Old School Ties

January 25, 2025

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On this Australia Day-ish edition of Mark Steyn on the Town we celebrate with songs from the Lucky Country, a cavalcade of Antipodean Number Ones, and a Down Under Sinatra Sextet.

To listen to the programme, simply click here and log-in.

~Thank you for your comments about last week's show. Chris, a Steyn Clubber from upstate New York, writes:

We seemed to be all over the place today....and it was great. The opening bovine send-off made me think we were going to have a farm-aid show ultimately and I'm not sure the transitions were perfect but that's why we listen to MS, a true Renaissance man.

Thanks for more Gwen Verdon, a true national treasure and I was laughing for the back 1/3 of that 'bus to Long Island story' before you got anywhere near the punch line.

Nancy says:

Mark Steyn, your On the Town delights me weekly with a kaleidoscope of music, styles, anecdotes, and characters. Thank you for an encore of Gwen Verdon – what an astounding talent she was! From Gwen to Frank to Jacques, I'm happily overcome with a surfeit of entertainment! Mille grazie!

Mille grazie back at you, Nancy. Catherine enjoyed one moment in particular:

Thank you Mark for another great programme and that sweet little song about a pink taffeta frock. Loved it.

Thank you so much, Catherine. I've loved that song since the first time I heard it, and every so often try to talk some lady vocalist into recording it. No luck so far. If you find yourself at tea with Taylor Swift, do put in a word. Josh Passell, a First Weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, is also a pink taffeta size ten:

Great to hear Gwen Verdon back again. Let's not wait another century to have her back. But it was Cy Coleman's 'Pink Taffeta Size 10' that choked me up, I don't mind admitting. I didn't know they were Dorothy Fields's lyrics until you identified her, but I sighed, 'Of course.' I mean... of course. Somewhere around here I have a copy of your Dorothy Fields monograph from some years ago. Maybe filed between Head to Toe and The Face of the Tiger. I gotta dig that out.

PS: Great end to the show!!!

Cut-songs-wise, Olga from Arizona was more appreciative of the discarded Chicago finale:

There was a definite outtakes-from-the-cutting-room-floor vibe to this week's show. Looping the Loop made me wistful ~ I hope whoever next remakes Chicago reinstates it, Messrs. Kander & Ebb's misgivings notwithstanding.

Like Mr. Passell, I welcomed a Gwen Verdon post-script. Spurred by an earlier On the Town episode, I went & watched Damn Yankees, & that Whatever Lola Wants scene is the pinnacle of inspired choreography. Plus, Miss Verdon's entire character arc is pretty adorable ~ who doesn't love a good redemption story!

Hope there was enough moolah in the club coffers to pay off the coppers!

By contrast, Nicola Timmerman a Steyn Clubber from francophone Ontario, appreciated our Jacques Brel finale:

I remember seeing Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris many years ago. My parents took me and I don't know how old I was but I remember being shocked by the song Next (Au Suivant) about army men lining up to visit an army brothel.

I have to agree the rendition of Under My Skin is a masterpiece.

Thanks for this on a very snowy Saturday as we await the polar vortex tomorrow.

Our West Coast music maven Gary Alexander has a thought on The Mrs O'Leary's Cow Songbook:

On your opening series (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow), we must remember that those songs were popular back when kids were taught history and geography in school, so songs about Kalamazoo and Chattanooga (with those great 'OOO' vowels and hard consonants) made sense. I'm reminded of two Top 5 hits in 1959 about two 1815 military battles, Johnny Horton's #1 hit, "Battle of New Orleans" and Stonewall Jackson's #4 hit, "Waterloo."

Give today's Gen-Z kids a pop quiz on any of those proper names above and award an honorary "B+" to any who can attach a state name to the OOO-vowel cities above, or the correct century of the Chicago fire, or Battle of Waterloo.

You have a point there, Gary. Every so often, I think about doing The History of the World in Pop Songs, but it's probably of limited appeal to today's teenyboppers.

One more from Diane, a Maryland Steyn Clubber:

No way to overstate how much Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" moves the endorphins. Next to 'when fate steps in on the scene and mops up the floor with me' ('So Near..'.), 'I'd sacrifice anything, come what might, for the sake of having you near' has got to be the best description of unrequited love in a song ever.

[Now, for the sad truth: Use a search engine to find lots of people trying to figure out what the song 'I've Got You Under My Skin' 'is about' – serious searches, all. What could they think? Tabanid fly larvae?]

Interesting fast aside about Van Morrison. (Recall few to none in MSC besides me were impressed by the anti-lockdown song he and EC recorded.) I really do like "Moon Dance".

Much fun, especially vice squad raid...Thanks MS.

Re Googling "Skin", Diane: there are those who think "I've Got You Under My..." is 1930s gay code - although these days surely even that isn't worth an Internet search.

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.