The Music That Makes Me Dance

I have been considering the work of Bob Merrill this afternoon. This is my favorite of his lyrics & one of the most overlooked songs from the Musical Theatre canon. It was written for the Broadway show- Funny Girl in 1964, but cut from the film version.

I add 2 & 2, the most simple addition

Then swear that the figures are lying

I'm a much better comic than mathematician

Because I'm better on stage
 Than at intermission

& as far as the man is concerned

If I've been burned

I haven't learned

I know he's around when the sky
 & the ground start in ringing

I know that he's near
 By the thunder I hear in advance

His words

His words alone are the words
 That can start my heart singing

& his is the only music that makes me dance

He'll sleep & he'll rise,
 In the light of the 2 eyes that adore him

Bore him it might,
 But he won't leave my sight for a glance

In ev'ry way, ev'ry day, I need less of myself

& need more him, more him

Because his is the only music
 That makes me dance

Beause his is the only music
 That makes me dance

Isn't This Better?

Thinking of Kander & Ebb’s songs this morning, because that is what I do, arise very early in the morning, have coffee & consider the great songwriting teams, I wanted to dig deep for a Kander & Ebb song that I held in high regard, but that readers might not know. There are platinum tunes from even their biggest flops, I can name so many. But, were they ever involved in any project as stinky as Funny Lady, the totally unnecessary 1975 film sequel to Funny Girl. This mess is a highly fictionalized account of the later life & career of comedienne Fanny Brice & her marriage to songwriter/empresario- Billy Rose. The film does feature a few well staged musical numbers & a fair share of absurd production numbers, but several top-notch songs. I always have been drawn to this torchy tune. I would like to do it in my act, in a single pool of light, in a tux with the tie undone:

I loved the man

Truly I did

When he would touch me

I’d act like a love-hungry kid

Isn't this better?

Somebody nice somebody new

Someone who lets me react as I normally do

Isn't this better?

Better

Passion is fine but passion burns fast

Passions design seems never to last

Better a match

Better a blend

Who needs a lover?

I need a friend

Now I am calm save & serene

Heartache & hurt

Are no longer a part of the scene

Isn't this better

The way it should be?

Better for him

Much better for him

& also much better for me

Kander/Ebb

1975

I Want To Thank God & My Agent... Considering The Academy Awards

Tim was an acquaintance/friend, not quite in my circle, but dating one of my best friends. He was cute, bright, & talented. I knew him for a while before we had a long-ish conversation where I discovered that his father was the esteemed & popular big band leader & arranger- Paul Weston & his mother was the beautiful Jo Stafford, one of the great jazz singers of the 1940s & 50s, with a pure & understated voice.

I was, & remain, a huge fan of Jo Stafford’s & I think Tim was taken aback a bit when I gushed. I actually dragged him back to my apartment to show him my collection of LPs of his parents’ music.


He was kind enough to invite me over to the house in Beverly Hills. He owed me nothing & we were not really close. It was a lovely gesture. I brought one album for Jo Stafford to sign. She was very lovely & quite funny. She & her husband had a great act throughout the 1950s, as Jonathan & Darlene Edwards, a bad lounge act. Stafford, as Darlene, would sing off-key in a high pitched voice; Weston, as Jonathan, played an untuned piano off key & with bizarre rhythms. They won a Grammy in 1961 for Best Comedy Album for Jo Stafford & Paul Weston Present: The Song Stylings of Jonathan & Darlene Edwards, on which the pair intentionally butchered some of the best popular music. The couple continued to release Jonathan & Darlene albums for several years, and in 1977 released a final single, a cover of The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive with I Am Woman on the flip side. A very funny couple.


During my short visit with the Westons, their neighbors from behind their Beverly Hills house dropped by to talk about what to wear to the Academy Awards the following week. This handsome couple were nominated for an Oscar for Best Song, for a little number that they called- The Way We Were, sung by their good friend Barbra Streisand who was also nominated for Best Actress. I was just a little starstruck, but I was able to tell Marilyn & Alan Bergman that I would be seeing them at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion the following Monday (the awards were held on Mondays then, the day that theatres were traditionally dark, I guess so actors in Broadway or touring shows could attend).



