DL singers, would you agree that this is a bloody magnificent performance?

That was actually pretty good. I never knew Eydie could sing that well.

Well, it's probably the most exciting performance of that song, anyhow.

Wow - that runs a close second only to this.

This number by Eydie amazed me.... I think this version is the definitive, even better than Barbra's

Eydie was sensational.

Before Liza and Barbra had developed their own styles one can clearly see her influence in their singing.

It's THE number she's known for. And yeah, she nailed it better than anyone.

R5, Barbra was singing when Gorme was just starting out. Almost at the same time. I doubt they heard of each other until the early 60's.

And Lisscha had her own mentor, yet never measured up to...anyone in that category.

Leslie's had more character

She was a great big belter which makes one wonder why she didn't become a huge Broadway star. She could have done it all.

Perhaps the barnacle husband held her back because even though he was a decent singer he was no Eydie. They preferred performing together to avoid separations.

Eydie did appear on Broadway in Golden Rainbow, again with the barnacle.

R7 -- Uggams was also great. EXCEPT for that last high note...painfully off key. But it was live and hell...99% of it was great. Too bad it had to be THAT note.

Actually there are more than a few off-key notes in her performance. Her chest wasn't the only thing that was flat.

R7. Oh, dear, Leslie is sharp almost throughout and that vibrato. No finess. She's wasn't in Eydie's league.

Yup R11. I meant sharp, not flat. But in general Uggums is great. She's still singing -- sang at Herman's memorial a couple years ago. Sound really good after what...70 years in the biz?

r11 Never said she was.

r8 because her voice was too clean. . . many of the greatest broadway divas sung like frogs.

I think you're right R8. They were definitely a team, that is until he started his 'comedy' career on the Carol Burnett show.

His voice quality and range wasn't anywhere near hers, and even though I know he was known as a great guy, the dude was such a SQUARE. A low-rent lounge singer.

Poor guy has Alzheimer's though, so he's probably still singin' the hits with Edie!

Fantastic.

She won a Grammy for this recording.

But I originated it!

But you sounded like mierda, Angie.

I've never heard of Eydie Gorme before, she is just exceptional. Her voice is impeccable. The true missing link between Ella, Streisand, and Karen Carpenter.

She was ugly and dressed frumpy. And you understand the definition of PERFECT, don't you, OP? Perfect execution and perfect presentation.

I was watching an interview with the great opera diva Beverly Sills some days ago and I was surprised to hear her say that she felt her finest performance was La Fille du Regiment one night at the Vienna Opera House. Just the one night.

She said her voice could do no wrong and that it was more powerful than ever. She couldn't understand why and as hard as she tried she was never able to replicate it.

It makes me wonder if Eydie Gorme felt the same about this fabulous performance on TV or was she able to regularly perform so magnificently.

R20. You mean like this?

I love this one

Eydie's Don't Go to Strangers album (on which both of the above songs appear) is wonderful, although I'm a bit prejudiced because it was part of the soundtrack to my childhood.

R21, she was a very good singer, although these two songs are her most famous and are probably Peak Eydie. She grew up speaking Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish), and in the '60s used her knowledge of Spanish to record an album of boleros with Los Panchos. This is one of my favorites - Sabor a mi. It's a bolero, so she tones down the belting but sounds amazing anyway.

Love Sabor a Mi. A beautiful song by the great composer Alvaro Cassillo who wrote prolifically during the Golden Age of Mexican Film. His music is featured in many Mexican films of the period.

I should say I'm not crazy about the musical arrangement on Eydie's recordinding, but she sounds great per usual.

Think Eydie wasn't a stage star because she couldn't act, except when she was singing.

Geez, I’m 58, and my parents were fans of Eydie. Just how elder are you elder gays?

A little older than you, R27, but still a child when these songs were popular.

Unlike you, apparently, I can appreciate the great music of eras before my own. My parents also liked Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole. Am I not supposed to like them, either?

R25, are you a fan of boleros? I love them. I could listen to those beautiful, quiet, romantic songs all evening. I wish I could claim deep knowledge of the genre, but I just know some of the greatest hits.

