NOSTALGIC MUSIC BANTER

It was the day of the storm.

Rajeev, my cousin, and I had started our afternoon game of golf in bright, hot sunlight. We had played four holes when the sky started turning a muddy grey. A duststorm soon hit us, the one that originated in Bikaner and spread over a large part of Rajasthan. Next day, the papers said that the wind speed was more than 110 kms per hour. We don't know what it was on the golf course but a 200-yard swing was getting us less than 50 against the wind and, with following wind, just a gentle tap of a putt making the ball roll 10 feet past the pin.

Nevertheless, we decided to continue our game and with the weather cooling off, got in a musical mood. Rajeev launched into lines he recalled Vinnie Mama, his father, singing to him from "Annie Get Your Gun", 

'Folks like us could never fuss with schools and books and learnin', 

Still, we've gone from A to Zee, a-doin' what comes naturally.' 

I remembered some lines too-

'My uncle out in Texas, can't even write his name,

He signs his cheques with Xs but they cash 'em just the same.

If you saw my pa and ma,  you'd know they had no learnin',

Still they've raised a family, doin' what comes naturally'.

Still on "Annie",  Rajeev and I indulged in a bit of 'Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better than you.'

Rajeev remembered Vinnie Mama's LP disc of "Oklahoma", the musical that marked the beginning of the success of Rodgers and Hammerstein. I too sought that disc whenever I went to Vinnie Mama's house. It's songs are a pure delight beginning with-

'Oh, what a beautiful mornin', oh, what a beautiful day.

I've got a beautiful feelin', everything's goin' my way!'

Then the shy, romantic "People Will Say We're In Love." First, the hesitancy from the girl-

'Don't sigh and gaze at me, your sighs are so like mine,

Your eyes mustn't glow like mine, people will say we're in love.'

The boy is shy too-

'Don't take my arm too much, don't keep your hand in mine,

Your hand feels so grand in mine, people will say we're in love.'

And then he throws caution to the winds and shouts to anybody who can hear him-

'I want 'em to know that Miss Laurey Williams is my girl!

Let people will say we're in love, starlight looks well on us,

Let the stars beam from above, who cares if they tell on us,

Let people say we're in love.'

The next song truly lays down the framework of love-

'With me it's all er nuthin', is it all er nuthin' with you,

It cain't be "in between", it cain't be "now or then",

No half and half romance will do.'

A word of regret here, I haven't had a chance to see "Oklahoma" on stage.

Not so with R&H's second big hit, "Carousel", the revival of which I saw on Broadway during a visit to New York a few years back. The music was mind blowing topped by "If I Loved You" which in my book is one of the best love songs ever. The characters Billy and Julie are too shy to openly declare their love for each other, so they resort to 'if'! 

'If I loved you, time and again I would try to say,

All I'd want you to know,

If I loved you, words wouldn't come in an easy way,

Round in circles I'd go.

Longing to tell you but afraid and shy,

I'd let my golden chances pass me by.

Soon you'd leave me, off you would go in the mist of day,

Never, never to know, how I loved you,

If I loved you.'

If that doesn't touch one's heart, nothing will!

Another stirring but inspiring song is "You'll Never Walk Alone" featured twice in the play, the second time by the dead, invisible Billy at his daughter's graduation ceremony, 'When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high, and don't be afraid of the dark....Walk on. walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone.'

Getting back to the present, it struck me that we were in the month of June which in "Carousel" was 'bustin' out all over.' Not quite bustin' in Jaipur but it was pretty springy when it could have been searing hot.

Finally from the musical, the fascinating "Carousel Waltz" which has one pirouetting as I did all the way home while returning after listening to it at New York Philharmonic Orchestra's performance in Central Park a few days after I saw "Carousel".

I recalled another big R&H hit I was fortunate to see on stage; "South Pacific" has a story culled from James Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific". Its most popular number was "Some Enchanted Evening", a love song sung by the character Emile de Bacque, a middle-aged person who falls in love at first sight with a much younger woman, Nellie. Emile sings it as a solo, telling himself to 'make her your own, or all through your life you may dream all alone. Once you have found her, never let her go.'

Nellie is confused about the relationship and while having a shower and shampoo, determines to 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair'. But you know what happens!

Fun and motherly advice is provided by a native woman, Bloody Mary, who sings of the charm of her native village, "Bali Ha'i".

The storm had blown over as our game continued but now darkness was approaching and for a finale we moved from R&H to Lerner-Loewe's "Gigi". The 1958 movie was an outstanding success and the play I saw on Broadway in 2015, a worthy refresher. Gaston, a grown-up philandering bachelor, pays no attention to Gigi, a precocious, pert teenager he knows from her childhood. Then one day, he suddenly realises that she has grown into a captivating young lady whose charm he cannot resist:

'Oh, Gigi! Why, you've been growing up before my eyes,

Gigi! You're not at all that funny, awkward little girl I knew,

Overnight there's been a breathless change in you....

When did your sparkle turn to fire?

