In your opinion, who does the best rendition of "My Funny Valentine"?
I heard a LOVELY recording of it during a Lucille Ball documentary on PBS yesterday. SUCH an appropriate song for her life!! I'd love to have a copy of that recording of the song!
Anyway - which is your favorite?
I enjoy Julie London's version.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
Rachelle Ferrell has a version of this song that is...jaw-dropping. It is on both her CD First Instrument and a live version is on her live album.
I also saw Shoshana Bean do a joke version of it (complete with crazy riffs and her trademark high notes) at her cabaret show a few years ago -- buh-rilliant.
Matt Damon.
i'm partial to ann hampton callaway's version.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra (and his arrangement.)
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/12/04
PCB - I, too love Matt Damon's rendition.
I generally say Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan, but for this particular song, I would have to say Chet Baker.
Pal Joey beat me to it -- Chet Baker without a doubt (the basis for the Damon cover from Ripley)
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
Billie Holiday
Put in my vote for Chet Baker too, please.
Hmmm...I'm thinking an iPod playlist might be in order.
Could be just the thing to solve MJR's problem on the Kissing thread...
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/10/05
Oh, Joey, that picture. He was so beautiful.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/10/05
I have that album. Sigh. I still stick by Carmen, but oh, Chet.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
Male: Chet Baker
Female: Sarah Vaughn
Someone should make a movie bio of Chet Baker.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
I'll put another vote in for Carmen McRae...Matt Damon? Really?
I like Michael Buble's take on "My Funny Valentine".
(Yes, Matt Damon's version in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" isn't bad).
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
Wow. I had forgotten how beautiful Chet Baker was.
Also, I think I may be one of the only people in the world who think Billie Holliday is significantly overrated. What did she do that was so different from 100 other people of her era? People talk about her emotion in a song, but (for me) Ella and Chet and Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughn emoted and still managed to get the song out beautifully. My problem with Billie is that she never could move from personal to universal with her singing...she only felt her pain (which always left me feeling sorry for her, but not moved myself). That, and I find her tone thin and her vibrato fast. =)
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/10/05
Blasphemy! But I will respect your opinion and agree to disagree. No, I don't think she was a "good" singer, but I do get appealed to by the emotion in her voice as she sings, whether she's being playful or mournful, whereas you do not. I guess it's just a matter of taste, as with everything else. As for me, she always makes me feel at home.
Chet Baker followed by Lady Day. Oh and touchmeinthemorning, that is indeed blasphemy!
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
I know, I know...it's not a popular opinion. I just don't connect to her, I guess.
Barbra Streisand. Amazing rendition, sends chills down my spine every time I listen to it.
i second (third?) matt damon.
Touchmeinthemorning ~ not even "God Bless The Child" or "Strange Fruit"?
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