The Things You Are" were harmonically quite sophisticated and advanced, his reputation was firmly based on his supreme melodic gifts, something Stephan Sondheim has also confirmed in television interviews. Kern was now embarked on a new American influenced musical direction that led to what is generally called The Great American Songbook or Classic American Popular Song.
The version offered here is sung by Margaret Whiting. an excellent ballad singer who had a particular relationship with Jerome Kern. Her father, Richard Whiting, was a fine composer and friends with Jerome Kern who urged young Margaret to call him " Uncle Jerry." He would often play his latest songs for her asking for her reaction which was always positive.
Her smooth, unforced singing fits perfectly with the effortless melody created by Kern with lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.
LINK: http://youtu.be/McCRXL91B0w
The version offered here is sung by Margaret Whiting. an excellent ballad singer who had a particular relationship with Jerome Kern. Her father, Richard Whiting, was a fine composer and friends with Jerome Kern who urged young Margaret to call him " Uncle Jerry." He would often play his latest songs for her asking for her reaction which was always positive.
Her smooth, unforced singing fits perfectly with the effortless melody created by Kern with lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.
LINK: http://youtu.be/McCRXL91B0w
Friday 7 June 2013
A CHILD IS BORN: THAD JONES & ALEC WILDER MASTERPIECE
A Child is Born: Thad Jones & Alec Wilder Masterpiece. Thad Jones was a highly regarded Jazz trumpet player, composer and co leader of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band that played for a number of years in the NYC area. Jones wrote a pure ballad as an instrumental. Alec Wilder, himself an accomplished composer and avid student of American Popular Song, added poignant lyrics to the song. It has been cherished as an instrumental number by any number of jazz artists as well as vocal performances by singers of American popular song. Alec Wilder was a dedicated lifelong bachelor with no children of his own.but he did capture the miracle of birth and which some speculate was related to the birth of Jesus since Wilder referred to a boy child in his lyrics. Regardless of any specific reference as to the subject mentioned in the song, this is a wonderful example of the synergy that has always existed between the jazz community and the broader arena of American Popular Song. Jazz musicians often require more advanced musical knowledge and training in order to perform their particular musical alchemy and they have long supported the best of the Great American Songbook tradition.
In this instance, the music is what Wilder has described as wonderful " singing line" or pure melody and Wilder's own words that Jenness and Velsey have described that use " sounds that chime in a slightly oblique way, for example, now and new, and later, warm and more, and only a few vowel sounds,all of them relaxed."
The vocal version is by Tony Bennet who echoes the reverence of the birth experience and he is accompanied by the sensitive piano arrangement of Bill Evans, the inflential jazz paianist who previously had recorded American popular songs with Bennett, Their great musical compatibility is very much in evidence.
LINK: http://youtu.be/qnIjND_R7IY
I have added an instrumental jazz version by Bill Evans to demonstrate the jazz player's ability to both respect the essential nature and form of the classic popular song while adding the improvisational elements that make jazz such an endlessly creative art form.
LINK: http://youtu.be/nVtdhPkDopQ
In this instance, the music is what Wilder has described as wonderful " singing line" or pure melody and Wilder's own words that Jenness and Velsey have described that use " sounds that chime in a slightly oblique way, for example, now and new, and later, warm and more, and only a few vowel sounds,all of them relaxed."
The vocal version is by Tony Bennet who echoes the reverence of the birth experience and he is accompanied by the sensitive piano arrangement of Bill Evans, the inflential jazz paianist who previously had recorded American popular songs with Bennett, Their great musical compatibility is very much in evidence.
LINK: http://youtu.be/qnIjND_R7IY
I have added an instrumental jazz version by Bill Evans to demonstrate the jazz player's ability to both respect the essential nature and form of the classic popular song while adding the improvisational elements that make jazz such an endlessly creative art form.
LINK: http://youtu.be/nVtdhPkDopQ
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