Frank Sinatra & Nat King Cole  Two equally splendid versions of " That's All'"  Allan Brandt and Bob Haymes wrote this lovely ballad first made famous by Nat King Cole although Sinatra foll0wed with a fine version.Both singers mastered the art of elegant phrasing, clear articulation and interpretive sensitivity.
The string arrangement by Dob Costa for Sibatra is especially engaging.

 https://youtu.be/sooSaQpGnMM

https://youtu.be/SINfqtCq0lY 

I WISH YOU LOVE  This song was written by Charles Trenet, a French singer/songwriter who had a 60 year international career. His chanson  " I wish you love" became very popular in North America recorded , most notably by Gloria Lynne. A more restrained version by Natalie Cole is offered as a superior pop song performance with better sound quality and an intriguing arrangement,

https://youtu.be/LYmMmzifcD4 

" They Didn't Believe Me'  This was Jerome Kern's first major success. Written , in 1914 with Herbert Reynolds for the show " The Girl From Utah" the song is quite different from earlier Kern songs which were more like European opera in polite, coventional style.  Sung by Dinah Shore . It is a most tender tribute to the qualities of the man " whose wife someday she'll be."
Even after 100 years, the song stil has something relevant to say about the longing people can have for one another.

https://youtu.be/1G02QffbKUM

"A House is not a Home"    This is a more thoughtful and mature song than many of the peppy, rock-based songs by Bert Bachrach and Hal David.  It tells of the void in a person's life when there is no one to share a house ( which is just an empty shell , no matter how extravagant without someone present to help make it a lived in  home.)
Torme is very reverential and controlled in his perforamce whoch he invests with genuine empathy and acceptance of the lyric's profound message. Rob McConnell's arrangement is quite subdued and very much in tune with the purpose of the song and the singer's  performance.

 https://youtu.be/r7Ajh6Ca5C4

Mel Torme sings " September Song"  Septemeber Song was written by Kurt Weill with lyrics by the poet and playright Maxwell Anderson. It was for a 1938 musical called Knickerbocker Holiday. It was written specifically for the actor Walter Huston, father of director John Huston. The song is about an older mn pursuing a younger woman. He is trying to convince her that a mature man is a superior match over a younger, restless and inconsideraste young man.
Sung by Mel Torme backed by the Boss Brass , that great Canadian band of Rob McConnell who did the superb arrangement for Torme.

 https://youtu.be/O1KGS0hq9Ck

" I'm Shadowing You"  A delightful song by Blossom Dearry with clevefrlyrics by the great Johnny Mercer.  It's a about a non-hreatening female stalker who doesn't want her lover to get out of sight. " In Venice, I'll be a menace in your Italian Hotel" In Paris, I will embarras you on the Rue De Chapelle " 

 https://youtu.be/tmOwnezLR0M

Willow Weep for Me was written in 1932 by Ann Ronnell and dedicated to composer George Gershwin. Writing even just one great song is a tribute to the songwriter. It remains a popular song even 80 years after it was written. Here it is sung by Diana Krall in a very evocative performance.

 https://youtu.be/BQ2KfP4Lwa4

I See Your Face Before Me   This is a song by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz that is almost a hymn to the memory of a most important love in a person's life.As sung by Frank Sinatra, it tells of a face " crowding my every dream" " I close my eyes and there you are-always"

It is a most profoundexpression of everlasting love with which many can understand and agree.

https://youtu.be/ym9r8RcXZes 

 

Brabra Streisand sings " Warm All Over"  from The Most Happy Fella. Written by Guys and Dolls creator, Frank Loesser, it is almost operatic in its majesty and emotional impact.
Assual, Streisand puts the totality of her dramatic capabilities into the song,

 https://youtu.be/4zXvA3KIFvE

Tony Bennett sings " The Way You Look Tonite" It was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields for the movie Swing Time and was sung by Fred Astaire to Ginger Rogers. 

 https://youtu.be/Mx3SPsH9AMQ

Sinatra sings about the Nearness of You  Hoagy Carmichael wrote the music. Ned Washington the tender ;yrics which stress the emotional impact whenever one is close to the one true love. Frank Sinatra provided his version of the song with his udual interpretive sensitivity.

