While Nat King Cole had reached his prime in early ‘50s, another romantic singer made his entry in the musical charts in 1956, Johnny Mathis with a soft ‘velvet’ voice.
The first song of his that I loved was “The Twelfth of Never”, meaning the date of a future occurrence that will never come to pass. Its remarkably emotional lyrics include- ‘You ask how long I’ll love you, I’ll tell you true….I’ll love you till the poets run out of rhyme, Until the twelfth of never, and that’s a long long time.’
This was followed by “Chances Are” with hopeful lines, 'Guess you feel you’ll always be the one and only one for me And if you think you could Well, chances are your chances are awfully good!’
And the compulsive “Misty”, ‘Don’t you know how hopelessly I’m lost, that’s why I’m following you…. I’m too misty and too much in love.’
But the song most of us would be familiar with was the theme song from the movie “A Certain Smile” based on the French novel by Francoise Sagan who, as a teenager, hit the bestseller list with her first book, "Bonjour Tristesse". As some may recall, "A Certain Smile" is a story of a teenage girl who abandons her young boy friend for an older married man leading to the inevitable heartbreak. The older man was played by Rossano Brazzi and I have hated him ever since! Some of the haunting lyrics of the song.... ‘You love awhile and when love goes, You try to hide the tears inside with a cheerful pose, But in the hush of night….Comes that certain smile to haunt your heart again.’
That brings to mind another Francoise, Francoise Hardy, a French singer popular in the late ‘60s who also sang in English. My favourite,“Will you still love me tomorrow?”
Skipping many years and more romantic singers, let me bid adieu to this piece with the popular Demis Roussos song, ‘Goodbye my love goodbye….As long as you remember me I’ll never be too far, Goodbye my love goodbye, I’ll always will be true, So hold me in your dreams till I come back to you.”
Nice sir. Thanks. Regards
ReplyDelete