Eydie had a sweet, Sephardic clit.

Eydie Gorme was a wonderful singer kind of trapped in a flashy-tacky show biz old fashioned feeling career.

And nowadays that kind of belting has gone the way of the dodo bird. A few, A VERY FEW, stage musical singers can do it. Many stage musical singers do something else, entirely.

Its the purity of Gorme. It's popular music. Comes out of the big band era. Big band singers.

Nowadays very few few singers in popular music can sing and there is no audience for it. Neither in TV entertainment, recorded music, or at live concerts.

I find it very glamorous, and from yesteryear. Eydie wasn't the height of glamour but that kind of performance sure is.

Another great one

She’s good, but she’s no JLo.

Man, yes I agree. She has perfect power and control over her voice.

young Edye.

The second most magnificent.

What's My Line?

Steve and Edie were embroiled in a work-in-progress play working title “My Man.” Ray Stark commissioned a screenplay about comedian Fanny Brice; it took him years and 11 failed drafts to finally get from Isobel Leonart a script that he liked. Mary Martin thought it would be a great Broadway musical – with her. He and Broadway producer David Merrick liked the idea of doing Fanny Brice as a musical play, but not with Martin who was all wrong for the part. Earlier in 1963, Merrick approached Edie Gorme to portray Fanny Brice on stage. She would do it, only if Steve Lawrence portrayed Brice’s gambler-Lover-gambler-husband-felon Nicky Arnstein. If you can picture Steve as Nicky, then you can probably picture Sidney Chaplin in the role, too. Merrick turned down the Steve and Edie casting proposal.

This was Eydie's big pop hit. Should I be embarrassed to admit that I have the 45 of this?

Eydie and Neil Sedaka are/were cousins.

By marriage, I believe, R40.

The best recording of that song I've ever heard. What a powerful voice. People rarely sing with this kind of power anymore. Everything's so whispery and auto-tuned.

It’s no Leah Michelle at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[Quote]are you a fan of boleros?

Oh yes. My favorite male singer of all time is Lucho Gatica who was known as King of the Boleros.

He was born in Chile then he moved to Mexico City to get into the Mexican film world. He was successful as an actor, singer and producer. One of the greats. Perhaps you're familiar with his work. Very emotional singer.

One of my faves is his huge hit Somos.

[quote][R5], Barbra was singing when Gorme was just starting out. Almost at the same time. I doubt they heard of each other until the early 60's.

Hey, r6, Eydie had been singing professionally and had been making records and singing coast to coast since 1950, when Barbra was eight years old, and had a career for over a dozen years when Barbra debuted at the Bon Soir. Gormé was not "just starting out" by a longshot when Streisand started singing professionally. You sound nutty.

From Wikipedia:

Gormé sang with the Tommy Tucker band for two months in 1950, followed by a year with Tex Beneke's band. She signed as a solo act with Coral Records in 1952 and released her first single, "That Night of Heaven". She was hired by The Tonight Show in its early days with Steve Allen and formed a duo with another one of its staff singers, Steve Lawrence. As The Tonight Show was beginning to broadcast across the country in 1954, the duo released their first single, "Make Yourself Comfortable/I've Gotta Crow".

Eydie Gorme spoke three languages, English, Spanish, and Ladino, and worked briefly as a translator at the UN. Her mother was born in Turkey so she may have also known some Turkish.

Trivia: Ms Gorme was considered for the role of Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway production of Funny Girl. Producers balked when she insisted Steve play the role of Nicky Arnstein.

This video isn't sharp, but the audio is, and I think this is Edie at the top of her game.

I'm sure many have seen it, but if you haven't you're in for a treat.

*Eydie, I meant, of course!

She lacked taste and had the vocal discretion of a dog in heat.

R47, are you also R38?

Peggy Lee is an acquired taste imo. I find her low energy and kind of dull.

I imagine in an intimate nightclub setting the experience was different.

“Don’t Go To Strangers” is a terrific album, and her Christmas album, “Navidad Means Christmas”, is excellent.

