A Song in My Heart

Frank Sinatra?

@JNOV: he had a Nixon fetish later in life, but I have to forgive him …

Bloggy, did you happen to hear Weekend Edition on NPR Saturday? They played a clip from this song while interviewing the author of a new biography of Frank Sinatra. The title of the book is “Frank – The Voice” and it covers the period of the early fifties when he was considered a Communist, a draft-dodger and even worse a has-been.

@Dave H: I may have heard a promo, but I think what put it in my head was a Luke Burbank rant on the subject of Michael Buble shitting on standards that don’t need to be revisited. Like this song. And ‘Isn’t It Romantic?’ – Bobby Short and Mel Torme have it covered, thank you veddy mutsch.

@blogenfreude: Why single out Michael Buble for a rant? Rod Stewart has milked the standards for five albums now with no signs of slowing down. Maybe one day he’ll do a cover of “Maggie May”.

@blogenfreude: Thank you for validating my visceral distaste for Buble.

Without rendering judgment on hated singers, isn’t revisitation the point of standards?

@nojo: But revisitation must make a standard better, or at least different. For example – The Eagles admitted that “Take It Easy” was better when Travis Tritt did it. I haven’t heard anyone admitting Stewart or Buble or another hack has made anything better.

@blogenfreude: Fair enough. The quality of a given rendition is certainly up for grabs. But in jazz, at least, everybody covers everything.