Music so good you want to lick it
I was actually trying to locate some Cole Porter lyrics when I stumbled over an article about "cross-vocals" - when male singers perform songs written for female singers, or vise versa, without changing the pronouns. Apparently it was quite usual back in the day; In the twenties/thirties music publishers had such a hold on the rights to their tunes singers weren't allowed to change a single word.
Among the examples listed was a 1928 Bing Crosby rendition of a song called 'There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth The Salt of My Tears'. "Huh, I need to listen to this," I thought.
And OH MY GOD. IT'S SO PERFECT I COULD CRY.
Setting aside that Bing Crosby sings about those sweet sweet men for a moment, that song is absolutely wonderful. Let me count the ways:
- Twenty-five year old Bing Crosby (coming in at 1:17), who I love at any age but in his youth he had such a wonderful purity to his voice. Listen to him hit those high notes! Goosebumps!
- And twenty-five year old Bing Crosby of course means the rest of The Rhythm Boys, a.k.a. the best boyband in history! And when there's The Rhythm Boys, you know there's scat singing, awww yeah!
- Completely badass tympani solo at 2:30, immediately followed by Bix Beiderbecke, okay, playing a clarinet solo that's also of the "so good I could cry" variety. Take this however you will, but Bix is the only clarinet player I've ever bothered with memorizing the name of. Jazzgasm.
Excuse me, I'm going to listen to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra for the rest of my life now.
Among the examples listed was a 1928 Bing Crosby rendition of a song called 'There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth The Salt of My Tears'. "Huh, I need to listen to this," I thought.
And OH MY GOD. IT'S SO PERFECT I COULD CRY.
Setting aside that Bing Crosby sings about those sweet sweet men for a moment, that song is absolutely wonderful. Let me count the ways:
- Twenty-five year old Bing Crosby (coming in at 1:17), who I love at any age but in his youth he had such a wonderful purity to his voice. Listen to him hit those high notes! Goosebumps!
- And twenty-five year old Bing Crosby of course means the rest of The Rhythm Boys, a.k.a. the best boyband in history! And when there's The Rhythm Boys, you know there's scat singing, awww yeah!
- Completely badass tympani solo at 2:30, immediately followed by Bix Beiderbecke, okay, playing a clarinet solo that's also of the "so good I could cry" variety. Take this however you will, but Bix is the only clarinet player I've ever bothered with memorizing the name of. Jazzgasm.
Excuse me, I'm going to listen to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra for the rest of my life now.