On this week's edition of Mark Steyn on the Town Mark remembers Elaine Stritch, and plays a diverse range of vocalists from Luther Vandross and the Andrews Sisters to Neil Sedaka and Fiona Apple. Plus big hits from a small country and a Sinatra cavalcade of Rodgers & Hart.
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~Thank you for your comments about last week's Australia Day edition. Teresa, a Steyn Clubber from California, writes:
Fabulous way to celebrate a holiday I'd never heard of, along with some lovely tunes I had heard of!
Anne Kearney, a First Month Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
Another swooning over your On the Town, Mark. From an unmistakable Yves to a lovely, lilting Dinah Shore (I've never appreciated her enough) to the rousing Clancy Brothers, to a newly discovered (for me) Miz ParrOTT, to another glorious Sinatra Sextet ... among more in and about. I was in heaven. To hear Sinatra pause to get another start on 'In the Still ...' and then to hear Bill Miller pick up on Frank's switch to 'Angel Eyes' from 'One for My Baby' and just launch into it. It's gobsmacking, the talent.
Thank you, dear Mark. May your On the Towns be preserved for eternity.
p.s. You also made me remember and look up Barry Humphries' Dame Edna Everage. I'd forgotten what utter hilarity.
On the other hand, my fellow Torontonian John Whale felt the show lacked certain vital ingredients:
Enjoyed the show as always. Makes my Sunday morning coffee even better. But but, but, how can you have omitted the master yodeller himself Frank Ifield? A big hit in the UK in the 60s. Not to mention 'My Boomerang won't come back', by Charlie Drake.
Well, I can only go on my unscientific surveys of the Australian people over the decades: I have met plenty of Aussies who'd string along with "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" but I have never met one who didn't utterly loathe "My Boomerang Won't Come Back" and regard Charlie Drake as an annoying Cockney who didn't know a thing about Oz.
On the other hand, Andy Marriott played it on Serenade's breakfast show the other day, so maybe I'm all wet.
Greg Warren, a Steyn Clubber from New South Wales, gives us the view from Down Under:
Many thanks Mark, for the Oz Day edition; and for the reminder of Sinatra's contretemps with the aussie press. I waa only a wee sprog when it happened, but I do recall Cranky Frankie's summation of aussie journalists.
My word, he certainly has their number,eh?
I also really enjoyed Gary Shearston's version of 'I get a kick out of you'. I had no idea that he was Australian.
He couldn't be anything else, Greg. Have you heard his version of "Wallaby Stew"? Ask Alison from England:
Another programme of very pleasant songs that are all 'new to me'. Gary Shearston is also new to me but I have had to resolve my problem of disbelieving that he got a kick out of women, either, by identifying that it was his 'deadpan delivery' with a stubbornly Aussie accent, that sent his version of the Cole Porter classic up the charts. He later became an ordained Anglican minister, in rural NSW, and wrote a song called 'Shopping on a Saturday'. That seems like the kind of thing more vicars should be doing.
As for the ungodly song 'My Way', the staple of many a tasteless funeral, it suddenly dawned me that times may totally change. The lines 'To say the things he truly feels, And not the words of one who kneels' to a mendacious, censoring and corrupt Establishment, now seems not so much coarse and arrogant, but positively heroic.
Nancy was also partial to Cranky Frankie:
Loved the Sinatra concert from Down Under!
From beginning to entertaining end alIs I can say mate is good on ya you little ripper! Gonna make me a vegemite sammy and wash it down with a cold Coopers!
Cheers and hooroo!
Nancy's from Montana, but she got closer than Charlie Drake.
Michael Smith, a a Maryland Steyn Clubber, enjoyed the scrappy Paddy content:
Frank - The Wild(cat Strike) Colonial Boy, 1974.
I had the great good fortune to hear Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy belt that tune out in '87 at an Irish fest in the Fenian hotbed of Pontiac, Mich. Shame on you still, FitzRoy.
Great program Mark. Thank you.
Olga wants to hear more re "Lili Marlene":
Dare one hope for a Lili Marlene Song of the Week? There has to be much fertile ground in a song popular across the battle lines (as I learned from an earlier On the Town episode). I can practically hear a Midnight Clear scenario, with the singing echoing either side of the firing line.The Sinatra Sextet was particularly satisfying this week, what with the boozy banter & all. I never associated Master Frank with 'Angel Eyes', because I only know that song from Leaving Las Vegas, & they used a Sting version.
Lastly, can it really be a truly proper Oz episode with nary a vegemite sandwich in earshot?
You "never associated Master Frank with 'Angel Eyes'? No vegemite for you, Olga! The only reason Sting and Bruce Springsteen et al sing "Angel Eyes" is because they know it from Sinatra.
Thanks for all your comments - including the critical ones. On the Town is my weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm Greenwich Mean 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 you know, I'm a great believer in old-school appointment listening, and love 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 times:
Saturday 5pm London time/12 noon New York
Sunday 5am London time/9pm Los Angeles
Steyn's Song of the Week continues on Sunday, Monday and Thursday at the usual hour.
