A MUSICAL INTERLUDE BY SPEEDY
We have all been enthralled by Zita’s lovely rendition of La
Mer and many musical memories have been rekindled in comments from colleagues. Victor
Sylvester, Joe Loss and Glen Miller were great as was the piano music of Pepe
Jaramillo and Russ Conway. Among vocalists, there were the Beatles, Pat Boone,
Nat King Cole, Matt Monroe, Englebert Humperdinck, The Carpenters, The Bee
Gees, The Blue Diamonds, Tony Brent, Our own Bill Forbes and Cliff Foenander
and of course the one and only Elvis the
Pelvis Presley.
colleague who reached a significant milestone in life- watch this space!
Hope you enjoy listening to it and let us talk about our
favourite English Singers of those bygone days.
Please click on blue (A FOOL SUCH AS I) link below
Mahen
ReplyDeleteIt is so lovely to have some music on the blog. I enjoyed the choice of music and the singing although I prefer your tried and trusted Genos to Smule. Those Elvis Presley songs bring back many happy memories of our teenage years. I certainly hope we have much more music on the blog. Thank you for the wonderful rendition of this all time favourite.
Thanks Nihal. This piece was so joyful to sing and I loved the jazzy feel to it. Zita's post made me want tp bring more music to it. I am working on some songs with my Genos and shall post them one of these days. There are so many Elvis Presley interpretations, some by the Maestro himself, and others using the same lyrics but with different tempos and rhythms. Have you listened to the Sri Lankan gripu Wayo? They are good. If you haven't, why not have a listen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6-WZMxi8U
DeleteThank you Mahendra. Wayo is great very upmarket and modern. ND
DeleteHi Mahen, thank you for that 'fun' version of 'A Fool Such as I.' Nihal is a purist and prefers you singing with your Genos. But I guess you have to work much harder to accompany yourself and record the songs, so I can understand why you enjoy relaxing and loosening up with Smule! The main thing is that you are having fun!
ReplyDeleteGood to see your comment Srianee, which nearly got lost in the avalanche of comments on this post! It looks like the majority are on Nihal's side! But as you said, I enjoy recording on Smule as I get a full band to accompany me and sometimes another vocalist to accompany me.
DeleteI was hoping that I might trigger a discussion on our recollections of singers of our times, some of whom I mentioned.
About the singers you mentioned in your post, while I was at Ladies' there were two camps among my friends; those who liked Elvis and those who liked Pat Boone. I have to confess that I liked Pat Boone (I wasn't 'cool!') I would irritate my Elvis loving friends with various derogatory comments about Elvis, mainly to get a reaction from them! Perhaps there was a third camp who didn't care at all! Over the years I began to appreciate Elvis more and more and realised how unique and great he was. I also distinctly remember the first time I heard the Beatles. It was when we were decorating the hall for Colours Night. I had offered to help our late friend Priya, even though I was not part of the athletic members in our batch. Someone played "I Wanna Hold your Hand" and I asked someone (I think it was Lareef) "Who are those guys who are screaming?" He said "Oh, that is a new group from England, called the "Beatles!" Again, I failed to recognise what a phenomenon they would become! (I would not have made money in the music business!) I was also a Tony Brent fan. I had an American pen-pal at the time who did not have the faintest idea who he was!
ReplyDeleteThat was so interesting Srianee. I cannot recall a similar division among ourselves. I do recall a group who thought we were "culturs" as we listened to English music. They were the Rukmani Devi and Lata fans. I was a fan of the old Sinhala favourites (and Hindi) too, but I loved the western ones. Then there were the Classical music fans who sniffed at us "uncultured" (The bespectacled, violin case carrying serious lot)!
ReplyDeleteHey that's great to hear it again on our Blog! I heard it on Smule and Joe and we loved it. And now I have the pleasure of hearing it again on our Blog. Well done! Hope we'll hear more of your renditions and that our colleagues will follow suit! It's going to be another new feature on our Blog? I hope so!
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are referring to an earlier post "Musical Interlude by Speedy" on the 30th of April. Thanks, Zita.
DeleteMahendra
ReplyDeleteThank you for your rendition of 'A fool such as I' which I enjoyed very much. What talent! Great! Proud to know that our batch mates are blessed with various talents. Chira
Hi Speedy a very belated response to your musical contribution .I did enjoy listening to it though I must confess that I was an ardent Pat Boone fan .. like Bunter. Swyrie was the Elvis fan in our class in school and I remember many arguments as to who was the better singer! I also remember his tragic death with many nurses wearing black arm bands in UK. Blue Hawaii is a great favourite with our family. Thanks for bringing back so many lovely memories. Keep up the good work !
ReplyDelete