"My Funny Valentine" - Best Rendition?- Page 2

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 5:25pm

Touchmeinthemorning ~ not even "God Bless The Child" or "Strange Fruit"?

Updated On: 9/22/05 at 05:25 PM

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 5:30pm

The closest I've come to enjoying her on a sad song is "I Cried for You"...which is understated and subtle in comparison to the text. Everything else I find too specified for me to feel anything but sorry for her.

I must admit to not hating most of her love songs. I'm not overjoyed by them, but...I don't mind having them on..they make me smile. That may just be me enjoying her for sentiment's sake, but...it's me enjoying her, all the same.

[Shilo_Bway]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 5:34pm

I'm surprised that nobody has said Kristin Chenoweth, but that's what I say: KRISTIN CHENOWETH

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 5:53pm

To me, Holiday is the single greatest interpretive artist in the history of music, regardless of genre. No one else is even close in my book. I won't write a long essay as to why, but really, having listened to pretty much every single recording of hers over the years (yes, there are well over a thousand tracks if you include alternate takes) from the early 30s to her death in 1959, her ability to inhabit and express a lyric is unparalleled. And if you think it's just about pain, you certainly haven't listened to enough of her. No one was funnier with a humorous song than she was. Her way with the comedic songs from Porter, Hart and Berlin is extraordinary (to date, she is the ONLY singer to ever make me laugh out loud during "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"). And her uptempo, big band work with Teddy Wilson and other groups has a playful, fun-loving, whimsical quality that's a joy to listen to. She made literally hundreds of light, uptempo recordings that you should listen to if you don't know them -- to characterize her music as mostly sad, depressing and sentimental is simply inaccurate.

It goes beyond tone and vibrato (she rarely used one, anyway). There was a sublime alchemy of phrasing (no one was ever better), timbre (which was capable of expressing an endless array of emotions) and lyrical interpretation which makes every performance of hers definitive. You needn't agree -- just expressing my opinion that she's in a class all by herself and Ella, Sarah, Nina, Peggy, etc are all competing for second place.

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 5:56pm

I love Sting's version.

Then again, Sting could sing the menu at a tapas restaurant and I'd love it.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 8:15pm

OK. I downloaded her "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" just for you, Margo.

And, I'm man enough to admit this: I was wrong. Her interpretation on this song is bar-none the best I've heard.

I still stick with my comments about her woe-is-me songs (they're too personalized), but she knows how to carry a fun song.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 9:15pm

Probably not nearly the best, but Michelle Pfeiffer's version is kinda nice.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/pfeiffer.jsrpages/Audio/fbb.myfunnyv2.ra

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 9:26pm

I love Elvis Costello's.

Posted: 9/22/05 at 10:03pm

101 Strings Orchestra on the "Cigar Aficionado Gift Set"

[Millie Lammoreaux]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 10:17pm

Love Dakota Staton's version on her "Late, Late Show" album.

[Tenorific2]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 10:19pm

Julie Andrews on her Richard Rodgers album. Such sensitivity to the music and lyric.

[cturtle]

Posted: 9/22/05 at 10:20pm

i'll have to second mademoiselle BARBRA's.