\ https://youtu.be/aECKnsLH_LE

I REMEMBER YOU   BY TONY BENNETT This tender ballad was written by composer Victor Schertzinger and lyricist extraordinarejohnny Mercer. It cherishes the memory of a loved one  pointing out that " And when the angels ask me to recall, the thrill of it all, I will tell them I remember you." 
The arrangement is by Johnny Mandel. the masterful arranger and film composer of Emily, The Shadow of your Smile and the theme from M.A.S.H. 

 https://youtu.be/Yslez7Ds0xM

Serenata   is an elegant song bt Leroy Anderson ( Blue Tango, Belle of the Ball ,sleigh Ride) all introduced by the Boston Pops. The lyrics were by Mitchell Parrish who wrote a number of songs with Hoagy Carmicheal  ( Stardust, Stars Fell on Alabama and Sophisticated Lasdy with Duke Ellington. This version is sung by Nat Cole accompanid by another great piano player George Shearing.

 https://youtu.be/RLcz_C-K4mI

There's a lull in my Life  This is a gorgeous song written by Harry Revel with lyrics by Mack Gordon. It was introduced by Alice Faye in a 1930's musical film and was a favourite song of Nat Cole. Here it is his daughter Natalie who is accompanied by a most imaginative string arrangement. One is struck by the poignant expression of loss with the lines " "The ache in my heart"  causing that lull in someone's life-a void or and an empty shell.

 https://youtu.be/xZMYbWgXbt0

Belle of the Ball    As an Austrian, I am always entranced the swoop and energy of a waltz. Leroy Anderson, the Amercan composer of the Blue Tango, Sleigh Ride, Serenata and other famous Boston Pops showpieces.. He composed this delightful tune celebrating the Belle of any Ball-those dashing ladies who captured all the attention on the dance floor. It actually was on the flip side of The Blue Tango record , a hit song from the early 1950's.

https://youtu.be/3rqnyU2ufuM

When The World Was Young
This is a tender and reflective song composed by French composer Philippe Gerard. TheEnglish lyrics are by Johnny Mercer, that most American lyricists.
This version with Mel Torme, George Shearing and The Boston Pops really captures the essence of the French "chanson" and Mercer's words use many French expressions.

 https://youtu.be/NwqEs2ID-SQ

INDIAN  SUMMER    A 1930 song by Victor Herbert who was essentially an operetta composer who wrote in a Viennese musical style like Rudolph Friml, Sigmund Romberg and Franz Lehar. According to Alec Wilder, the intrepid analyst of classical American popular song, this is the only song Herbert wrote that was devoid of European influences and most melodic . It was based on a piano piece to which Al Dubin provided the graceful lyrics.
Indian Summer is a purely American song and is sung by singer/guitarist John Pixxafrelli with a wonderful accompaniment by pianist George Shearing. The harmonies could have been written by French impressionist Maurice Ravel or Claude Debussy or even the English composer Frederick Delius. 

https://youtu.be/wHx2hW8LUQg

Autumn in New York- A tribute in song to that most glorious of the seasons.
The music and words  are by Vernon Duke ( born Vladimir Dukelsky in Minsk, Russia. He was a celebrated Russian composer of classical music, ballets, symphonies and concerti who emigrated to the USA. He began to write challenging and sophisticated [poplu;ar somgs encouraged by George Gershwin who also suggested a name change less foreign han his Russian namesake.
 The soprano Dawn Upshaw recorded an album of Duke songs ,includingapril In Paris and Autumn in New York.

 https://youtu.be/UXpqUUSHFNE

A Time for Love   Another fine movie ballad by Johnny Mandel who also wrote The Shadow of Your Smile. Emily and the theme from M.A.S.H, Mandel has a great gift for melody and sublime harmonic sense and its a shame he did not spend a lot of time on composing because his first love was in arranging and orchestration. Jane Monheit is an acclaimed jazz and pop singer with great sensitivity and feeling in her singing. This arrangement is further testimony of the importance of an arrangement to bring out the best in a song and the singer.

