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Sings Some Ol' Songs
''Sings Some Ol' Songs'' is a 2002 studio album by American singer-songwriter Victoria Williams. It has received positive reviews from critics and , it is her last new music. Reception Editors at AllMusic rated this album 3 out of 5 stars, with critic MacKenzie Wilson writing that "Victoria Williams is a storyteller of her own kind who possesses a matchless whimsicality" and in these covers "Williams' peculiar vocal beauty comes alive" with a collection that is "absolutely lovely". An assessment in ''Billboard'' called this release "a fun treat for classic song lovers looking for new takes on old favorites" and "an interesting project overall that transports listeners to a simpler time". In '' No Depression'', a review called this "a charming, fun, touching, old-fashioned record, the perfect soundtrack to when you're feeling both full of life and melancholy". At ''PopMatters'', Jason McNeil called this work "not the stellar album one might expect from this gifted singer-songwriter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams (born December 23, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, Williams was the catalyst for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Biography Williams was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1986, she worked with then-husband Peter Case on his debut album, following a year later with her own debut, ''Happy Come Home'', produced by Anton Fier, with an accompanying 28 minute documentary by D. A. Pennebaker. In 1990, she released ''Swing the Statue''. She also often appeared onstage and on record with the band Giant Sand. In 1993, she acted in Gus Van Sant's '' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'', who also made the video for "Tarbelly and Featherfoot". In early 1992, as Williams' career was beginning to take off, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Because she did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Skies (Irving Berlin Song)
"Blue Skies" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926. "Blue Skies" is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "bluebird of happiness" as a symbol of cheer: "Bluebirds singing a song/Nothing but bluebirds all day long." The sunny optimism of the lyrics are undercut by the minor key giving the words an ironic feeling. History The song was composed in 1926 as a last-minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical ''Betsy''. Although the show ran for only 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.Laurence Bergreen, ''As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin'', 1996, p. 277. In 1927, the music was published and Ben Selvin's recorded version (as The Knickerbockers with vocals by Charles Kaley) was a hit. That same year, it became one of the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as " Ol' Man River", " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", " A Fine Romance", " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", " The Song Is You", " All the Things You Are", " The Way You Look Tonight" and " Long Ago (and Far Away)". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway musicals and Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopation and jazz progressions, built on, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm Old Fashioned
"I'm Old Fashioned" is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the film '' You Were Never Lovelier'' (1942), where it was introduced by Nan Wynn who dubbed for Rita Hayworth as part of a song and dance routine with Fred Astaire. Background According to Mueller: "Constructed sparsely in a kind of theme and variations form (ABA'A") it is particularly notable for the appealing way the strains link up – especially for the poised and dramatic transitions between the A' and A" strains". Mercer recalled working with the older Kern, and how Kern reacted to the lyrics for "I'm Old Fashioned": "We hit it off right away. I was in such awe of him, I think he must have sensed that. He was very kind to me, treated me more like a son than a collaborator. And when he thought I had a great lyric he said, 'Eva, Eva, come down here', and he kissed me on the cheek and he said, 'Eva, I want you to hear this lyric'. Well, of course I was thril ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Young (lyricist)
Joe Young (July 4, 1889 – April 21, 1939) was an American lyricist. He was born in New York. Young was most active from 1911 through the late-1930s, beginning his career working as a singer and song-plugger for various music publishers. During World War I, he entertained the U.S. troops, touring Europe as a singer. Works An early work is the song "Way Down East" (©1910) words by Cecil Mack, music by Joe Young and Harold Norman, published by Gotham-Attucks Music Publishing Company. ''The Laugh Parade'' For the 1931 Broadway show ''The Laugh Parade'', Young collaborated with co-lyricist Mort Dixon and composer Harry Warren on " You're My Everything". The show also included: * "Ooh! That Kiss" * "Love Me Forever" * "That Torch Song" Later efforts * " In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town" * " Lullaby of the Leaves" * " Snuggled On Your Shoulder, Cuddled In Your Arms" * "Was That the Human Thing To Do?" * "Something in the Night" * "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore" * "I'm Growing Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906August 14, 1972) was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian and actor. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recordings featuring his piano performances. He was equally famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and later in movies and television, as for his music. Early life Levant was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1906, to Orthodox Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia. His father, Max, was a watchmaker who wanted his four sons to become either dentists or doctors. His mother Annie was a highly religious woman whose father was a Rabbi who presided over his daughter's wedding to Max Levant. Oscar Levant moved to New York in 1922, following the death of his father. He began studying under Zygmunt Stojowski, a well-established piano pedagogue. In 1925, aged 18, he appeared with Ben Bernie in a short fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam M
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional characters * Sam (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Sam (surname), a list of people with the surname ** Cen (surname) (岑), romanized "Sam" in Cantonese ** Shen (surname) (沈), often romanized "Sam" in Cantonese and other languages Religious or legendary figures * Sam (Book of Mormon), elder brother of Nephi * Sām, a Persian mythical folk hero * Sam Ziwa, an uthra (angel or celestial being) in Mandaeism Animals * Sam (army dog) (died 2000) * Sam (horse) (b 1815), British Thoroughbred * Sam (koala) (died 2009), rescued after 2009 bush fires in Victoria, Australia * Sam (orangutan), in the movie ''Dunston Checks In'' * Sam (ugly dog) (1990–2005), voted the world's uglies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", " Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", and " My Funny Valentine". Life and career Hart was born in Harlem, New York City, the elder of two sons, to Jewish immigrant parents, Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart, of German background. Through his mother, he was a great-grandnephew of the German poet Heinrich Heine. His father, a business promoter, sent Hart and his brother to private schools. (His brother, Teddy Hart, also went into theatre and became a musical comedy star. Teddy Hart's wife, Dorothy Hart, wrote a biography of Lorenz Hart.) Hart received his early education from Columbia Grammar School and entered Columbia College in 1913, before switching to Columbia University School of Journalism, where he attended for two years.< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including '' Pal Joey'', '' A Connecticut Yankee'', '' On Your Toes'' and '' Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', '' Flower Drum Song'', '' Carousel'', ''South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for bringing the Broadway musical to a new maturity by telling stories that were focused on characters and drama rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Funny Valentine
"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart coming of age musical '' Babes in Arms'' in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. One of them was Chet Baker, for whom it became his signature song. In 2015, it was announced that the Gerry Mulligan quartet featuring Chet Baker's version of the song was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the song's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy". Mulligan also recorded the song with his Concert Jazz Band in 1960. History '' Babes in Arms'' opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, in New York City on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances. In the original play, a character named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green) sings the song to Valentine "Val" LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz'' (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including " Over the Rainbow", Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the RIAA and the NEA. Life and career Arlen was born in Buffalo, New York, the child of a Jewish cantor. His twin brother died the next day. He learned to play the piano as a youth, and formed a band as a young man. He achieved some local success as a pianist and singer before moving to New York City in his early twenties, where he worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and changed his name to Harold Arlen. Between 1926 and about 1934, Arlen appeared occasionally as a band vocalist on records by The Buffalodians, Red Nichols, Joe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
