Something's Coming

From the film version of West Side Story (1961). I knew the music was written by Leonard Bernstein, but I didn't realize that Stephen Sondheim provided the lyrics. I guess they don't seem quite as tongue-in-cheek as some of his other works. You have to admit he is a little weird. Again, this is another song not on the playlist, but luckily YouTube had it, though it does have subtitles in some language I'm not sure of. Go figure.

The Lady is a Tramp

Sing it Frankie. My favorite quote about Frank Sinatra comes from the movie Return to Me. The old guys are playing poker and jacking their jaws. Here is part of their conversation about abusive singers: "Sinatra beat up everybody" and the reply "Frank did not. His people did, he did not." Anyway, here he is singing a 1937 Rodgers and Hart tune from their musical Babes in Arms. By the way, for my friend GinaBean: apparently Alice Cooper has done a cover of this song. Just thought you'd like to know. ;)

Maintenance Note

A few things have kept me from blogging recently: vacation, work, child... One of the biggest things has been frustration with playlist.com. It's not really their fault. It's just that I don't always get the most current or popular music in my head. For instance, finding Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof is relatively easy, but try finding Tevye's Dream of the same production. Erg. Even worse, there's no way I could find A Sleep and a Forgetting performed by the mainly instrumental group Enoch Train (the song is based on lines from a Wordsworth poem). I didn't want to leave these songs out, since I try not to "edit" what goes into the blog. So I mention them here and we'll continue on.

Big Spender

The musical Sweet Charity chronicles the mishaps of a taxi dancer (someone who gets paid by the dance) in New York. Big Spender is sung by the dancers inviting men to come dance with them. The musical started on Broadway in 1966 to much acclaim and has had several successful revivals including a recent one starring Christina Applegate. Interestingly, Bob Fosse was the original choreographer for the Broadway production.