On this week's edition of Mark Steyn on the Town, we start by celebrating the centenary of an influential yet all but forgotten singer and end the hour face down in the beer nuts at a house of ill repute. In between, there's a very gritty song out of Liverpool, and the conductor of a famous Sinatra record of another Liverpudlian song takes Mark through its transformation. Plus: Gallic sophistication comes to the Emerald Isle.
To listen to the programme, simply click here and log-in.
Last week's edition of On the Town attracted a range of comment, especially re Mark's pun about BVDs. Nancy from Montana says:
Mark Steyn, from 'Rose Marie' to 'My Wild Irish Rose'– I always underwear the hour goes. Well done sir, well done.
Thank you, Nancy. That sounds like one vote for our upcoming hour of non-stop all-underwear songs.
Teresa, a Califormia member of The Mark Steyn Club, agrees:
Very enjoyable. Helped me muscle through my small DIY drywall removal task with a little more vigor! Thank you!
Nicola, from the francophone quartiers of Ontario, writes:
Never heard that Quebec City Carnaval song. I went one year for the parade and almost froze my fingers and toes off despite drinking cariboo red wine out of a plastic cane. Didn't know Gilles Vigneault had written that Patsy Gallant song!
That's a whole story in itself, Nicola - which Mark will tell one day.
One more from Josh Passell, a Steyn Clubber in Massachusetts:
I couldn't make the appointed hour for listening on Saturday, so I listened today, Sunday. And when I finished listening, it was time for your Song of the Week on Serenade. What luck. The song was 'Summertime', music by George Gershwin, who captured the pathos of the setting and characters of Porgy and Bess in a mesmerizing, miasmic lullaby. Compare to Dvorak's Largo which you played On the Town, not expressly a lullaby, but it could have been. The Bohemian longhair and the Tin Pan Alley tunesmith met over a mutual admiration for the 'Negro' vernacular, albeit 40 years or so apart.
Dvorak was deliberate in his choice:
'I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.'
As he did: 'Goin' Home' is often taken to be a genuine spiritual. 'Summertime' maybe can't pass itself off as a genuine 'Negro melody', or maybe it can. Either way, it is serious and original, beautiful and varied.
Thanks for all your comments. On the Town is Steyn's weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm British Summer Time - that's 6pm in western and central Europe/12 midday North American Eastern. You can listen from anywhere in the world by clicking the button at top right here.
As listeners know, Mark is a great believer in old-school appointment listening, and loves the way Serenade's Saturday schedule flows through the day. However, we appreciate that many potential listeners are, at the appointed hour, shampooing the cat. So, as a bonus for Steyn Club members, we post On the Town at SteynOnline every weekend. You can find all our previous shows here.
We do enjoy your comments on our weekend programming. Steyn Clubbers are welcome to leave them below. For more on The Mark Steyn Club, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership.
Mark Steyn on the Town can be heard on Serenade Radio at the following hours:
Saturday 5pm London time/9am Los Angeles
Sunday 5am London time/12 midnight New York
Steyn's Song of the Week continues at its usual hour on Sunday, Monday and Thursday.