Gorme was a friend of one of my professors. His best friend was her brother Isidore Gormezano (still alive), who was a prominent experimental psychologist. Apparently, and Eydie were very nice people.

Steve too, R54?

R48. Dear god. I want to yell OLE and throw flowers at Eydie throughout that performance!

R56 =

Steve cheated on Eydie with Sally Ann Howes during the Broadway run of What Makes Sammy Run?

Sally Ann Howes’ forbidden shiksa clit.

[quote]I never knew Eydie could sing that well.

Then, I'm sorry, you're woefully ignorant.

Interesting that R21 mentions Beverly Sills. Gorme and Sills both made excellent use of hand gestures and moved well. Their graceful movement really added to their performances. Another lost art.

[Quote]Eydie and Neil Sedaka are/were cousins.

Eydie told Neil " but Neil, everybody already knows you're a big queen. "

Eydie's first chart hit - "Too Close for Comfort" in 1956. This is a great recording, and with the Don Costa orchestration, it's lush, brassy piece of 1950s adult popular music - very evocative of the period. Hearing it makes me want to be driving down Wilshire Blvd in a red '56 Cadillac convertible.

R39, I was about to post that. One of her worst performances on every level. I was always shocked they released something where she's singing out of tune -- in at least 3 places. Painful, and again, just surprising that she didn't insist it be corrected before being released.

Exactly 50 minutes into this clip, Dean Martin's HOT son, Dino, sings with Frank Sinatra's HOMELY son, Frank Jr.

How is it that Neil Sedaka hasn't come out of the screamin' closet by now R62? And really, how isn't it didn't happen immediately? He's gay from SPACE in that clip. How the audience actually thought he 'loved his little calendar girl' and not BOY is just beyond confounding.

Fun little tune from her Blame It on the Bossa Nova album

My favorite of her Spanish songs

My late husband and I were fortunate enough to see Steve and Edie during their "One More For The Road" tour back in 2004. We were in our late 30's then and we were still the youngest people in the audience.

It's good. But...

Barbra sounds great there but think that song is better when it is not belted and done in a softer, quiet style.

Peggy Lee was one of the most influential pop singers of the era. Jazz musicians adored her. Seeing her live was a revelation; one of the best night club acts I've ever seen.

This is Steve and Eydie with one of their big hits. One of my favorite pop songs, and no one did it better.

R72, Oh, Steeeeve . . .

Unfortunately for Eydie she's dismissed as a prosaic Vegas-style singer by anyone who wasn't into that type of entertainment. However, she was a skilled vocalist who had heart, dexterity & tireless power. Plus, she was regularly recording albums entirely in Spanish at a time when most other mainstream singers doing so just to expand their market. No shame on them, but Eydie fully embraced her culture as affectionately as she embraced her mainstream output. Eydie presented her Spanish language music to her middle America fans with as much pride as she presented her English language music to her Spanish speaking fans.

Their version of Goffin & King's "I Want To Stay Here" was so well known in England that Pet Shop Boys had Dusty Springfield cover it for her comeback album in 1990.

Eydie presented English language music with pride? Did you just type that?

I did not wake up this morning expecting to find Neil Sedaka at his queeniest, mincing around the stage surrounded by dancing burlesque ladies to the tune of Calendar Girl.

G-d bless you, r62.

^^ that song makes vacuuming a delight.

Steve, Eydie, Dinah Shore, Ann Sothern, and Steve Allen (plus a cameo from Sinatra) sing Steve Allen's "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" in 1958.

^^ Too fabulous.

The husbear's gay uncle went to Uni in LA (he was Swiss) and he said of all the many big movie and TV stars he encountered while working his way through school his favorite by far was Ann Sothern.

Absolute sweetheart - she always called him 'honey'. "What do you think, honey?" she'd ask him. She was great fun and quite the fag hag.

Eydie's "Don't Go To Strangers" LP is a masterclass for full-throated belting. A classic. Every song is incredible. Linda Ronstadt lifted Eydie's vocal arrangement lick-for-lick for her recording of "What's New."