And your warmth become desire?

Oh what miracle has made you the way you are?'

But I will always remember the movie for the debonair Maurice Chevalier's jaunty rendition of "Thank Heaven For Little Girls", 

'Thank heaven for little girls, thank heaven for them all,

No matter where, no matter who, 

Without them, what would little boys do.

Thank heaven for little girls.'

Sunset. Game over. End of banter. Until next game?!

'

LES PAUL AND MARY FORD - FORGOTTEN DUO OF 1950s

When we think of the popular singers of the early '50s, many names immediately spring to mind. We recall Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald who were continuing to add to the fame earned in the '40s while Dean Martin, Perry Como, Doris Day, Patti Page and Eartha Kitt were the new rising stars. Groups such as Andrews Sisters, The Four Aces and Ames Brothers also come in our thoughts.

But how many of us remember a duo which in the early '50s was coming out with hit after hit more frequently than the firmly established contemporaries? Les Paul and Mary Ford were the top recording artistes of those times and in 1951 alone, they sold six million records. In the first half of the '50s, they produced 28 hits with 16 in the top ten out of which 5 were within nine months; remember Tennessee Waltz, Mockin' Bird Hill, How High The Moon, The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise and Whispering? How High The Moon was number 1 for 9 weeks. 

In the next seven months, 5 more hit top ten: My Baby's Coming Home, Lady Of Spain, I'm Sitting On Top Of The World, Bye Bye Blues and Vaya Con Dios which after eleven weeks at number 1, became their theme song in stage and TV shows.

Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) and Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) met in 1945 and decided to work together. They got married in 1949 and formed a husband and wife duo. Both were singers and guitarists and Paul an inventor as well. Mary Ford became the chief voice of the duo with Paul providing guitar accompaniment though, in their shows, Mary often indulged in a friendly duel with him on the guitar akin to the 'Jugalbandi' of Indian classical music. Being a technician, Paul concentrated on songwriting and recording techniques. He had Mary singing within six inches from the mic instead of over a foot which was the norm in those days. This provided a more intimate sound to Mary's voice as also a relaxed feel. Paul was also the first to use multitrack recording technique and it is interesting to know that most of the duo's recordings were done in a makeshift studio in Paul's garage with just the two of them.

Unfortunately, differences arose between them resulting in an acrimonious breakup and divorce in 1964. Mary died in 1977 while Paul carried on working in semi-retirement mode and continued to play the guitar. He won two Grammies in 2006 at the age of 90 and passed away in 2009. The two together as a group were awarded a star in the Hollywood Hall Of Fame in 1960 and inducted in the Hit Parade Hall Of Fame in 2009.

And now, 5 of my favourites recorded by them.

Vaya Con Dios (May God be with you or, literally, Go with God) was their most successful song with eleven weeks as number 1 on the US Billboard and on many charts all over the world. It was ranked the No. 1 top tune of 1953 and the second best selling song of the year. In 2005, it was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame and chosen by Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. People of my generation might not remember Les Paul and Mary Ford but would not forget this song which all of us loved and hummed all the time. Various other versions followed by famous artistes such as Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves, Pat Boone, and Nat King Cole and Julio Iglesias in Spanish but Paul and Mary were unmatched. It's a sad farewell song with the famous chorus lines, 'Vaya Con Dios, my darling, Vaya Con Dios, my love.'

By contrast, I'm Sitting On Top Of The World is a fast-paced, happy song which was constantly on my lips during my Xavier days: ' I'm sitting on top of the world, just rolling along, just rolling along. I'm quitting the blues of the world, just singing a song, just singing a song.'

'World' appears in another of their top songs, 'The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise'. It's a short, romantic number sung in a hopeful way. The lyrics are worthy of a Wordsworth:

'Dear one, the world is waiting for the sunrise

Ev'ry rose is covered with dew....

The thrush on high his sleepy mate is calling 

And my heart is calling you.'

The next two songs have 'birds' in the title. Continuing in the cheerful vein is Mockin' Bird Hill with delightful lyrics:

'When the sun in the mornin' peeps over the hill

An' kisses the roses 'round my window sill,

Then my heart fills with gladness when I hear the trill

Of the birds in the tree tops on mockin' bird hill.

Tra-la-la, tweedle dee dee it gives me a thrill,

To wake up in the mornin' to the mockin' bird trill.'

Humming Bird, though fast-paced, is sad. The singer compares her love interest to a flitting humming bird 'too restless to settle, too wild to tame'. So 'I'd rather be lonely, I'd rather be blue.... I'd rather spend my whole life without you than feather a nest to be shattered apart, by the hum hum of your hummingbird heart.'

Add one for the road! The song I Really Don't Want to Know poses a dilemma: one may wonder about one's lover's past but does one really want to know? 

'How many arms have held you and hated to let you go....

And how many lips have kissed you and set your soul aglow....

So always make me wonder and always make me guess

Even if I ask you, Darlin' don't confess....

How many, how many, I wonder,

But I really don't want to know.'