There are times when I think I’ve heard almost every song, especially those sung by the one and only Johnny Mathis. Just recently though, I bought a new Johnny Mathis disc that I did not have. Although I had some of the songs on this disc, I didn’t have all of them and I felt the need for more Johnny. So, I bought it and fell in love again. Till Love Touches Your Life was a new song for me, and while the song is spectacular (to say the least), and Johnny is wonderful (as always), the arrangement of this piece of music is unbelievable. I play it every night in my art room and it is the song that I must listen to at least once every night.
Please tune in on Wednesday, April 20th, at 1pm Eastern, 12 pm Central Time and 10am Pacific Time when Movies Broadway Singers and Beyond will showcase some new music from Johnny Mathis as well as other new pieces.
When I was young, I heard a song and the melody was exquisite. In those days, however, all I had was a transistor radio and a clock radio and I couldn’t hear the song as often as I would have chosen. Through the years, my memory of this song faded. Then one day I was listening to a new Percy Faith disc and lo and behold! There it was, the song I hadn’t heard in 30 years. The song is called The Wailing of the Willow and oh my, it is wonderful! Percy does it with a jazzy flair but it was written by Harry Nilsson and it was about lost love and you will hear this in Harry’s version. I then found a version by the one and only The Girl from Ipanema, Astrud Gilberto. All three versions of this song are different and haunting. If you have a favorite, let me know.
All this brings me to This Happy Madness, sung by Frank Sinatra but we won’t stop there. Percy Faith (again) does his own version of this and it is called Estrada Branca. The story goes like this: Estrada Branca was composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. The lyrics were written by Gene Lees, so out of respect for all of this wonderful talent I will play for you both versions. This song too, I play every night in my art room. My latest art piece is called This Happy Madness.
Happy Listening. With a song in my heart.
Sherry