Eydie:

Linda:

I didn't know until this day that La Winehouse stole from OP's song in this:

Tears Dry On Their Own was placed over Ain't No Mountain High Enough, the Tammi Terrell & Marvin Gaye version.

Eydie was famous way before Streisand. She and Steve met on the Steve Allen Show. She was about 7 years older than Steve as well. There are plenty of videos of her singing on TV in the 50's. Her I'll Take Romance is amazing. I'm giving a big middle finger to the person calling Steve a barnacle. He was an excellent singer, musician, and showman - one of Sinatra's favorites. Thanks to Steve they had a great career touring and working with the best musicians. Eydie was a huge star in Latin America, and Steve arranged for those recordings and those relationships. He worshipped Eydie and waited on her.

He cheated on Eydie.

Too bad she had a face like a dog's ass.

I would say Edyie had the better voice, but Steve's was not bad, and they sang well together. Growing up, I mainly remember him as a frequent guest star on the Carol Burnett show which used to be shown in 30-minute episodes in syndication (they cut most of the musical numbers).

I always thought of Ms Gorme as a Judy Garland-ish singer, when I was a kid and saw her on TV regularly. I think Steve was a very good pop-jazz singer, why sell him short? But Eydie was kind of like a nice, suburban Long Island housewife type. She didn't seem to have the depth, to me, as a performer, all the roundedness necessary. I'm sorry if I can't articulate it. She sure could belt, though. And sang the hell out of this number.

PS: Eydie worked at the UN - but as a switchboard operator, not a translator. She said she perhaps had to translate a few calls in Spanish - but she was no translator. She spoke French in addition to Spanish and Landino.

With their pal Joan Rivers.

Now that I've read a bit about them it seems they never stopped working apart from the period directly after their son's unexpected death.

They must have acquired a fortune.

Steve had a number of hit records himself including this one that went Gold.

Except he didn't tell 'em to go away...

R79 That's not Sinatra.

R68. Historia de un amor is a beautiful song that seems to appeal to almost everyone. It was written for a Mexican film by the same name.

The song is the number one covered song in the world.

I wish Eydie had a better musical arrangement on her recording because she could have done more with the song. An arrangement like this, for instance.

I have this lovely pigeon couple that comes to visit. I named them Steve and Eydie. But I can't tell them apart, so if one comes to visit I don't know which it is. I just call them the Steveandeydies.

R65, thanks for the video but no thanks for the bad instructions. Dean Martin's gorgeous son does not appear at "exactly 50 minutes in," but somewhat earlier just after the 47 minute mark. And P.S., am I the only one who thinks he has gay voice in this clip?

I saw them on a talk show once (Steve Allen, maybe? Or Mike Douglas?) and I remember them telling a pretty funny anecdote about how they were in bed and there was a spider on the wall and Steve freaked out completely and Eydie had to kill the spider, and calm him down. Well, it was funny when they told it. If I think of them I always think of that.

I had a friend that used to talk his way backstage when he saw them perform. He said Steve used to diss her behind her back, call her Needy Gorme.

[quote]Think Eydie wasn't a stage star because she couldn't act, except when she was singing.

That didn't stop Miss Streisand.

No doubt that Eydie was an enormously gifted singer, but I can only handle her in small doses. Her technical perfection and power have the ability to stun, but I find she's always operating at a fever pitch; her vocal flash is unsustainable to me, as a listener. Though I am partial to her version of "After You've Gone." Sidenote: there's a bootleg of Christine Ebersole's "If He Walked Into My Life" floating around on Tumblr that is, to me, the definitive version of the song, no matter how lacking her performance in the show might have been.

I love her "Coffee Song" too. So fresh, where Sinatra's two versions are stale. Eydie had flavah!

She just wasn't Mame, r101, but who is?

Here's Steve being funny with Judy and June.

[quote]Here's Steve being funny with Judy and June.

I hope he didn't make June wet her pants.

She was wearing rubber pants, r105.

[quote]No doubt that Eydie was an enormously gifted singer, but I can only handle her in small doses. Her technical perfection and power have the ability to stun, but I find she's always operating at a fever pitch; her vocal flash is unsustainable to me, as a listener.

