Tastes in popular music have changed hugely in the
last 70 years and one reason is that the music market has quite rationally
“followed the money”. Since the 1950s the target audience has increasingly
become youthful fans with surplus cash, a hitherto unknown species. The busy
breadwinner with a bulging midriff and his romantic lady of a certain age have
been rather neglected. Their love of tuneful ballads, often sung at family
gatherings and delivered with gusto, once ruled the roost and I recall 10 such
songs mainly from our fathers’/grandfathers’ generation. Sing along, folks!
1. Vilia
(more properly Vilja) from The Merry
Widow by Franz Lehar. The Merry Widow
was a huge 1905 hit in the German-speaking world and it became very popular in
Britain and America. Provincial theatres would await regular revivals of this
lavishly dressed show packed full with memorable tunes. Vilia was a certain show-stopper in its time.
2
I’ll
see you again by Noel Coward from Bitter Sweet (1929). Coward was a many-sided talent and loved to
sing although he did not sing very well, he loved to try and his only operetta
of 1929 contained this moving, wistful number.
3
You
are my Heart’s delight by Franz Lehar from Land of Smiles (1931), English lyrics by
Harry Graham. I choose this as it is best sung by Richard Tauber who sang for
years in Austria and Germany but later in 1939 moved to London, after
persecution for his Jewish ancestry. He became enormously popular and the
clarity of his tenor voice was astonishing.
4
I’ll
Walk beside you by Alan Murray sung by Webster Booth. This
is a lovely sentimental song written in 1939. The most famous recording is by
John McCormack, but I find his over-precise version rather precious and I prefer
the song sung by Webster Booth. He was a regular second-on-
the-variety-theatre-bill usually accompanied by Anne Ziegler and they performed
such golden oldies perfectly.
5. Be my Love by Nicholas
Brodsky and Harry Cahn from The Toast of
New Orleans (1950). This song was the hit of Mario Lanza’s debut in films.
Mario was certainly the world’s loudest tenor but he was not perhaps the most
refined. He had an enormous success with The
Great Caruso (1951) but went off the rails drinking and eating to excess
and playing the diva. He was sacked while making The Student Prince in 1953 and fled to Italy where he died of a
heart attack in 1959 aged 38 – but in his prime he sang with great energy.
6. You’ll Never Walk alone from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (1945). This number is an
anthem of the old school, most effectively delivered in the 1956 film starring
Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones. It is of course Liverpool FC’s anthem and like
many others I blub every time I see this, proof of the old softie I am.
7. Someday
my Heart will awake by Ivor Novello from Glamorous Nights (1949). This is a quintessential romantic song
leaving the hearts of the susceptible a-flutter. Ivor was a huge star, although
he did not sing in his own operettas. Sadly after he died in 1951 he and his
music were forgotten commercially except by his vast legion of devotees.
8. And this is my Beloved adapted from Alexander Borodin for Kismet (1953), by Robert Wright and George
Forrest. Kismet was a success both on
Broadway and in London but twisting an earlier composer’s work into a coherent
modern musical is generally not a great idea. Imagine Bach or Mozart being so
treated! Nevertheless, this song worked well in my view, thanks to Borodin.
9.
I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables by Claude-Michel
Schoenberg and 4 lyricists. Premiered in Paris in 1980, the show has had an
uninterrupted run in London since 1985, being known colloquially as Lez Miz and
while the song is another anthem, it clearly strikes a chord with a modern
audience. Susan Boyle popularised the song further among the BGT fans while
Ruthie Henshall does it justice in the link below.
10. I will Always Love You written by Dolly Parton (1974) recorded by
Whitney Houston (1992). This became Whitney’s signature tune and featured in The Bodyguard, her film with Kevin Costner
The song gave ample scope for Whitney’s warm yet strong voice and it is in the
long tradition of dramatic romantic songs, bringing on the goose-pimples.
Tragic but lovely Whitney deserves a photograph!
SMD,
20.10.16.
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment