In Philip Furia’s musical biography A Life in Song, a customer of the seedy Pelham Café (known to the initiated in those days as “Nigger Mike’s”) described Berlin’s voice – how seriously I do not know – thus:
“He was a vocal blockbuster. His voice sounded like gastritis in tempo.”Another song he really does justice to (though – and how gay does this sound – he’s no Doris Day) is It’s a Lovely Day Today.
It’s a Lovely Day Today
I find that whenever that song pops into your head, it is a lovely day. Funny, that.
If you like these samples, I suggest you buy the album Irving Sings Berlin.
There are a few other Berlin songs in my post about Coon Songs, and also a post of Early Berlin songs by English performers at Young Irving Berlin - The Brits.
3 comments:
What a lovely song and performance, thanks for posting this.. interesting blog too.. lots of good stuff. keep it up
Luke
Absolutely wonderful. I heard a bit of Irving sings Irving on Jonathan Schwartz this weekend, which lead me here via google. Thanks for this post.
Thanks for your comments, really appreciated - Gabriel, do you know if the Schwartz programme is available online?
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