My good school chum & fellow actor in the theatre program- Gina had offered me a ticket. Her father was Secretary of the Academy that year & a 7 time nominee (he became an Oscar winner, for Best Sound for All The Presidents Men). They were not attending the awards & had a single ticket up for grabs. I wore my tux from Private Lives, which was still in production at the time. I was frantic about getting some makeup stains off the white dinner jacket. I got myself to the Chandler Pavilion, parking afew milse away, & I was seated a row away from Paul & Linda McCartney & Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward (who was nominated). The nominees that year:




Best Picture:
THE STING, American Graffiti, Cries & Whispers, The Exorcist, A Touch of Class


Actor:
JACK LEMMON in Save the Tiger, Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris, Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail, Al Pacino in Serpico, Robert Redford in The Sting


Actress:
GLENDA JACKSON in A Touch of Class, Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist, Marsha Mason in Cinderella Liberty, Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were, Joanne Woodward in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams


Supporting Actor:
JOHN HOUSEMAN in The Paper Chase, Vincent Gardenia in Bang the Drum Slowly, Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger, Jason Miller in The Exorcist, Randy Quaid in The Last Detail


Supporting Actress:
TATUM O'NEAL in Paper Moon, Linda Blair in The Exorcist, Candy Clark in American Graffiti, Madeline Kahn in Paper Moon, Sylvia Sidney in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams


Director:
GEORGE ROY HILL for The Sting, Ingmar Bergman for Cries & Whispers, Bernardo Bertolucci for Last Tango in Paris, William Friedkin for The Exorcist, George Lucas for American Graffiti

My new good close personal friends- The Bergmans did win that night.  I deeply wanted Streisand to win. I still love The Way Were  & the moment where Barbra moves a lock of Robert Redford's blond hair with her gloved hand still destroys me. Babs lost to Glenda Jackson in a stunning upset. I still have my ticket/pass to the ceremony.


Jo Stafford left us in 2008. The Bergmans continue to work.This will be my 53rd viewing of the awards; I have watched the Oscar Ceremony on TV since I was 5 years old. I used to hold up a big brass candlestick & practice my acceptance speech in the bathroom mirror: " I thank no one for this award. I did it all myself, with own talent & gumption, God & my agent..."

It's Spring Again & Birds On The Wing Again, Start To Sing Again, That Old Melody

We are just a few hours past the Spring Equinox & I am good & ready for winter to be done. This song is in my all time top 20. I have perhaps 12 artists giving their spin. I play it often at this time of year & I have 2 different versions (Ricki Lee Jones & Ella Fitzgerad) that bookend my Spring Mix that friends are clamoring for:


Once I was a sentimental thing
Threw my heart away each spring
Now a spring romance hasn't got a chance
Promised my first dance to winter
All I've got to shows a splinter for my little fling!


Spring this year has got me feeling like a horse that never left the post

I lie in my room staring up at the ceiling
Spring can really hang you up the most!


Mornings kiss wakes trees & flowers,
& to them I'd like to drink a toast
I walk in the park just to kill lonely hours
Spring can really hang you up the most.


All afternoon those birds twitter twit,
I know the tune, this is love, this is it!
Heard it before & I know the score
& I've decided that spring is a bore!


Love seemed sure around the New Year

Now it’s April & love is just a ghost
Spring arrived on time, only what became of you, dear?
Spring can really hang you up the most!


Spring is here, there's no mistaking
Robins building nests from coast to coast
My heart tries to sing so they won't hear it breaking
Spring can really hang you up the most!


College boys are writing sonnets
In the tender passion they're engrossed
But I'm on the shelf with last years Easter bonnets
Spring can really hang you up the most!


Love came my way, I hoped it would last
We had our day, now that's all in the past
Spring came along, a season of song
Full of sweet promise but something went wrong!


Doctors once prescribed a tonic,
Sulphur & molasses was the dose
Didn't help a bit, my condition must be chronic
Spring can really hang you up the most!


All alone, the party's over
Old man winter was a gracious host
But when you keep praying for snow to hide the clover
Spring can really hang you up the most!