I have to disagree with you there. Although of course Eydie was most famous for her full-on belting and also for those stratospheric high notes she would sometimes throw into songs, of course she could and did also sing softly and lyrically when required.

You really should avoid making huge generalizations like that about singers, or anyone else. Your comment reminds me of people who criticize Ella Fitzgerald because, they say, "she always sounded sunny and happy, no matter what the song is." Well, I guess they never heard her recording of "Angel Eyes," to name only one example that gives the lie to that foolish remark.

[quote]Think Eydie wasn't a stage star because she couldn't act, except when she was singing.

I never saw Merman onstage,but could she act?

Eydie was a great singer,or had a great voice (not the same thing) but did she really have a lot of star quality? Not saying she had none, but if you took away the singing, did she have the force of personality and charisma that makes a star? Because without that, it doesn't matter how she sang, she was not going to be a big stage, TV, or movie star.

Here's Christine Ebersole's version.

She was a terrific singer. She did not have quite the richness of tone that Judy and Barbra had. But yes she could belt and croon. I also think she did not choose her material very well and at times her voice became strident. I can’t see her mounting a concert, rather doing an act in a nightclub or “saloon”. After she married she became even more so with her husband. She did not adapt well musically to her time.

She remembers you...

There can be no argument that she is a technically gifted singer. But she lacks a certain emotional connection with an audience or listener. Sounds like she would rather be at home vacuuming her wall-to-wall.

She's all about the pipes, r112.

She’s not on my level, but she’s okay for someone who doesn’t use auto tune or someone else’s voice…

[quote]There can be no argument that she is a technically gifted singer. But she lacks a certain emotional connection with an audience or listener. Sounds like she would rather be at home vacuuming her wall-to-wall.

If that's what you get, or rather don't get, from her recordings of "If He Walked Into My Life" and "What Did I Have?", then I'm sorry, but I think the problem is yours, not hers. Also, there was really no need to be so dismissive and so bitchy in expressing your opinion of her singing.

In the interview with Joan Rivers linked above Steve talks about accompanying Eydie to Spain for her appearances and how she was treated like a STAR from the moment she arrived.

So she did appear as a solo act at times.

She must have toured Latin America as well.

She was a hack, who is barely remembered except by 75 year old gay men.

R117. You do amuse, hun.

Tell us more about Lupe Velez as you like to do on other threads.

[Quote] She was a terrific singer. She did not have quite the richness of tone that Judy and Barbra had. But yes she could belt and croon. I also think she did not choose her material very well and at times her voice became strident.

As if Barbra's didn't...

I prefer Vikki Carr.

[quote] I prefer Vikki Carr.

You probably also prefer McDonald's to filet mignon.

]quote]but I find she's always operating at a fever pitch

I don't know what you're talking about

- Shirley Bassey

Eydie sang the theme for “Life with Lucy”.

Ha! Bassey has two settings: loud and louder. But she is never shrill, Gorme could be shrill.

Life With Lucy was cast with a bunch of nobodies, wasn't it? (Gale Gordon excepted.)

I loved Eydie but, yes, often her voice could be shrill, harsh, strident.

[quote]But she lacks a certain emotional connection with an audience or listener.

Eydie Gorme? She was hugely popular with audiences. Steve&Eydie were great entertainers. One of the the top acts of the 1960s and 70s.

Steve should have hooked up with this guy for a completely different kind of duo act.

I love how The Simpsons used her name for a fancy grocery store: Eatie Gourmet.

Technically, she has a very good voice.

But I find her tone to be harsh.

Listening to her sing "Too Close For Comfort," she gets the notes but the phrasing is off and her voice is a bit abrasive.

I was familiar with the song sung by Peggy Lee. While Lee did not have the vocal equipment EG has, her rendition of the song is far more masterful and pleasant to listen to. Which is why Lee's voice still pops up on soundtracks and EG's does not.

R76...You clearly missed the point of my post. In fact, from the sounds of it you're nowhere in the vicinity of being able to understand what I said. It's knee jerk reactionary & narrow responses like yours that attempt to make nefarious issues out of valid statements.

