Standards

As I've probably mentioned to a small boatload of you, I'm playing as an accompanist for Berklee's Stage Performance Workshop summer program today through Saturday. The group I'm paying in is the Jazz group, which handles half of the students. As I listened to this one girl sing "Someone To Watch Over Me", I was actually listening to the lyrics for the first time in as long as I can remember. The bridge was the part that totally racked my brain:

"Although he may not be the man some
Girls think of as handsome
To my heart he carries the key"

The song (written by George and Ira Gershwin) is from the musical "Oh, Kay!", but I first heard it in the musical "Crazy For You", which opened in 1992, and interpolates a lot of Gershwin's songs into a new story. The male lead is a man named Bobby, who is the son of a rich banking family, and in one of the first scenes he turns out to be awfully clumsy and such. Eventually, he dresses up as an awkward foreign play director whom the female lead, Polly, develops a liking for. At one point, she begins to talk about her loneliness, and she sings "Someone To Watch over Me".

I tend to believe that the typical love song is coming to an end. I say that just because all the simple lines are taken, and it would be too cliche to use them again. This is why I hold on to the music of 1958-1963. All those Doo Wop groups, teen idols, and girl groups just had songs that really just said what they meant. I suppose that's because if I can bring myself to do it, I would just love to say things that simply. Think about what Polly is singing there..."he may not be the man some girls think of as handsome". That's true love! He may not be handsome, but he's everything she needs! She didn't need to make some sort of metaphor for handsomeness that involves camels and aluminum or something like that. No, she just says it: "he's not great-looking, but I want him"!!!!

Another good one is "Dream Lover" by Bobby Darin. "Every night I hope and pray, a dream lover will come my way, a girl to hold in my arms, and feel the magic of her charms". COME ON! It's so simple. "Cause I want a girl to call my own, I want a dream lover so I don't have to dream alone"! AH!

The Chantels - "Maybe": "Maybe if I pray every night, you'll come back to me, and maybe if I cry every day, you'll come back to say, maybe"

I'm just throwing it out there. Just say it when you need to. Don't make stuff up, it only blurs your intent.