|
By Kevin Fischer
Thursday, Feb 14 2008, 12:29 AM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
It’s the memorable song from what is arguably the greatest movie of them all.
And the man who wrote the score for the film, Max Steiner, didn’t even like the song.
From Encyclopedia.com:
“Playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Alison had written the song into the play Everybody Comes to Rick's. What might strike some as surprising is how insistent everyone associated with the production--with the exception of Steiner--was that the song be used. Both Aljean Harmetz and Harlan Lebo chronicle Steiner's attempts to get the song removed and his arguments that he could write an original tune that was the equal if not the superior to the Herman Hupfield standard. In fact, there is an apocryphal story that Hal Wallis finally acceded to Steiner's request and was going to allow him to write a new song for the film. Unfortunately, Ingrid Bergman, who had just started shooting For Whom the Bell Tolls, had cut her hair, and it was agreed that it would be too much trouble--if not virtually impossible--to bring her back to reshoot scenes in which the song is mentioned. Both Lebo and Harmetz pretty much discredit this tale, however, by discussing how both Wallis and Warner insisted that the song be used.
The insistence that the song stay makes sense on a couple of grounds. First, the song, published in 1931, is really perfect for the film because of its evocation of the past; its reliance on minor harmonies, moreover, serves to communicate a sense of bittersweet longing and wistful nostalgia. Second, based on trends in popular music and theater during this time, a song with some nostalgia attached to it would most certainly be received warmly by movie audiences in 1943.”
The song, of course, is “As Time Goes By,” from Casablanca.
So there you have it, my top ten of the greatest love songs. I'm sure you have your own personal favorites, and I can assure you, I thought long and hard over which top ten belonged in my very own list. But if you take the ten tunes I've selected and put them all together in one compilation, you'd have to agree it's not too shabby.
Throw in some champagne and chocolates and you've got yourself a romantic setting.
Whatever your special song and for whatever reason, I hope it finds a way into your special time with that special someone.
I wish you the happiest Valentine's Day because after all................everyone needs to be in love.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1) AS TIME GOES BY
2) UNFORGETTABLE
3) CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU
4) CRAZY
5) CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Wednesday, Feb 13 2008, 06:03 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
Nat King Cole had this to say in 1954:
“My voice is nothing to be proud of. It runs maybe two octaves in range. I guess it’s the hoarse, breathy noise that some like.” (The American Songbook).
Even so, the website, “The Unforgettable Nat King Cole” writes:
“His careful enunciation of a lyric enabled him to convey a song with depth and meaning and made his rather limited vocal range seem irrelevant.”
His daughter, Natalie was only 15 when Nat King Cole died of lung cancer in 1965. Natalie began her own successful career singing R & B and soul. But when drug problems brought her to a grinding halt, Cole needed a jump start. She found it when she recorded a CD of some of her father’s greatest songs.
The CD is an eight time platinum award winner, it won numerous Grammys, and through the magic of technology, Natalie sang the title song with her father.
Recognizing that just about everybody is doing the old standards (look at the phenomenal success of the re-invented Rod Stewart) Cole told the Los Angeles Times:
“There ain’t nobody fooling me. I know where this all came from. We put a lot of brass and orchestra players back to work……I’m not annoyed at Rod and the others. But the room is getting crowded. So I’m out.”
She meant it. Her latest CD is an urban pop production.
Nothing she will ever do will match the wonder of “Unforgettable.”
BLOG EXTRA
Some of the greatest music of all-time came from Glenn Miller.
From The American Songbook:
In 1935, while a student of Joseph Schillinger, Glenn Miller wrote a simple composition as a mathematical exercise. Miller picked up the piece years later when he was a member of Ray Noble’s orchestra and Edward Heyman supplied a lyric titled, “Now I Lay Me Down to Weep.” A new lyric was subsequently written by historian George T. Simon titled, “Gone with the Dawn’ and yet another was tossed on the pile by Mitchell Parrish (who specialized in new lyrics to old songs) called “Wind on the Trees.” He finally came up with the winner, “Moonlight Serenade.” That title was inspired by Miller’s recording of Frankie Carle’s “Sunrise Serenade.”