And besides, so what if what I said is exactly what you're accusing (which logically & contextually it is not)? Being proud of one's output carries no shame at all.

I love you Eydie.

As someone who is originally from Colombia, I only knew of her work in Spanish. Connie Francis as well. Years go by and I move to the United States and learn from cable television that neither Edyie nor Connie were from a Spanish speaking country. Thanks to my (late) grandmother I thought Eydie was from Spain and that Connie Francis was perhaps Costa Rican.

I think that performance was beautiful, OP. It's somewhat Broadway in a good way. Beautiful!

[quote]But I find her tone to be harsh.

This is a common complaint from men when it comes to women's voices - singing OR speaking. What the fuck is wrong with your ears???

Dig the conehead wig.

[quote]Years go by and I move to the United States and learn from cable television that neither Edyie nor Connie were from a Spanish speaking country.

But Eydie grew up speaking Spanish.

Viki Carr recorded in Spanish. Her parents were Mexican.

Nancy Ames is pretty much unknown today, but she also recorded in Spanish. Her parents were Panamanian.

This is pretty fabulous:

Nancy Ames was a handsome woman.

R44 Somos is one of my favorite songs. Here is Jose Feliciano singing his version of Somos.

R117 is snarky, ageist, and ill informed. Sad

[quote]This is a common complaint from men when it comes to women's voices

I don't get it when someone says a voice is harsh, the problem is that they're a man. Not that the voice is harsh. The voice isn't harsh, you're just a MAN, and men are ASSHOLES seems to be what you're really saying.

Nancy Ames, R135 — there’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while! A fine singer, and a real beauty!

[quote]I don't get it when someone says a voice is harsh, the problem is that they're a man. Not that the voice is harsh. The voice isn't harsh, you're just a MAN, and men are ASSHOLES seems to be what you're really saying.

My god, you are so beyond stupid. What a ridiculous thing to type because you are such a glassy-eyed fan.

I am a man, but some of my favorite singers are women. I even provided a link to one of them.

I find Eydie Gormé's tone to be harsh compared to most other female singers. And her diction is low-class. That might make me a snob, but it doesn't make me a misogynist. I just don't enjoy listening to her voice. And I am, obviously, not alone in this.

R139 = Man with problems. Lots of them.

R141 My post went right over your head and you call me stupid. I was pointing out that the poster was coming down on men who criticize women singers, because the poster was being sexist against men. Like you always see on social media. "Why do men always call strong women are bitches?" when the woman in question is clearly a bitch. "How come men think women singers sound shrill?" is similar. I was saying your opinion was not due to your being a man, it was just your opinion, and valid.

Your attempt at parody was futile as there are crazy people who would type such things in earnest here.

[quote]Nancy Ames, [R135] — there’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while! A fine singer, and a real beauty!

She puts on a great show in that clip.

Nancy Wilson has a masterful version.

Steve and Eydie, SCTV-style.

William Goldman eviscerated Golden Rainbow in his book The Season. Gorme and Lawrence grabbed numbers from other performers, ordered changes to the book, fired production teams all in pursuit of those theater parties. They would actually audition a show for their reps in order to secure the advance sale.

A star should have the best number(s) in the show.

Nancy Wilson was part of my childhood soundtrack. My mother was a fan and bought all of her albums. Her version is great, soulful, but listen to Dinah Washington and you’ll hear how much Wilson borrowed from her vocally.

It's hard for me to appreciate her talent in that video since 'If he Walked Into my Life' is such a god-awful song I couldn't make it through the entire performance. Since Edie slowed it down to funeral dirge speed it was even more of a drag than I remember. And she was NOT feeling it. No one can connect with that song, except as a victim.

She was wonderful with "I Wanna be Around".

Nancy sounds nothing like a victim. She mostly doesn't even sound anguished. At times, she treats the lyric like a lullaby.

[quote]It's hard for me to appreciate her talent in that video since 'If he Walked Into my Life' is such a god-awful song I couldn't make it through the entire performance.

'If he Walked Into my Life' is one of the all-time great torch songs.