https://youtu.be/w0ZaORnciR0

Porgy and Bess Orchestral Suite  More than any of Gershwin's songs or larger instrumental creations. the Folk Opera Porgy and Bess may be Gershwin's crowning achievement.
There are songs of the everyday life of the citizens of Catfish Row, magnificent arias like I Loves you Porgy.
Bess you is my woman now, Summertime and I'm On my Way etc.
Robert Farnon brings our the jazz and blues elements in these songs in a way that the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett were unable to do to the same extent. The harmonic sophistication of Farnon is on full dis[lay.
If you have 34 minutes to listen to magnificent American music, that will be musical time well spent.

https://youtu.be/k5nkQimVVLM 


 

Ella Fitzgerald & Gershwin: They can't take that Away from Me
Another selection from that magnificent collaboration between Ella and arranger Nelson Riddle for the George Gershwin Songbook. The verse or introductory section sets the tone for the main segments which extoll all the loved one's virtues like the "Way You wear your hat and the way you sip your tea " and ending with " The memory of all that, no no they can't take that away from me !"  
Brother Ira's lyrics perfectly match the melody of brother George. 

https://youtu.be/FCUCV9oUnvY 

Barbra Steisand soars magnificently in Warm All Over . i had just posted the song as it was sung by Jo Sullivan in the original production of The Most Happy Fella, In this version Barbra Streisand m accompanied by a symphonic arrangement, is further evidence that the song is worthy of comparison with 20th Century operatic arias and she has a voice that can conevy the tender yet dramatic words of Frank Loesser. He wrote he music, lyrics and libretto for the show which also features popular songs like Standing on The Corner and Joey Joey.

https://youtu.be/4zXvA3KIFvE 

Warm All Over from The Most Happy Fella. Frank Loesser composer and lyricist is best known for Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed in Business. His near operatic creation was The Most Happy Fella which tells of the romance  between an older Italian American grower of wine grapes and a younger attractive mail order bride anxious to escape the life of a waitress in San Fransisco. Two songs became quite popular in the 1950's - Standing On The Corner and Joey Joey. In Warm All Over, Jo Sullivan sings of the tender feelings she has developed for Tony after some dramatic conflicts now happily resolved. It is more like an operatic aria than a pop song . one that Puccini himself might have written.


https://youtu.be/Otkd5uo2IN8

Someone to Watch over Me   A George and Ira Gershwin ballad given an All Canadian performance. The singer is Matt Dusk who has a growing international reputation. Guido Basso, on Fluegelhorn plays the verse or introduction and the arrangement is by Rick Wilkins, one of Canada's finest arrangers and jazz musicians.

https://youtu.be/yygJlWPvKRw 

If (he) Only Had a Brain-From the Wizard of Ford
Ontario's election rhetoric is heating up with the available choices a dismal lot at best.
The Wonderful Wizard of Ford's solution to to the complex problems of Ontario Hydro is to fire the Board of Directors and executives, slash their salaries  saving  millions in compensation but offering no realistic consideration of how to fix a broken system. The Hydro mess left by the Liberals. has resulted in higher energy costs for both consumers and energy dependent businesses. His lame policy offerings have brought to mind  by the song " If I Only Had a Brain" sung by the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. It is a brave but unrealistic attempt to prove what he could do if he only had a brain.
It's time to pull back the screen and expose the emptiness of Wizard Ford's solutions for Ontario. 

https://youtu.be/nauLgZISozs 

Torme Swings Lulu's Back in Town. Fot a 1935 film, Composer Harry Warren and Lyricist Al Dubin wrote a poem of praise celebrating the return of Lulu coming home.
Mel Torme, with his favourite small group backing by the Marty Paich Dektette, really goes to town to make the song swing and soar. She's back and we're glad.

 https://youtu.be/amkZ2wMrkGA

Spring Will Be  A Little Late This Year   In 1943, Frank Loesser wrote both the words and music to this lovely song evoking gentle sadness of someone who has left a loved one. Sara Vaughan provides a sensitive performance of the Loesser tune and words.

https://youtu.be/CcyVMeDOT5w

 

Torme sings Oh You Crazy Moon  Jimmy Van Heusen was a favorite composer of both BIng Crosby and Frank Sinatra. The lyrics were written by Johnny Burke. If you want to hear pitch perfect phrasing and intonation, Listen to Torme's fine performance.

