Original Version of Rodgers & Hart's MY FUNNY VALENTINE from "Babes in Arms" (1937)
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- Опубліковано 1 лис 2024
- Original version of Rodgers & Hart's MY FUNNY VALENTINE from the Broadway musical "Babes in Arms" (1937). No cast album of the original production was ever recorded. This recording is a recreation of the original 1937 version, using the original Hans Spialek orchestrations, presented in a concert version by the NJ Symphony in 1989. The role of Billie Smith, originally sung in 1937 by Mitzi Green, is sung here by Judy Blazer. Conductor is Evans Haile.
Invaluable to hear how the composer wanted the song to sound when arranging for jazz, thank you so much
My only wish really is to hear Mitzi Green sing this - sadly I was born seventy years too late.
This was great. I didn’t recognize the tune until the chorus came in. She sang it so well to. This song has always sounded sinister to me. Her bright tone paired w the dark melody made for an interesting listen
❤
Dojyaaan
Is there another song from the "Great American Songbook" as great?
Very few singers sing the original version including the intro. One of the few that did was the amazing Linda Ronstadt ua-cam.com/video/l6bgzsJHXoI/v-deo.htmlsi=WMCtHt_Xca9KB2Ma
It's good to know how it was supposed to sound.
Doesn't mean it has to sound this way in every future production. If any. Thing is, there have been so many great renditions recorded since then. This is lovely, but a bit prim, proper--stiff. Of course it is. It's 1937. There's no microphones. An actual teenaged actess is singing this, about a teenaged boy she just met (played by a guy in his 20's). The song was considered so controversial for these reasons, that when a movie was made, with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney--this song was left out! Most of the songs were. They used "Where or When" but as a sort of collective schmoopy platonic ballad, for all the kids to sing. It does NOT work. The entire movie. A complete and total failure.
I think future productions should be informed by all we've learned in the last 90 years or so about the full emotional potential of these songs. From Jazz vocalists like Anita O'Day, but also theatrically trained sopranos like Barbara Cook.
We can acknowledge teens have sexual feelings, as well as romantic ones. The innocence and naivete can still be there, but Billie has already seen a whole lot in her life, roaming Depression-Era America, and finally finding somebody she can't just walk away from. There should be a sense of desperation to it. Because he just walked away from her in a huff, believing she's sold out. But she's saying here, "Yeah, he's an idealistic doofus who hasn't a clue how badly he's screwing up- here-but I wouldn't have him any other way." It's an emotional epiphany, and needs to be played as one. Leave the schmoop out--deep deep feeling is needed. Or the song isn't what Larry Hart wrote it to be. No matter how it was orchestrated then.