Nothing in 'If he Walked Into my Life' suggests victim.

It's a where-did-I-go-wrong song.

R151 = Angie Lansbury

Where's the Shirley Bassey Troll?

Since Garland was considered as a Mame replacement, it's nice to consider how the song would have fit her persona spectacularly. Too bad she never recorded it.

Her voice was mostly gone by then.

There is an embarassing attempt by her to sing it, recorded live. I think this is at Westbury.

Why do you always link to Google instead of the intended?

[quote]Why do you always link to Google instead of the intended?

Why do you always ask inane questions?

Nothing inane about it. Up your link game.

R148, that was ambitious Steve doings. Eydie wanted to be a stay home mom. Steve envisioned himself BIG like Sinatra with legit theater credits......wasn't gonna happen. Ever.

R157/R158 - EVERYTHING was gone by then.

[quote] Nothing in 'If he Walked Into my Life' suggests victim. It's a where-did-I-go-wrong song.

IMO, it does suggest victim in that the woman didn't do anything wrong (according to the lyrics of the song), still got dumped, and is now rehashing the whole thing and blaming herself.

R148, Eydie thought the costumes on the girls in the chorus were too skimpy, so she demanded they cover up.

Judy a few years earlier would have killed it.

I don't know if I love the song, I never really loved any Jerry Herman song, and I hate that line, "If that boy with the bugle". So cheesy. But it's one of his best songs.

Eydie was great in these clips, but I don't know a lot about singing (I think I have pretty good taste, and I know it when I hear it). So I want to ask: why do so many modern singers, in this vein, including Broadway singers, sound so nasal to me? The first big singer who ever sounded like that, to me, was Barbra - but somehow I usually liked her sound. Before the 60s I don't seem to find a lot of recordings with that nasal sound.

R137. Gracias for the beautiful Jose Feliciano version of Somos.

Normally I don't care for his work because of the vocal calisthenics but he absolutely nailed Somos.

Here's another popular Lucho Gatica bolero. Beautiful. Touching. Poetry. I'm going to check to see if Eydie recorded this. Everybody else did.

[quote]IMO, it does suggest victim in that the woman didn't do anything wrong (according to the lyrics of the song)

The song is ALL about her mulling over what she might have done wrong. She's blaming herself for his going away. No where does she even consider that she "didn't do anything wrong". She is putting the blame on herself.

The lyrics have a similar sentiment to "Always on My Mind".

R169, not trying to fight, but I think the underlying tone was that she did nothing wrong. He preferred someone else. She's wracking her brains to no avail. Even if she HAD done everything "right," he would have left her. That's my interpretation of the song.

"Always on My Mind" is another can of worms. To me, it sounds like some asshole who could never keep his dick in his pants, but wanted his partner to still be there when he got back from fucking around.

Isn't the song about an aunt and her nephew?

And now, the lovely Miss Carole Bishop and her...boa!

Dumped? She's talking about a boy turned man!

Brenda Lee debuted "Always On My Mind." I don't think she had a "thing" in her pants.

Almovodar used the song at r168 for the final scene in his film Matador but recorded by Italian singer Mina which is odd because his films are usually all things Spanish.

BTW Almovodar has said he feels his two weakest films are Kika and Matador. I could not disagree more. Matador is hilarious as it perfectly mocks sex, the church and our Spanish obsession with death. It's second place to All About My Mother IMO.

Brava Mina!

I like "Kika" and "Matador" too, much more than some of his later movies.

[quote]Judy a few years earlier would have killed it.

A few DECADES earlier

Hey, ease up, Judy was still great up until about 1963.

I'm getting kd lang vibes

[quote]Not trying to fight, but I think the underlying tone was that she did nothing wrong. He preferred someone else. She's wracking her brains to no avail. Even if she HAD done everything "right," he would have left her. That's my interpretation of the song.

Your interpretation of the song is completely incorrect in any context, but ESPECIALLY as it's sung in context in a production of MAME.

No matter the context the song is one endless frau self-evisceration. Doesn't matter if it's originally about the nephew (and therefore creepily passionate) it's morphed into a torch song which are songs about lovers, not family members, and ideally about lovers who don't sound like retards who need constant handling.

