Hugh Martin" The Boy Next Door" (and much more) The name Hugh Martin doesn't echo very loudly in the minds of devotees of the Great American Songbook. But " Have yourself a merry little Christmas" The Trolley Song" " You'd Better Love Me ( While you May) are some of the songs written with lyricist Ralph Blane . Martin largely wrote for Hollywood Musicals and as a fine pianist, he was the accompanist for Judy Garland when she first played the Palace Theatre. Perhaps, his finest ballad was " The Boy Next Door" also frommthe 1944 MGM musical " Meet Me In St. Louis." Alec Wilder describes it as "A very intense and personal song, written , it is obvious, with great love and infinite care."
The first version is by Stacy Kent, a fine cabaret stylist who has amassed a major catalogue of songs from The Songbook. She is accompanied just by a piano and bass. I have always made a point of expressing how the contribution of gifted arrangers can make great songs and singers even more welcoming. However, sometimes just a voice and a sensitive piano acompaniment can expose the very essence of the song just as the composer may have intended. This is especially true if there is a great rapport between singer and musician
LINK http://youtu.be/Zwz3HZmy3TU
For those who have wonderful memories of Judy Garland singing so wistfully in " Meet me in St. Louis", I have included her version , this time with a full sound track orchestra with an arrangement by Conrad Salinger, the most accomplished of MGM's musical arrangers.
Link http://youtu.be/QQ224PLpY9o
POSTSCRIPT A great song is capable of a variety of interpretations as these two examples prove.
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