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NOW IN HARDBACK!
Mark's writing on one of his favorite lyricists and one of his favorite composers are now available with a Steyn classic on Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra and "I've Got You Under My Skin" - all together in one handsomely illustrated brand new hardcover book
Mark Steyn's
American Songbook
(also available with
musical accompaniment)
Order your autographed copy exclusively from
The Steyn Store
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MERCER MONTH |
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Monday, 02 November 2009 |
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Song of the Week #145
An audio celebration of Johnny Mercer
All this month at SteynOnline we're marking the centenary of one of the most successful and prolific of American songwriters, born November 18th 1909. We'll be observing the anniversary in our traditional Song of the Week format on the next four Mondays, with a bonus Song of the Day in mid-month. But Johnny Mercer wrote so many great songs that, even devoting the whole of November to him, we're only able to pick out one hit per decade from a very long career. So, by way of introduction, here's part one of a special audio podcast edition of Song of the Week, in which I'll introduce the Mercer catalogue with performances of "Moon River", "Jeepers Creepers", "Fools Rush In", "Blues In The Night", "Too Marvelous For Words", "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate The Positive", "That Old Black Magic", "Goody Goody", "Hooray For Hollywood", "Skylark" and many more, as sung by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, k d lang, Louis Armstrong, Rita Hayworth, the Mills Brothers, Rosemary Clooney, Clint Eastwood and many more, including Johnny Mercer himself. You can get the podcast here - and be singing along within seconds. And stay tuned for part two later in the week.
[NOTE: This is the second of our occasional audio editions of Song of the Week, following our centenary observations for Mercer's friend and collaborator, Carl Sigman.]
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Steyn’s Song of the WeekThursday, 19 November 2009
Johnny Mercer Song of the Day
by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer
This week saw Johnny Mercer's one hundredth birthday, but we're continuing the celebrations to the end of the month here at SteynOnline. You can hear part one of our centenary podcast here, and read my anniversary appreciation here. Plus,... Read more... Steyn on PeopleTuesday, 17 November 2009
Today - November 18th - would have been Johnny Mercer's one hundredth birthday. You can hear part one of our centenary podcast here, and also read my thoughts on Goody Goody, Blues In The Night, Hooray For Hollywood, and Midnight Sun. But this is what I have to say about Mercer... Read more... Steyn on CultureWednesday, 18 November 2009 Jim Treacher asks, "Guess who hates capitalism now?"
The first guy to make $20 million for saying words & making faces in front of a camera.
True. Jim Carrey , currently starring as Scrooge in the not-quite-as-boffo-as-it-should-be new version of A Christmas Carol, opines:
“I was thinking about it this morning, how this... Read more... Steyn on Stage and ScreenSaturday, 14 November 2009
Fifty years ago - November 16th 1959 - The Sound Of Music opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and, with it, the most successful partnership in theatre history came to a close. A few months later, Oscar Hammerstein was dead, and Richard Rodgers found himself the lone survivor of... Read more... Steyn on BooksThursday, 29 October 2009 Seven and a half years ago, a girls’ school in Mecca caught fire. Many of the pupils were able to escape the burning building, but unfortunately they ran straight into the hands of the mutaween, Saudi Arabia’s “religious police,” who flayed them for having fled the conflagration without first putting... Read more... Ave atque valeSunday, 08 November 2009
HAPPY WARRIOR
from National Review
I was overseas when Senator Edward Kennedy died, and a European reporter asked me what my “most vivid memory” of the great man was. I didn’t like to say, because it didn’t seem quite the appropriate occasion. But my only close encounter with the Lion of... Read more...
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THE STEYNONLINE HIT PARADE
Mark's most popular Songs of the Week
1) HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (1944)
2) TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME (1908)
3) SOLILOQUY (from Carousel) (1945)
4) THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC (1862)
5) EDELWEISS (1959)
6) BUTTONS AND BOWS (1947)
7) AUTUMN LEAVES (1945)
8) SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES (1933)
9) THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT (1939)
10) GUESS WHO I SAW TODAY (1952)
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By popular request: The book of the Song Of The Week!
A SONG FOR THE SEASON
From Auld Lang Syne to White Christmas via My Funny Valentine, Easter Parade, Summertime, Autumn Leaves - plus songs for St Patrick's Day, baseball season, Father's Day, Halloween, and never before published essays on Ain't Misbehavin', Loch Lomond and more:
A musical year with Mark!
Order your personally autographed copy exclusively from the Steyn Store
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