ALEC WILDER-A MUSICOLOGIST WHO ALSO WROTE GREAT SONGS

Alec Wilder- a Musicologist who also wrote great songs:  Readers of this blog will know how much of the analysis and choice of songs from The Great American Songbook have been the result of Wilder's magnum opus " American Popular Song: The Great Innovators: 1900-1950". When you analyze and play though over 17,000 songs, you know a great deal about the entire era in question. But Wilder was also a fine composer and lyricist. His best known songs are " While We're Young"  "It's So Peaceful in the Country" and the lovely waltz" " While We're Young". That waltz is sung by Rosemary Clooney witha full orchestra and the use of strings is so essential to convey the lift ,energy and swing that waltz compositions demand. The lyrics urge us to exult in the feelings and pleasure of youth  ending in the line that says our youthful memories should "  Shine Before Our Eyes, While We're Young."

Alec Wilder later wrote another song that exhorts even jaded adults to experience childlike pleasures in a song called " Be A Child"  and don't let so-called maturity rob us of the spontaneity that make children so delightful.
This song is performed by the wonderful American diva Eileen Farrell. She was a down-to-earth classicly trained singer and Opera star who also had a love of and command of what is required to sing popular songs. Married to a Staten Island policeman, she possessed none of the grande dame hauteur of many female opera performers. Her voice is powerful yet sensitive to the melodies and lyrics of what she chooses to sing. In an earlier post on this blog, she sings " My Funny Valentine"
in a much more jazzy style than this song is usually performed.
The pictures that accompany her version of  " Be A Child"  demonstrate the very unadorned nature of her everyday lifestyle despite the world wide acclaim she had in the world of so called " serious music."
Thank you Alec Wilder for reminding us not to grow old and jaded. Dreamers can be of all ages !

LINK CLOONEY:  http://youtu.be/ZiXU8Nv8iGg

LINK FARRELL;   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnOn9UIvqns&feature=share&list=PL2E55E71627513744