Here’s the contemporary version of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
“Moonlight Serenade” is an incredible instrumental.
The problem is you rarely hear the lyrics.
Earlier, I wrote that just about everybody is putting their stamp on the oldies. That includes Barry Manilow.
Now don’t run away! Even if you don’t like Barry Manilow, work with me folks.
In the 90’s, Manilow did a very respectable CD tribute to the Big Bands. True to the original artists and charts, he gathered the respective bands from today for each piece and brought them into the studio to record these golden oldies.
A fan posted the following on You Tube after Manilow picked her out of the audience to dance. Concentrate on the lovely lyrics so seldom heard.
Valentine's Day is Thursday. TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2) UNFORGETTABLE
3) CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU
4) CRAZY
5) CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Tuesday, Feb 12 2008, 07:05 PM
By Kevin Fischer
Monday, Feb 11 2008, 08:42 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
Granted, this song isn’t the stereotypical love song, not if you judge by its lyrics.
But consider the melody, the music, the theme, the song’s ability to jam a dance floor.
It’s a classic, and it has a story.
From The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs by Ace Collins:
When Faron Young topped the charts with “Hello Walls,” and even crossed the recording over to the rock n’ roll playlists, songwriter Willie Nelson, the man everyone in Nashville had once thought a bit crazy, suddenly found his career extremely hot. It seemed that everyone in town wanted to cut one of Willie’s songs, and his demos were being ordered by scores of different studios, managers, and stars. When Nelson walked into Tootsie’s, all of the patrons gathered around him to see what Nashville’s newest genius had written lately.
Patsy Cline was no exception. She too grabbed Nelson whenever she got a chance and begged him to share some of his latest ideas. The very first time she heard Nelson’s “Funny How Tme Slips Away,” Cline fell in love with it. She had a recording session in coming up and Patsy just knew that the Willie song had to be a part of it. She called the writer to arrange a meeting. Things didn’t turn out the way the singer had planned.
Billy Walker had known Willie since their days in Texas. The singer had even put Nelson up at his house when Willie had first come to town. When Willie had needed someone to cut demos, Walker had stepped in. Billy had even sung the vocal on “Funny How Time Slips Away.” When his label, Columbia, heard Walker’s version of the Nelson composition they opted to recut it and release it. It had been eight years since Billy had managed a top-ten record, and the label thought “Funny” might give the man’s career a big shot in the arm.
Cline was infuriated when she discovered that Billy Walker and Columbia had beaten her to “Funny How Time Slips Away.” She needed a follow-up to her classic “I Fall to Pieces,” and she wanted it to have the ability to cross over on the pop charts. She urged Willie to allow her to cut “Funny” too. The songwriter owed far too much to Billy to let that happen, so he declined. Then the very polite Nelson, addressing the hot female vocalist as “Miss Patsy,” told her that he had a bunch of other songs that were hits back at the office. If she wanted to record one of his numbers, Nelson assured her that he would save one for her.
At about that same time Billy Walker had entered the room, and he reminded Willie about another song that Walker had cut a demo on. The two men agreed that Cline’s voice was perfectly suited for the piece, so they raced off to retrive it. Patsy practically went crazy as she waited for the men to return with their song.
Willie had written “Crazy” very soon after coming to Nashville. When he had first pitched it, the song had failed to generate any interest. So Willie had pretty much set the song aside to collect dust. Occassionally he would try to sell “Crazy,” but finding a home for the number was not his passion. Yet at the moment when Patsy and her producer Owen Bradley were hot for a hit, this was what the young Texan had to offer.
“Crazy” didn’t have any special story behind it. The song had falled together in a writing session. Yet even though the number’s words were apparently tied to no special event in Nelson’s life, they did seem to reflect a great deal of what he was having to deal with upon his entry into the world of Music City songwriting. Poor, alone (his family had stayed in Texas until Willie could make enough money to bring them to Tennessee), talented, but unappreciated, Willie had to be aware just how crazy he was for sticking it out in the music business. In almost a decade of work he had very little to show for his troubles. He loved entertainment, but it didn’t seem to express any affection for him. In a very real sense, even if it was unintended, “Crazy” reflected Willie’s relationship with his profession.