https://youtu.be/r2QzHVN5ypk 

Wanting to be " Like It Was"   Sometimes, in our imagination we would like to return and relive golden moments from the past. This song is from Stephan Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, a musical that starts in the present and goes back in time to a beginning. Carol Burnett sings so effectively about days gone by, days that are gone but delightedly yet wistfully remembered.

https://youtu.be/E6rVUrQP8_c 

Everybody Ought to Have a Maid: In his first Broadway musical, Stephan Sondheim solves that old complaint " It's hard to find good help today" In Everybody Ought to have a maid, Zero Mostel and friends in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To the Forum list all the licentious benefits of a live- in maid in Ancient Rome.

 https://youtu.be/Ahqu1nd3Zu8

Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer  This poignant song was written by Willard Robison,.He was a songwriter in the rural, folksy tradition of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer and this song invokes thoughts of any places from which we all might have come. It was sung by Jack Teagarden, a masterful jazz trombonist who was also a compelling vocalist with a natural , down home country jazz feel.


https://youtu.be/4hPwmh6s7s8

Everything I've Got Belongs to You  With Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart wrote these tongue-in-cheek lines that promise to lunch multiple mayhem on the singer;s target. Done in an equally sardonic and minimalist fashion by Blossom Dearie, she is also accompanied by Dr. Billy Taylor, song scholar and jazz educator.

https://youtu.be/Nynn1XMj8DE 

You Are There   Memories of those who have gone still haunt those left behind, A Johnny Mandel composition with lyrics by Dave Frishbergm a composer in his own right of songs like Peel Me A Grape and My Attorney Bernie.
Roseanne Vitro, a singer new to me sings with great conviction and clarity,  is accompanied by pianist Kenny Werner.

https://youtu.be/ZScfz65CrQc 

Joy Spring    Jazz Trumpet legend Clifford Brown wrote this ode to the joy that spring can bring. Lyrics were added by Jon Hendricks of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross whose own nroots in jazz were helpful in creating lyrics for an up tempo, challenging jazz composition. Karrin Allyson, a talented singer/pianist is up to the challenge of performing such a unique jazz influenced song.

https://youtu.be/N19RpTLhAZM 

This Happy Madness  Sinatra and Jobim sing lyrics by Canadian Gene Lees who worked at the Spec and later edited Downbeat magazine.
There is a tricky, triple internal rhyme scheme by Lees when he has Sinatra sing
" And I fell gladly, sadly and madly into love."

https://youtu.be/DVQ_OCXiBmY 

Cow Cow Boogie   Gene DePaul and Don Raye wrote this boogie woogie classic in a country and western style. It was recorded by Freddy Slack and his orchestra and sung by Ella Mae Morse with Slack playing the boogie style piano. It was the first million dollar record from the newly formed Capital Records  started by Johnny Mercer and Buddy DaSilva,

https://youtu.be/ortOAiClE34 

With the Sun Warm Upon Me. In 1953, Harold Arlen and lyricist Dorothy Fields wrote a charming, almost country-like song called With the Sun Warm Upon Me. This performance is another by today's inadvertent discovery
of singer Liza Pulman, a versatile Singer/Actress from Great Britain. Her album  devoted to songs by Harold Arlen is one I can highly recommend to Arlenphiles.

https://youtu.be/JSr_nbhpwHs 

Arlen Songs about the Weather:  Since weather conditions can influence moods and behavior here are 3 sings by Harold Arlen in A Weather Medley: Ill Wind (Ted Koehler)  Come Rain ior Come Shine (Johnny Mercer) and When the Sun comes out (Ted Koehler) They are beautifully sung by Liza Pulman, a British Singer and actress from a CD featuring all Arlen songs. She deserves wider attention in North America.

https://youtu.be/b65OPF4BEiE 


 

Spring is here-Piano solo by Don Thompson

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote a timeless ballad lamenting the fact that Spring had come and yet " Why doesn't the breeze delight me ? Maybe it's because nobody loves me, Spring is here , I hear !
Don Thompson is a multi talents musician ho played bass with George Shearing, plays vibes as well as the excellent piano on this fundraising event. His work with George Shearing clearly enhanced his mastery of complex and innovative harmony and is most delightful to listen to several times in a row.

