Programming note: Please join Mark later today for Episode Nine of his current Tale for Our Time, Bulldog Drummond.
~On this week's edition of Mark Steyn on the Town, there are a distressing number of novelty songs, by a writer who was perhaps a little over-partial to them. However, Steyn also celebrates the centenary of Margaret Whiting, one of the great interpreters of the popular songbook, and of a pioneer of the Moog synthesiser. And we get contrasting views of Rome's famous Trevi fountain, from a local lad and from a far distant American. Plus our Sinatra Sextette and the first standard song with no rhymes.
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Last week's Bastille Day edition of On the Town attracted a lot of comment. Fraser writes:
Steyn's On the Town: I think every edition is always 'the best yet'. No change this week! Charles Boyer, Mireille Mathieu, the Franco-Sinatra cavalcade, Charles Trenet and 'hot damn, I wish you love' and on to Patsy Gallant's 'Sous le Ciel de Paris'. I particularly enjoyed discovering Sinatra/Franklin's 'What Now My Love' and Willie Nelson's 'Let it Be Me', songs I had only previously heard sung by Elvis. Sensei Steyn is an education.
Tom, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club from Arizona, enjoyed our finale:
Was that the Mark Steyn house band playing behind Patsy Gallant? Superb music and a beautiful vocal. Very nice.
It certainly was, Tom: piano intro by Eric Harding - and Jean-Pierre Zanella on the flute, which Patsy enjoyed immensely. They improvised the ending about twenty minutes before the show.
The Frenchie stuff was not to everyone's taste, alas. Jake says:
I spent four years studying French and can barely put a sentence together yet when I Inter-Railed around Scandinavia every ticket-collector, bus driver and snack bar operator could converse in fluent English. How come they are all multi-lingual and we Brits are not?
If I can't understand a lyric to a song, it becomes virtually impenetrable to me. My fault, I know, for not having a second language. Consequently a number of the tunes in this week's show passed me by.
There was still much to enjoy, though. I would listen to anything - anything! - arranged by Nelson Riddle and Sinatra's gorgeous When the World Was Young is still new to me. I thought Willie Nelson's Let It Be Me was very similar in parts to the Jackson 5's I'll Be There and sorry, Mark, but Mireille Mathieu's shrill vibrato reminded me of Edith Piaf's rather mannered vocals which initially put me off French music.
However, Patsy Gallant - wow, she's pure box office, Terrific singer.
Have to say though, that group from the New Hebrides really had a groove on! Fabulously natural and uplifting music and about as un-A.I. as you could get. The fact that a weird Deliverance/Southern Comfort vibe came to mind is purely down to my ignorance.
Thanks for putting it all together, Mark.
Greg Warren, a Steyn Clubber from New South Wales, puts his francophobia more bluntly:
What is it about French music that fills me with the urge to storm the Bastille; just in case the composer is hiding inside?
We don't know how Jackie feels about French songs, because she's still being driven nuts by our North American show:
I have a bone to pick with you Mark. Ever since I listened to your Canadian/American show, I have had 'calling Flo-rence' stuck in my head playing on a loop. The Thousand Island guy looking for his girlfriend. I never heard the song before but I am hearing it now.... over and over....and over. I hope he found Florence and I can put my mind to rest.
Just kidding. Love that you introduce me to songs I never knew, songs I love and remember and all the tidbits of background. Keep carrying on Mark.
Once heard, "The Thousand Islands Song" is hard to forget. We may have to play the Louis Prima version of it.
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 from Cindy Kent to Steyn and on to the evening shows. However, we appreciate that many potential listeners are, at the appointed hour, shampooing the cat. So, as a bonus for Steyn Club members, we shall be posting the shows here every weekend.
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.