Do you need cheering up..? (then watch this medley of Sinatra & Dino!)

[PADDY]

This is a great TV piece of these boys larking around with some of their best songs!! You'll just love it!!

So if you are feeling a 'wee bit down' today, then take some of Dr Paddy's beside manner and medicine with this little number below!!! Doctor's Orders!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0zJcbm2ddU

 

[imoldfashioned]

Love it!

I'm climbing on my soapbox here for a moment, but who do we have like this anymore? Talent just seeps out of their pores, they're at the top of their game and most of all the joy they express--you can tell they're just having the best time. So few modern performers evidence that kind of joy.

There's a great medley with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin--the very beginning of the clip is on YouTube but not the part I was looking for specifically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bpuoS-icGY (Check out those heels Judy's wearing--how can she walk much less dance?). However, this led me down the Judy Garland YouTube path.

This is my favorite rendition of my favorite song ever, taken from the last of the Judy Garland Shows. That show was done as a concert and it's pretty much desert island material--every song is great.

Just in Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we4aWUTpiQY&mode=related&search=

From the same program A Foggy Day/If Love Were All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-MAxMeDJDQ&mode=related&search=

Almost Like Being in Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq_jkYcQgqo
Once, just once, I'd love to be able to open my mouth and sing like that--she's like a force of nature.

She also does a killer version of What Now My Love to the tune of Bolero--it's so over the top it's fabulous! The only YouTube version is a very inferior rendition (and what the hell is she wearing?) but you get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v3QbwdtkwY

Her version of Stormy Weather breaks your heart, so does her version of By Myself, selling the unbelievably cheezy Hello Bluebird is marvelous--I could go on and on (but I won't!)

 

[PADDY]

Just in Time...

SW, You've got some really good taste in music Isn't that just a 'show stopper' of a song by Judy!!
You've got me going through all her numbers now. I wish "I" could sing like that too!!!

In fact, between you and I, I contacted a voice coach the other day about training my voice Never too old eh.

Glad you had the biggest of smiles when you watched Ol Blue Eyes and Dino!!

 

[PADDY]

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: Gosh, this just pulls on the heart strings and makes me think of God, Country and spiced Apple Pie. It transports me to Walton Mountain in the late 30's sitting with the family and eating pumpkin soup and going fishing for tiddlers in the river. It makes me think of America in its hey day. These songs by Judy just bring a lump to my throat.

Was that sugar and milk in your tea? just snuggle up on that big sofa and lose yourself for a wee while in these...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aEkpU6RMw0

Now this one COME RAIN OR COME SHINE, I just want to take that gal in my arms and dance-dance-dance!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5J7A4NUtQk

ALLMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE...isn't this number just wonderful!! Get those dancing shoes on!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhsLU4HTtpg

COME ON GET HAPPY!! If there were tears with any of the others, then this one will chase them all away!!! (I hope so )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U-rBZREQMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhsLU4HTtpg

 

[Dutch McCoy]

Wow! Thank you very much for all the great links. I actually just received a DVD of Frank, Dean and Judy doing a CBS special in the mail from Netflix but I have not been able to watch it yet. I can not wait to watch it tonight.

Also, I totally agree imoldfashioned. The most of the "singers" today are mainly just a bunch of Clydes. Most of their "talent" comes from the producers. Yuck!

 

[imoldfashioned]

Wow! Thank you very much for all the great links. I actually just received a DVD of Frank, Dean and Judy doing a CBS special in the mail from Netflix but I have not been able to watch it yet. I can not wait to watch it tonight.

You must go to Netflix now and put Judy Garland: The Concert Years at the top of your queue--no, you know, skip that--just go to Amazon and buy it. I had this on VHS before it came out on DVD and I literally wore out the tape. A lot of highlights from her show and while Lorna Luft's narration can be a bit annoying it's still so, so good. If I had been around in '63 I'd have been at every single taping of her show--can you imagine getting to see her for free?

Great clips Paddy -- I especially love Come Rain or Come Shine. Bongos! I refer to that version as her self combustion song--I've got an audio version where she gets even more into the song (if you can believe it!), by the end you're convinced she's going to explode!

Okay, now you guys have got me on another roll.

Her version of Ol' Man River is tremendous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKZAX-X7gs

The Battle Hymn of the Republic, sung on her first show after JFK's assasination--chills every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsNAesICYI

This clip doesn't fit the name of this thread since it will not cheer you up, but get your hankie and watch this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uwn9pzP8Sc

I know she's acting but, guh, Judy!