 https://youtu.be/Kz8Oo4fXXZU

I'll Remember April  Music by Gene Depaul, lyrics Don Raye. They also wrote another fine song ' You don't know what love is:   Both are popular with jazz singers and instrumentalist; Sinatra does I'll Remember April and Sting and trumpeter perform You Don't Know what love Is a very soulful song, not a true classic blues but drenched in the feeling of the blues.

 sINATRA

https://youtu.be/pepYluyez4k 

Sting &Chris Botti

https://youtu.be/u0asEjkDyvE 

Please Be Kind  This 1938 song by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn asks the man in a relationship with a woman in her first affair " to please be kind and handle her heart with care." In a world where male sexual aggressiveness is being challenged, this is good advice for aspiring Lothario's.
The arrangement for Peggy Lee is by Nelson Riddle but is conducted by Frank Sinatra whose musicianship and interpretive sensitivities are often overlooked.

 https://youtu.be/_4bBpROC360





'

It's So Peaceful In The Country  For those tiring of the hectic urban existence, this Alec Wilder song tells of the charms of a bucolic lifestyle. The lengthy verse or intro, sets the stage for the exposition in the following chorus.Wilder is the author of a book I often quote. American Popular Song; The Great Innovators; 1900-1950, He played through more than 17,000 songs of that era to establish his demanding criteria of what constitutes a " good song" vs a " Hit song." That is not to say that some hit songs are not also good songs  from an aesthetic point of view. June Christie's arrangement is by Pete Rugalo, a highly respected jazz oriented arranger from the West Coast " cool school."

https://youtu.be/8uZad9A9SIg 

Irving Berlin's Better Luck Next Time  For the 1948 film Easter Parade, Irving Berlin wrote a tender ballad for Judy Garland playing a charctyer who belives she has lost the onlt love of her life.
Berlin always wrote in a simple, direct way understandable by everyone when contrasted with Cole Porter's rich vocabulary and clever rhyming ability. This is a poignant and effective performance by Judy Garland. 

https://youtu.be/soul5EKZUr4 

Lover Come back to me  Sigmund Rombrg wrote this soaring melody ,lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein Jr for the 1928 musicalNew Moon.The song has become a favorite of jazz musicians as an up tempo number. However, it also benefits from an operatta syle as performed originally. Classical style diva , Barbara Hendricks, is backed by a symphonic arrangement that is very moving and probably what Romberg had in mind.
In contrast, Anita O'Day creates a loose, jazzy interpretation that is valid in its own terms,

https://youtu.be/G5o3pxVzonw 

https://youtu.be/MWL0xF9uTZY 



 

APRIL SNOW   Sigmund Romberg was born in Europe and came out of the European operetta tradition. In America, he was a successful composer of musicals. April Snow was written with that excellent lyricist Dorothy Fields for 1947's Up In Central Park. 
Tomorrow marks the beginning of April and the true spring season.
This song tells of a love "That's Light and swift as the April Snow." It comes and goes very quickly with no lasting qualities. 
Sung by the HI LO'S, that pioneering vocal group founded by the brilliant arranger Gene Puerling, the performance is also very light and swift, just like an April Snow.

 https://youtu.be/CrFdf5O6w68


 

PRETTY WOMEN    Stephan Sondheims music is often criticized for its complex and difficult melodic and harmonic constructions. His lyrics, on the other hand, are recognized as some of the most ingenious and clever ever created for the Broadway stage.
From Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Sondheim penned a tribute to pretty women and the power they have to excite the emotions of male admirers,
In the musical, Sweeney and Judge Turpin, who has imprisoned Sweeney's daughter Joanna but plans to marry her eventually. Sweeney ends up killing thwe Judge who end up as one of Mrs. Lovett's meat pies. Gruesome indeed. Listening to this lovely melody one would have no idea about what will eventually happen.
In their own very different ways, they both love and praise the charms of " Pretty Women ."

https://youtu.be/9tI-NNvHwi0 

OLD FRIENDS    For the show Merrily We Roll Along, Stephan Sondheim wrote Old Friends, a tribute to the lastinh connection between friends because as he said " Whose Like Us  "----DAMN FEW !
Growing together throughout their lives, only oldold friends have lasting connections and shared memories that more recent friends cannot duplicate.

