Lee Wiley sings "Manhattan"
I've been doing some very tedious writing work today (translating some old manuscripts from WordPerfect into MSWord, then going through and tweaking), and I've been taking advantage of one nice feature of my new housesitting place: digital cable! While scanning over a hundred channels without finding anything diverting, I ran across some of those all-music channels. On a whim, I decided to listen to a channel called "Singers and Standards," since I've recently fallen in love with the Great American Songbook. So I've been listening to it while doing these dull mechanical motions.
There's so much I don't know, and although I already have a few songs I really love ("'Round Midnight," "I Could Write a Book," "I Can't Get Started With You"), I'm always on the lookout for some new gem. And today I found one! It's probably an old classic to you jazz buffs, but gee, this is a dandy song: nice pace, great rhymes, a few surprise turns of phrase. It almost certainly helps that I live in New York and can picture everything she's talking about (well, except South Pacific). But I can't be the only one to succumb. So here's Lee Wiley singing "Manhattan." Get it while you can:
There's so much I don't know, and although I already have a few songs I really love ("'Round Midnight," "I Could Write a Book," "I Can't Get Started With You"), I'm always on the lookout for some new gem. And today I found one! It's probably an old classic to you jazz buffs, but gee, this is a dandy song: nice pace, great rhymes, a few surprise turns of phrase. It almost certainly helps that I live in New York and can picture everything she's talking about (well, except South Pacific). But I can't be the only one to succumb. So here's Lee Wiley singing "Manhattan." Get it while you can:
posted by Cowboy Dave Dickerson | 8:39 PM
3 Comments:
Growing up with a professionally trained singer as a mom meant a lot of evenings around the piano singing old Rogers & Hart tunes (as well as Gershwin, Porter, and so on). Growing up in the city, this was one of my favorites - also "Give It Back to the Indians," which is a slightly different take on the town. But Lorenz Hart's lyrics are just as fresh & witty. You have to admire anyone who has the courage to create a rhyme like "Now Peter Minuet/We can't continue it.'
Check out here for all the verses. I've always been a big fan of this tune since I heard it in a movie as a kid. (What movie was it, I wonder? I don't think it was Marilyn Monroe one...)
BTW how are you doing the translating? Do you have a utility that does most of the work for you? if not I have some creaky translators at work from years ago that may do it for you...
she's the best singer that has ever lived, I am the one who uploaded that video on YouTube :)
btw South Pacific was a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical popular in the early 50s and as I know it had a revival a couple of months ago, I was in NY last January and I saw buses announcing the musical again...I am glad to know that you enjoyed my video...
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