We are at the height of summer here in the northern hemisphere. So here is a SteynOnline premiere from our Serenade Radio Songs of the Week: the first ever airing at this website of our show on "Summertime", in which Mark tells the story of one of the most recorded songs of the last hundred years.
Click above to listen.
This airing of our Song of the Week is a special presentation of The Mark Steyn Club. Thank you for your kind responses to this series. Of last week's tribute to Alan Bergman and the songs he wrote for Sinatra, John Barrett, Mark's fellow Granite Stater, writes:
We enjoyed the Bergman show very much. I appreciated Alan's nod to Fred Astaire. And is there a better interpretation of 'Nice 'n' Easy' than Sinatra's? Their memories live on in your wonderful tribute.
Gary Alexander, a West Coast Steyn Clubber, makes some sharp observations on the song in the context of its time:
I always thought 'Nice 'n' Easy' was the perfect courtship song for our youth because those of us with 80 or more tree rings (those under 70 may not believe this), didn't often 'shack up' or 'hook up' or 'sext' each other (what are kids thinking?) in the pre-1965 era. Sure, there were exceptions, but they were socially frowned on in most cliques in our teen years.... So, when Alan used a favorite cautionary phrase of our parents, 'Hold Your Horses,' we knew he meant horsing around.
There's another delay tactic in the song's road signs: 'We're on the ROAD to romance, that's safe to say, but let's make all the STOPS along the way,' and I'm sure Alan had more stops in mind than the well-known three bases. It involves getting to know the real person, and a foreign concept called 'delayed gratification.'
Ah, it was a different era then, and this is a Time Capsule song of the first order.
Fran Lavery, a First Weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
What a splendid Song of the Week episode. You really conveyed the sense of this special couple and what I perceive is fun loving, but serious, talented, but humble sounding, too. That's quite a winning combination for any couple. It all seems so magical just listening along to the interesting conversation with Alan Bergman. A great singer has to have the instrument, the heart and the intelligence. That's the whole package right there. I can almost hear Marilyn calling out your name seeing you.
And one more, from Olga in Arizona:
I find Streisand to be an abhorrent person (sympathies for her Coastal Commission battles notwithstanding), & I'd rather have root canals than ever hear Memories again, but Windmills is so sublimely matched to that glider sequence, it ought to be the platinum standard for all movie music to come.
Will there be more Bergman tributes forthcoming? There is decidedly more to learn from such a voluminous catalogue.
Well, Barbra was more or less Alan and Marilyn's best friend, and they loved what she did with their songs, although personally I incline more toward the Frank treatment. As for "more Bergman tributes", see this weekend's On the Town - and, for a bit of mopping up, next week's.
We do enjoy your comments on the show. Steyn Club members are welcome to respond to this week's show below. Alternatively, anybody can leave comments over at Serenade Radio, where they love hearing from listeners.
Steyn's Song of the Week airs thrice weekly on Serenade Radio in the UK, one or other of which broadcasts is certain to be convenient for whichever part of the world you're in:
5.30pm Sunday London (12.30pm New York)
5.30am Monday London (2.30pm Sydney)
9pm Thursday London (1pm Vancouver)
Whichever you prefer, you can listen from anywhere on the planet right here.