https://youtu.be/l5FyEQ7cqrM

That's All   Written by Alan Brandt and and Bob Haymes( singer Dick Haymes younger brother) it had been described by Alec Wilder, song archivist supreme, as " One of the last free-flowing,native and natural melodies in the grand pop style. It's one of the warmest, most natural and least "stidied" songs Wilder knew ( of the more than 17,000 songs he studied for his magnum opus " American Popular Song: The Great Innovators: 1900-1950.
Who better to convey the intrinsic warmth of the song than 
Nat King Cole whose style is ideally fitted to the requirements of the song.
As a bonus, here is a Sinatra version proving that a great song can be performed in different styles and still remain great.

https://youtu.be/sooSaQpGnMM 

https://youtu.be/SINfqtCq0lY 

Spring arrives at last. Now that Winter is about to be given that old heave h, time for some classic songs of spring. Here are two by Richard Rodgers. The first " Spring is Here" has lyrics by Lorenz Hart. He wasn't too happy because " Nobody loves me" Nonetheless , it has a beautiful melody and lyrics are ruefully exquisite. It is sung by Frank Sinatra from his landmark LP Only The Lonely , a collection "Guess I'' Hang My Tears Out To Dry and Blues In The Night.
 Oscar Hammerstein Jr. was called The Cock-Eyed optimist from one of his own South Pacific songs and he had an essentially positive view of life, as did Richard Rodgers. Together they wrote It Might as well be Spring for the movie State Fair where it was sung by Dick Haymes. Mel Torme. another masterful 20th century singer is note -perfect  and Shearing starts with an intro quoting Brigg Fair, a British folk melody before launching into a French Impressionist harmonic Rhapsody to underscore the very gossamer like vocalizing of Torme.

https://youtu.be/IoHsCn9Td8s 


https://youtu.be/cwBuI07cy6g

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square  Written in 1929 in France, the song gained great popularity in 1940's recorded by Vera Lynn . It helped Londoners focus on a more pleasant time in London even while the Germans were bombing the city  I have heard many vocal renditions of this fine song but I believe the  live George Shearing-Mel Torme is the finest. Great vocalizing and highly imaginative piano accompaniment 
At the conclusion, Shearing, on the piano, simulates a bird-like trill just like that of the Nightingale. With this performance. there " surely was magic abroad in the air ."


https://youtu.be/CJKjn2OtyH0

London By Night  Although this blog celebrates American popular song , Eric Coates London by Night and E. Maschitz .A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square are songs written by two Londoners yet very much in the tradition of Jerome Kern or Richard Rodgers. Strong melodies with literate lyrics.
The Singers Unlimited are an A Capella group who overdub multiple voices to create an orchestral vocal
sound. You can also enjoy the pictures of that great city
 https://youtu.be/yjA9NwWEfLA

BIG BAND EXTRAVAGANZA   Anyone over the age of 60 is likely to have heard and danced to the music of the great Big Bands. John Wilson's huge pops orchestra presents a symphony of big band selections featuring songs by Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Cole Porter Lionel Hampton etc. Younger people involved with the Swing phenomenon have also given  new life to this material
There is an unforgettable emotional excitement in these songs provided by the great arrangers and players who bring them to life. I defy anyone not to tap there toes and fingers while listening.

https://youtu.be/f-cgygWdJOE

Corrected version of Sinatra  The Girl From Ipanema

The earlier post has Sinatra singing several other Bossa Nova songs by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
This is the version I wanted to provide. 

https://youtu.be/bwcmGSUWGw4 

 

Sinatra sings The Girl from Ipanema. 
For me, a strictly personal view id that it was theintroduction of the Bossa Nova musical style from Brazil that brought a fresh musical style to offset the incessant noise and banging of Rock and Roll ( which was helpful when chasing co eds in college. )
Antonio Carls Jobim was the most prolific composer, pianist and guitarist of the Bossa Nova movement. Here he is with Frank Sinatra singing about The Girl From Ipanema- a sultry vision of loveliness strolling along the beachfront.