When Nelson and Walker played the song for Cline, she couldn’t believe it. She thought it was one of the worst things she had ever heard. This wasn’t a ballad, this was a song where the singer spent most of the time talking to the audience. She flatly rejected “Crazy,” and then asked Nelson what else he had.
What Patsy hadn’t realized was that she had heard “Crazy” just a few weeks before. Her husband Charlie Dick had gotten a copy from Willie when the two of them had stopped in Tootsie’s for drinks. Charlie had practically worn the record player out playing the demo over and over again. His wife had gotten so tired or the “stupid damn song” that she had threatened to break it into pieces. It was only when Charlie played it again that night that she realized that she had rejected “Crazy” not once, but twice.
Nelson’s song would have probably gone back into storage and collected more dust if not for Owen Bradley. The Decca producer liked “Crazy” and he was convinced that it was perfect for Patsy. He informed her that she would be recording the Nelson effort. She told him that she wouldn’t. Much as the had with “I Fall to Pieces,” the producer and singer went back and forth with their arguing. Finally, Bradley pulled rank. Because of a car wreck, Cline hadn’t been able to record for months. Owen pointed out that she needed to have a solid session filled with good records and he wasn’t going to let her act like a spoiled brat and miss recording what he thought was a great song. Left with no choice, Patsy listened to the demo and began to pick up the lyrics.
In the studio Owen allowed Cline to tinker with the song. She tossed out Willie’s unique phrasing and sang it in her own style. She also tried to smooth the song’s meter. Yet because of the pain created by her broken ribs, she was unable to really soar the way she was used to when recording her lead vocals. After several hours of work, she quit without putting together a satisfactory cut. When the star went home, Bradley laid down all the other tracks figuring he would catch Patsy’s vocal when she felt better. Within a week Cline had come back in and overwhelmed the producer with a brilliant version of “Crazy.”
When Willie heard the final product, he was blown away. He would tell those at Tootsies, “It was magic!” Even three decades later Nelson would still proclaim that recording of that song as “the favorite of anything I ever wrote.”
Le Ann Rimes does a pretty fair renditon of "Crazy." It's no wonder. She has a Patsy Cline connection that we'll discover in this video:
Valentine's Day is Thursday.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4) CRAZY
5) CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Sunday, Feb 10 2008, 05:00 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
After a few years of banging out several hit singles in the 60’s, the lead singer of the Four Seasons wanted to do some solo work.
Frankie Valli’s first four records as a solo artist didn’t do very well. But on his fifth attempt, Valli hit the jackpot.
The smooth, slow-starting ballad builds, as one reviewer put it, “to a brassy climax.”
The website www.huliq.com claims this smash hit was the fifth-most played song of the 1900’s.
Here’s the entire single.
BLOG EXTRA
In one of my previous entries in this love song countdown, I featured the rather unusual singing combination of Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang.
Here's another strange, but very interesting duo, in concert in Modena, Italy.
Valentine's Day is Thursday.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5) CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Saturday, Feb 9 2008, 05:00 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
Gus Kahn is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and with good reason. He wrote some impressive lyrics, some of the biggest songs of the 1920’s
Kahn’s songs were so popular that his yearly earnings during the 20’s often surpassed that of the legendary Babe Ruth.
This refrain penned by Kahn will live forever:
For nobody else, gave me a thrill
with all your faults, I love you still
It had to be you, wonderful you….
A famous version is Harry Connick, Jr’s, from the soundtrack to When Harry Met Sally.
Then in the 90’s, Rod Stewart titled his first and phenomenally successful Great American Songbook collection, "It Had to Be You."
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Friday, Feb 8 2008, 07:00 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
When he was just a child, Johnny Mathis had to choose between singing and training for the Olympics as a high jumper.
Mathis never won a gold medal, but he has collected a trunk load of gold records.
Born in Texas, Mathis and his family moved to San Francisco where he was discovered singing in a nightclub at the age of 19 and was quickly signed to a contract with Columbia Records.
