52 Card Pickup, Song #30: Baltimore Oriole
LINK: davidmorrison.bandcamp.com/track/baltimore-oriole
This lesser-known gem by Hoagy Carmichael is one of my favorites of his, and he's one of my favorite songwriters. The song was supposed to be Lauren Bacall's signature number in To Have and Have Not, but it was a bit difficult to sing, so she did How Little We Know, and it wound up as background music. It would have been perfect in a film noir.
I know it from a luscious recording by Barbara Lea, which was on a Hoagy Carmichael LP loaned to me by a friend. (That album enriched my life.) You may notice that I adapted the introductory section in my guitar arrangement. The instrumental passage is my own invention.
The next several songs I release will probably all be jazz tunes like this one, as I'm trying to finish up a cassette release of mostly standards, which will be called Hedonism, Irony, & Languor. I hope to have it ready for my show in St. Louis in 10 days.