https://youtu.be/bwcmGSUWGw4 

Arlen's Goodbye Songs: " What's Good About Goodbye? "& " Don't Like Goodbyes "
" What's good about Goodbye"  is sung by Tony Martin who risks arrest by trying to leave the Casbah to follow Marta Toren. He sings the song knowing he may never see her again.
" Don't Like Goodbyes " is sung by Pearl Bailey in her role as a Madame Fleur in a Haitian bordello who knows some of her ladies will be leaving The House Of Flowers. 
Both songs express the sadness of departure and the unlikelihood of return.

 https://youtu.be/ncAv39ySmnM


https://youtu.be/fVM61ntxN90 

 

Moanin' In The Mornin'  This is a true "torch song" one of the many Arlen created over the years. Along with lyricist E. Y. Harburg, the song was introduced in the 1937 version of Hooray For What.
Although not a traditional blue number, the loneliness and despair that characterizes the blues tradition is present as sung by songstress Dinah Shore who also had a fine recording of Arlen's Blues In The Night.

https://youtu.be/AcjlHAKSlY8 

More Than You Know  In 1929, Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Elescu wrote the song that famed songwriter Johnny Mercer said was his favorite popular song. Here we have two famous singers Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett each performing with lesser known young singers doing  a song from The Great American Songbook.
Streisand pairs with Michael Buble and Bennett with Carrie Underwood These performances prove once again that standards like More Than You Know continue to attract newer performers. Good singing of good songs will never be out of style.

 https://youtu.be/ATcUiyBaKhM

https://youtu.be/3kpu4mYrbQg

Two songs by Kurt Weill-My Ship and It Never Was You
Kurt Weill, the German born composer of the Three Penny Opera and other classical works came to America and wrote a number of theatrical works like Lady in the Dark, and Lost in The Stars and Knickerbocker Holiday.
Julie Andrews and Andre Previn perform My Ship from Lady In he Dark 9 Ira Gershwin) and the lesser known It Never Was You from Knickerbocker Holiday ( Maxwell Anderson) . That show also introduced September Song sung by Walter Huston. 
Previn always provides interesting and effective accompaniment for female singers.

 https://youtu.be/XmAEMyLIdxc

A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square  
American composer Manning Sherman and British Lyricist Eric Maschwitz combined to write a wonderful, emotionally evocative song about a local district in London.

American singer Mel Torme and British pianist George Shearing combine in a stunning live performance with Shearing producing an authentic birdlike trill just like the iconic Nightingale. Torme sings as perfectly as is humanly possible, a tribute to his musicianship

https://youtu.be/_ZMD0ApAxiE



 

Happy As The Day is Long  The 1933 Cotton Club Parade   had an Arlen/Koehler rhythm song which was used to showcase the club bandleaders Cab Calloway and then Duke Ellington, This a rousing, take-no--prisoners jazz number artfully sung by Rebecca Kilgore, noted cabaret and standards stylist and a hot small group ensemble.
Arlen, as a teenager in Buffalo, led his own jazz ensemble as pianist, vocalist and arranger.

https://youtu.be/F9-M0BtXX3A 

Classic American Popular Song: I''ll Take Romance

Classic American Popular Song: I''ll Take Romance: I'll Take Romance is a virtuoso showpiece for Eydie Gorme whose vocal  range keeps getting higher and higher right to the top. https:/...

Classic American Popular Song: GLAD TO BE UNHAPPY

Classic American Popular Song: GLAD TO BE UNHAPPY: Glad To Be Unhappyis a song from Rodgers &Hart's On YourvToes. It explores the ectasy and pain in some love relationships/ The rela...

GLAD TO BE UNHAPPY

Glad To Be Unhappyis a song from Rodgers &Hart's On YourvToes. It explores the ectasy and pain in some love relationships/ The relatively lengthy verse mentions " Taking it on the chin And losing that bright toothpaste grin, My mental state's all a jumble, I sst around and sadly mumble" then the main chorus starts with " Fools rush in and here am I ,very glad to be unhappy etc"
The clarity , phrasing and diction of Eydie Gorme's performance is wonderful, a tribute to the memory of a highly underrated singer and longtime wife and partner of Steve Lawrence.

https://youtu.be/2J3sTeKijag

I''ll Take Romance

I'll Take Romance is a virtuoso showpiece for Eydie Gorme whose vocal  range keeps getting higher and higher right to the top.

https://youtu.be/mTTsr9UsS68