Also, I have a theory that the true measure of a performer is not how well they can handle great material but how well they can sell schlock. In that spirit I give you "Hello Bluebird". Could any modern singer sell the lyric "Thank you bluebird/Happy, happy bluebird" and have me enthusiastically buying it the way I do from Judy? I think not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQj5V234l1k

 

[imoldfashioned]

SW, You've got some really good taste in music Isn't that just a 'show stopper' of a song by Judy!!
You've got me going through all her numbers now. I wish "I" could sing like that too!!!

In fact, between you and I, I contacted a voice coach the other day about training my voice Never too old eh.

Glad you had the biggest of smiles when you watched Ol Blue Eyes and Dino!!

Oh, voice lessons! You should definitely pursue that Paddy--good for you!

I wish there was Golden Age karaoke (maybe there is and I've just never heard of it). I have little interest in singing "I Will Survive" but give me an arrangement of Judy's and a couple drinks and I'd be good to go.

 

[imoldfashioned]

One more...

Found this gem--I forgot how much I love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rWGTdvi49E&mode=related&search=

 

[scotrace]

These are fantastic

A voice coach (speaking) I had once said that Sinatra's voice wasn't the thing that made him great. It was his style and phrasing.

This thread has gotten me hunting more on Youtube.

I'moldfashioned, you are so right - you can see the joy these entertainers take (or at least are awfully good at making us think they do) from sharing their amazing talent with an audience. So many singers today are all about the anger. And since there's little to be angry about, it's Anger For The Sake Of Looking Pouty Cause That Sells Downloads If I Look All Dangerous And Stuff.

 

[zaika]

oh, paddy and imoldfashioned...thank you for posting these videos. watching sinatra and martin goof off just made me love them even more...if that's possible. and judy...oh dear judy. she always brings tears to my eyes. i think the difference between performers like her and those today is the connection to the music and the words. judy FEELS everything she sings...she is connected to it...people today just sing with empty eyes. even good technical singers. empty. i'm always on the lookout though...*sigh* maybe i'm just too enamored with those singers of the past to be a good judge.

paddy...good on you for taking voice lessons! i've been toying with the same thing...only for opera... ahem...

may i share as well??

one of my favorite songs "can't help lovin' dat man" as sung by the beautiful lena horne.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqjLByjV9AE

sarah vaughn 'don't blame me'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA5wLJpD-ns

haha...one of my favorite scenes from judy's movie 'meet me in st. louis.' they're soooo cute!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouavKzF34HQ

okay that's all...bye.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Thanks, Dr Paddy, that did cheer me up, something that sorely needed doing.

 

[imoldfashioned]

So sorry to hear you're in need of cheering BegintheBeguine; take care of yourself.

One of my great regrets is that I never saw Sarah Vaughn live--she died so relatively young, I thought I'd have time. I taped a tribute program after her death--a scratchy broadcast from some tiny radio station but the dj had this amazing collection of her work. He played a version of "Dancing in the Dark" that has haunted me; I still have my crumbling cassette version but I've been looking for it on CD forever with no luck.

I did see Lena do The Lady and Her Music live after begging my mother to take me to the touring show (I think I was 13)--one of the best evenings of my life, she was amazing. She's another one where her voice is good but it's the inflection and the emotion that makes her great. Her version of Surrey with the Fringe on top is one of my favorites and just thinking about her singing Yesterday When I Was Young raises gooseflesh (YouTube brought up bupkus for the former but here's the latter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96KVBRcegVo).

And Judy--young Judy, old Judy, give me any Judy!

I love Meet Me In St. Louis. A friend and I have been known to quote at length from the scene where the sisters are getting ready for the party: "Just think how we'd look going out together; you with your raven black hair and me with my auburn!" and "Men don't want the bloom rubbed off!" "Personally, I think I have too much bloom!" are two favorites. There's so many great scenes in that film but I keep returning to the two major scenes with the parents;

When they're at the piano singing "You and I" (which I thought was an old song but it was actually written for the film). The way Mary Astor doesn't directly address the tense situation but the two parents performing the song brings the family back together without comment. Plus, it's just a lovely song.

The second scene I love is when Leon Ames bombastically announces that they don't have to move to NYC and everyone starts opening their christmas presents. Mary Astor moves away from the group, unnoticed except by her husband, with tears in her eyes. Ames comes up behind her and covers her hand with his and there's such a tenderness between them. I think that might be my favorite scene in the whole film. Neither on YouTube. Nertz.