Well, I think Herman wrote it as a "man that got away" song and then adapted it for the show. Maybe not, but I always (perhaps incorrectly) thought it sounded like that. Also I think Jerry Herman (about whom I know nothing) may have composed his show tunes with an eye on them having a life beyond his shows as pop songs.

R183, I think your first conjecture is very likely true, and your second point is absolutely true. But regardless, those who perceive "If He Walked Into My Life" as a "victim" song are very wrong, in my opinion.

R184 You're right, I don't think it's a victim song. It's a song about a person who regrets losing someone and thinks about what they could have done differently - which is not connected to being a victim at all.

I actually don't even think it belongs in Mame, but that's another story. In the non-musical original, Mame just says "Why did I buy him those damn long pants?" Meaning, why did he have to grow up, and turn into this adult so foreign to her values? She doesn't have regrets,or blame herself.

[quote]I actually don't even think it belongs in Mame, but that's another story. In the non-musical original, Mame just says "Why did I buy him those damn long pants?" Meaning, why did he have to grow up, and turn into this adult so foreign to her values? She doesn't have regrets,or blame herself.

I know what you mean, but I think the Mame/Patrick relationship is really intensified by that song. Many of the lines in that scene in the musical -- Mame saying that Patrick has turned into a bourgeois, Babbity little snob, followed by Patrick telling Mame "Forget you ever knew the Upsons, forget you ever knew me" -- are taken more or less verbatim from the play, and I think it helps the story emotionally if there is a temporary rift between Patrick and his aunt but then he realizes she was right all along.

R185 and R186, It’s an 11 o’clock number.

Oh, dear. Things are messy at the Lawrence house.

Son David Lawrence has kicked Steve's 'companion' (grifting whore) to the curb to take control of Steve's estate.

64 years? She must be in her 80s.

Messy. The companion says David Lawrence stole about $75k from Steve's estate to record an album and produce this video.

Who starts a singing career at 60?

R21, your post filled me with a kind of lightness and warmth, as if I was becoming more gay just by reading it. I thank you most heartily!

[quote]Gorme and Lawrence grabbed numbers from other performers, ordered changes to the book, fired production teams all in pursuit of those theater parties.

Today, "Golden Rainbow" is remembered mostly for its freewheeling patio number.

One of Steve Lawrence's bigger solo hits.

I always loved the b-side of Eydie's hit single, 'Can't Get Over The Bossa Nova' (which I also love, of course).

Does any DLer know how a number like this comes together? Carol and staff knows Eydie is a guest on a certain date,...... so they put together the medley, and the company learns it the week prior? There is no editing, correct? A couple of takes in front of a live audience and they choose the best one to air? Something like that? Thanks in advance

That would be "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," r194. One of the great earworms of the era.

I love that one too (naturally), R196. Definitely an ear worm. I WAS wrong about one thing: 'I Want You To Meet My Baby' was the A-side and 'Can't Get Over The Bossa Nova' was on the flipside.

R195 I wonder if the musical arranger had arranged medley's before hand, to get musical clearance. He probably added more for Eydie, considering her range and knew what Carol could do vocally. Plus add in the orchestra. I'm always amazed at how these old variety shows had these huge productions numbers week after week. It's no wonder Judy Garland drank. Oh, and thanks for that clip. Those clowns were terrifying, and I'm not even scared of clowns!

I've always thought she was a great, underrated singer.

[quote]I'm always amazed at how these old variety shows had these huge productions numbers week after week.

They sure did, R198. A lot of people must have lost their jobs when this kind of show went out of fashion.

I'm old enough to remember the later days of variety shows - I would have seen R195 except I was probably out getting drunk, laid or both, being 20 years old at the time - but I always hated the production numbers. For example, the Carol-Eydie duet would have been much better without the random, pointless dancers appearing now and again. Who wanted that see that crap? Just the sing the songs.

Variety shows didn't so much go out of fashion, the networks put all their $ into the youth market. That meant firing the "old" talent.