A string of hit ballads ensued and somehow, Mathis wasn’t wiped out by the rock and roll tsunami.
Ken Bloom writes in The American Songbook, “Mathis has presented an ever-youthful, clean cut, nonthreatening image to millions for over 50 years.”
I think his best romance song is this one, sung at a concert in 1984:
National Public Radio did a feature on Johnny Mathis and his longevity in 2005.
BLOG EXTRA:
Love songs can come from anywhere and anyone. Just about everyone is doing the old standards, as Johnny Mathis mentioned in the NPR interview, thanks to Rod Stewart’s tremendous success with those old classics.
Check out this unlikely combo:
Tony Bennett, who knows a thing or two about love songs, and K.D. Lang collaborating on a wonderful duet of “La vie en rose.”
Valentine's Day is next Thursday. TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Thursday, Feb 7 2008, 07:00 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
For many, their first exposure to this love song was in 1990, as lush strings provided the instrumental background for the closing scene in the movie, “Ghost.”
The Righteous Brothers gave us “Unchained Melody” in the 1960’s. Their vocals are now a must at weddings, and the only song guaranteed to get my brother and his wife out on the dance floor.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Wednesday, Feb 6 2008, 08:10 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
They don’t write them, or sing them, like they used to.
Can you go wrong with George and Ira Gershwin?
They collaborated on “Embraceable You" eighty years ago, in 1928 , a song featured
in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy, and performed by Ginger Rogers in a song and dance number choreographed by Fred Astaire.
A side note: When producers of the film “Romance on the High Seas” were looking for a female lead, Judy Garland was unavailable and Betty Hutton read the script and didn’t like it. The next choice was Doris Day.
Sammy Kahn arranged an interview for Day with director Michael Curtiz. Day wound up singing “Embraceable You” for Curtiz.
When Day was finished, she broke into tears.
Day was still upset about her recent divorce from George Weidler. She did compose herself, got the part, and her movie career was born (Source: The American Songbook).
My guess is most often, “Embraceable You” does not lead to depression.
Here are a couple renditions of this classic. First, The Manhattan Transfer from a late 80’s special on the Disney Channel.
And a little less romantic, but still very nice, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra.
You have about a week until VD (Valentine's Day). TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) 9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Tuesday, Feb 5 2008, 05:45 PM
IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
In 1936, Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern started writing songs for the great dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. One of their collaborations was performed in the film, “Swing Time.”
It’s as big today as when Frank Sinatra recorded the song.
Watch Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova dance to Michael Buble singing, "The Way You Look Tonight" on Strictly Come Dancing Series 2.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) 9)
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
|
By Kevin Fischer
Monday, Feb 4 2008, 10:00 PM
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching.
You have about 10 days to do what you need to do.
Between now and February 14th, inspired by my blogathon on Christmas music, the 10 Greatest Love Songs of All-Time (according to me). Yes, I am a romantic, sentimental fool.
Before we start the 10-song countdown, one per day, here's a collection that didn’t quite make my top 10, but is guaranteed to, how shall we say, put you in the mood….
Let’s start with a biggie.
The Beatles.
That's always nice.
Next.
Speaking of legends.....
Eric Clapton.
If you put out a movie in the 60's or 70's and wanted someone to sing the theme, you telephoned Andy Williams.
His renditions were guaranteed Academy Awards.
Williams gave us the "Theme from Love Story," a perfect song for this blog. But I give the edge to this movie theme, simply because of how Williams holds that last final note.
Tune in a golf tournament on ABC-TV and you'll probably hear this in the background during some segments.
That certainly doesn't do this one justice, one of the greatest instrumentals ever recorded.
Hard to believe, but teenagers and the older folks, white and black were rushing out to buy Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra's masterpiece.
One more.
Roberta Flack and the late Donny Hathaway did the original, but I really like Fourplay's re-make with Patti Austin and Peabo Bryson on the vocals.
Tomorrow, we begin the top ten countdown.
ATTEND THE 1ST ANNUAL CFSW FUNDRAISER
|
More Posts
|
|
