Where Do We Go From Here?
Alex ,
I am tempted to write about “which Rush song ‘Strange Ones’ reminds me of the most”. And believe me, coming from me, that is no insult. However, I will snarkily point out that the Weezer song you hail features Petra Haden and not Rivers Quomo, so that is a little bit outré in my opinion. I do, however, love that one too. And isn’t my desert island song overachieving?
I certainly think so.
I will now do my best Alex imitation and write an essay about my favorite desert island La-La song. La-La was invented by my sweetheart, and is usually sung in a baby doll falsetto. Frank Sinatra does not use that tessitura, but today it will suffice as a literary device, i.e. La-La is a lot less ranh ranh than ranh ranh is.
This song was previously announced to the world as a desert island song on the John Aielli show. It was also part of your Wedding Compilation. The winner is………. I’ve Got You Under My Skin. I became a fan of the man when I bought one of those $3.99 Sinatra’s Gold cassettes at Hastings. It had Three Coins in the Fountain, I Get A Kick Out Of You, Young At Heart, Witchcraft, Nice and Easy, a few more and I’ve Got You Under My Skin. It all grew on me so fast. I thought, how could I have missed this all these years? Why do people make fun of this guy? And the one I still ask: How could someone so bad be so good. Or: Can a cold hearted snake truly sing so tenderly? He’s a lover boy at play. He’s been telling lies! The guy is just so incredible at every aspect of singing (La-La). And his whole art is contained in this one track.
To wit:
1st Phrase-Breathing, Phrasing, Vibrato
2nd Phrase-He let’s you in on that Frank knowingness, there is more going on there than meets the ears. Plus he can sing some badass low notes.
3rd Phrase-He Swings!
4th Phrase-Building drama, He’s going somewhere
5th Phrase-Crescendo
6th Phrase-“Little Fooooool”!!!
7th and 8th Phrases-He continues to subtly emphasize all of the oo sounds and sings some beautiful, swinging, deft high notes.
Excellent Nelson riddle interlude follows and incredibly explosive trombone solo demands that Frank respond in kind! And boy does Frank. This section is Frank’s finest 45 seconds on record. He controls the excitement and his diction (so different from his speaking voice) during the bass pedal point for a couple of phrases before letting loose with the blue note to end all blue notes “DON’T!” It sounds a lot like a foghorn to me. Then he nails that line “Step up, Wake up to reality” like an air hammer. It really feels like the ultimate relationship ultimatum.
I don’t know what happens after that because I’m always asking who I am with if they can believe what they just heard.
It just is amazing that this person who has all these other aspects to his life, and I am tip toeing here, is capable of such artful singing. Maybe that is what he is referring to when he says that he is saloon singer. A saloon singer can gamble, drink, swear, romance and still give a great performance. I suppose. What do I know about it?
MP3:"I've Got You Under My Skin"(?)!
I am tempted to write about “which Rush song ‘Strange Ones’ reminds me of the most”. And believe me, coming from me, that is no insult. However, I will snarkily point out that the Weezer song you hail features Petra Haden and not Rivers Quomo, so that is a little bit outré in my opinion. I do, however, love that one too. And isn’t my desert island song overachieving?
I certainly think so.
I will now do my best Alex imitation and write an essay about my favorite desert island La-La song. La-La was invented by my sweetheart, and is usually sung in a baby doll falsetto. Frank Sinatra does not use that tessitura, but today it will suffice as a literary device, i.e. La-La is a lot less ranh ranh than ranh ranh is.
This song was previously announced to the world as a desert island song on the John Aielli show. It was also part of your Wedding Compilation. The winner is………. I’ve Got You Under My Skin. I became a fan of the man when I bought one of those $3.99 Sinatra’s Gold cassettes at Hastings. It had Three Coins in the Fountain, I Get A Kick Out Of You, Young At Heart, Witchcraft, Nice and Easy, a few more and I’ve Got You Under My Skin. It all grew on me so fast. I thought, how could I have missed this all these years? Why do people make fun of this guy? And the one I still ask: How could someone so bad be so good. Or: Can a cold hearted snake truly sing so tenderly? He’s a lover boy at play. He’s been telling lies! The guy is just so incredible at every aspect of singing (La-La). And his whole art is contained in this one track.
To wit:
1st Phrase-Breathing, Phrasing, Vibrato
2nd Phrase-He let’s you in on that Frank knowingness, there is more going on there than meets the ears. Plus he can sing some badass low notes.
3rd Phrase-He Swings!
4th Phrase-Building drama, He’s going somewhere
5th Phrase-Crescendo
6th Phrase-“Little Fooooool”!!!
7th and 8th Phrases-He continues to subtly emphasize all of the oo sounds and sings some beautiful, swinging, deft high notes.
Excellent Nelson riddle interlude follows and incredibly explosive trombone solo demands that Frank respond in kind! And boy does Frank. This section is Frank’s finest 45 seconds on record. He controls the excitement and his diction (so different from his speaking voice) during the bass pedal point for a couple of phrases before letting loose with the blue note to end all blue notes “DON’T!” It sounds a lot like a foghorn to me. Then he nails that line “Step up, Wake up to reality” like an air hammer. It really feels like the ultimate relationship ultimatum.
I don’t know what happens after that because I’m always asking who I am with if they can believe what they just heard.
It just is amazing that this person who has all these other aspects to his life, and I am tip toeing here, is capable of such artful singing. Maybe that is what he is referring to when he says that he is saloon singer. A saloon singer can gamble, drink, swear, romance and still give a great performance. I suppose. What do I know about it?
MP3:
posted by jEFF at 6:24 PM
9 Comments:
At the risk of commenting relevantly: nice Abdul-shoutout buried in there. :)
Danielle, thank you for weathering that spam storm. I'm kinda dissapointed, kinda exhilarated by the humanity of it all.
Alex, I changerd our comment settings to word verification, Kay?
Wow, that's a great post. I will definitely have some thoughts on that one.
can you post some shit about some jazz or cajin rock or something?
what album is that from?
This song is from Sinatra Live at the Sands, I think, with Count Basie, conducted/arranged by Quincy Jones (aka Sinatra: Blacker and Deffer)
If you do a post on Rush, you must include a serious discussion of their album covers. SALESmen!
It is the studio version from the very first blockbuster Long Playing record, Songs For Swinging Lovers.
Where's Alex?
oh, my bad.
Isn't there something in my contract forbidding posts about Rush?
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