Tag Archives: Xanadu

WEEK 42 / 10 – 16 APRIL 2015

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288 FRIDAY 10 APRIL 2015

There’s No Business Like Show Business – Ethel Merman

The Ethel Merman Disco Album

I’ve always been fond of La Merman. I’m unsure if she reminds me of my mother’s favourite cousin, Isabel, or if Ethel was the first diva I ever became aware of.

I’m sure I first saw her on a rerun of “The Lucy Show”, where she played herself but pretended to be someone else. In typical Lucy fashion, she tries to get Merman to perform in a PTA benefit or something like that; not only was I charmed by her, but what a set of pipes she had. Probably around the same time, I saw her on an episode of “That Girl” with Marlo Thomas. Again, she played herself doing some sort of show where Thomas’ Anne Marie had a walk-on. Once again, she charmed me.

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WEEK 37 / 6 MARCH – 12 MARCH 2015

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253 FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2015

Candy – Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford & The Pied Pipers

Your Hit Parade - 1945

Candy belongs to a group of songs that I discovered in the early 1990s, mostly through Time’s “Your Hit Parade Series, The War Years”. The song was also featured in the movie “Bugsy” which it is perhaps where I listened to it for the first time.

I’ve always been intrigued with the melancholy that varnishes this song. I guess that by trying to make it a romantic ballad, the arranger ended up with a sad tune. However, the reason could be that most likely this is a song about lovers separated by war. Whichever the case may be, I think it is one of the prettiest songs from that era.

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