what song are you listening to?

[BOP]

3 from the ride up to Prince Fred today. I rarely listen to anything but '40s Junction in my truck.

First up: Helen O'Connell with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" (1941). I'll leave the link to the wiki article, but the short version is that he began teaching dance before WWI, and even though he's long gone, there are still Arthur Murray Dance Studios operating in the US today. They were a big thing for my grandparents, some of whom were born around the same time as Murray (1895).

Arthur Murray - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Next up: Ella Fitzgerald with the Ink Spots and a song called "Cow Cow Boogie" (1944).




Finally: a name I hadn't heard in an age, Vic Damone; one of my Grandmother's favorites - "he's so dreamy!" No accounting for taste, I guess.

This one is not one I'm super familiar with, but it's called "My Bolero" (1949). Mildly interesting: "Bolero," by Maurice Ravel was recorded the same year as Damone was born (1928).

 

[BOP]

Here's a version of "Bolero" I really enjoy, and not because I think Maestro is hot. Okay, maybe a teeny part of why I enjoy it. Alondra de la Parra, conducting.

 

[BOP]

Another version of "Bolero," this time by the Danish National Orchestra. They've got some cool covers of the so-called "Spaghetti Western" theme songs, primarily by Ennio Morricone, if you find you like their sound.

 

[Kinnakeet]

RIP Edward VanHalen

 

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[Kinnakeet]

GD Reba can sing!

 

[BOP]

I've long been a fan of the Dixie Chicks. The Chicks, meh. I think their time is a long time gone, but that's just me.

I liked their early stuff, and Means' voice is, or was, beyond next level.

But what cemented my fandom for me is the the way they stuck to their guns. They didn't offer a non-apology apology; tell us they were taken out of context; walk it back, or any such thing we've come to expect from the left-toids.

No, they owned it, and they defended what they said, and each other, fiercely. Even when it cost them personally and professionally, they stuck to their guns and with each other with the kind of dedication and courage that you rarely find nowadays, ESPECIALLY on the left.

I don't agree with their denouncement of G.W. Bush; particularly in front of a foreign audience. That was tacky and tasteless, to say the least. Don't air your family's dirty laundry in public, as it were. I never was, and never will be a fan, or even friendly to "W." He's a progressive in sheep's clothing, at best.

But I admire the Dixie Chicks, and the way they handled the fallout; the well-deserved blow-back.

"Long Time Gone" popped into my head a little while ago, and you know how it goes; an ear-worm won't go away until you listen to the song.

I picked this one because it was their first time on the Grand Ol' Oprey. From 2002,

 

[BOP]

Bet you haven't heard this one in a minute.

Henry Mancini & and orchestra, "Baby Elephant Walk" (composed in 1961 for the film "Hatari" [1962]).

 

[BOP]

Well, why not? Henry Mancini & orchestra, feat. Tubby Hayes on saxophone. "Pink Panther Theme" (1963).

 

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Still in the '40s, even though I listened to Little Steven's Underground Garage today.

Glenn Miller - Chattanooga Choo Choo - Sun Valley Serenade (1941)​

The cast of this reads like a Who's Who of the entertainment industry of the time, including the legendary (smoke show) Dorothy Dandridge, as well as the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge was actually married to the younger of the two brothers, though I couldn't tell you which one was which.

 

[BOP]