Welcome to another brand new post-coma edition of Mark Steyn on the Town. On today's show, Mark plays the palace and tries the St Tropez twist. Plus: songs for swingin' superheroes and a cavalcade of Non-Stop Number Ones.
To listen to the programme, simply click above.
~Thank you for all your kind comments on last week's show. Jamie Marsh, a First Weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
I just listened to the show which was a great accompaniment to the more mundane activity of quietly weeding by the pool. This week's show seemed to have a theme of mortality to it, punctuated by the cover of In My Life at the end. With the exception of Afternoon Delight of course, which as Mark said is not about food items at a Georgetown cafe. A number one hit fifty years ago today and I remember it as I do the country's 200th anniversary, a more hopeful time as it seems now in retrospect.
Thanks to Mark for doing the show which has become as he says appointment listening, whenever I can pull it off.
For Mr Bradley in Oregon, Mark's aside after the opening number was a bit of a jaw-dropper:
Did I hear what I think I just heard? Upon noting that "Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbins was produced by George Martin, Mark said "I once had the pleasure of telling Sir George that that ("Right Said Fred") was a greater masterpiece than anything he'd done from Sgt. Pepper and I meant it!" Hmmmmm.
Yesssireee folks, you're not going to hear that kind of talk anywhere else but right here at On The Town with Mark Steyn. I couldn't disagree more but that's the fun in listening each week. You never know what's coming next.
No question about listeners' favourite segment - Mark's remembrance of longtime Sinatra pianist Bill Miller. From Sandy Mechefske, a Steyn Clubber in the Canadian Maritimes:
Wow- that Bill Miller was fabulous, and that version of One For My Baby I think is probably my favourite version NOW!
Great show once again Mark- so happy to hear you back enjoying yourself and enriching our lives!
First Day Founding Member Mike Lyons agrees that the Bill Miller sequence was "off the charts", and adds:
I've wanted to ask Mark a question for years and I not only feel that I should get on with it but I have an opening. It's about imperfect ryhmes (kin and wind being the example from this show). In my question, the lyricist is not to blame but rather the performer. I love the schlocky Danke Schoen and its corny but enjoyable horns in the second half of the song. What bothers me is that Wayne Newton sings "again," which can be pronounced as A-Gain, to rhyme with pain, explain and Lane, as A-ghen, which would rhyme with fen, pen or Jenn.
Does it bother Mark as it does me? Well, that's now off my chest after perhaps 20 years!
Mark touches on agayne/agenn in his "We'll Gather Lilacs" show, Mike. In the song you cite, he feels it's less important, as no German would think either pronunciation rhymes with "Danke Schön".
Re Mark's confession that he can get a bit "precious" about impure rhyme, Teresa Maupin, a Steyn Clubber from California, thinks he needn't worry:
After the exclamation point ending to your Ukraine trip, Mark, you can be as precious as you like!!
On the other hand, Nicola, an Ontario member of The Mark Steyn Club, liked the impure rhyme in question:
Though wind and kin don't really rhyme I feel that kin is a word rural folks would use, not just notaries.
One more from Jake, an English Steyn Clubber:
Not sure I go along with Mark's view that self-pity in a lyric is unbecoming. Surely if it belongs anywhere then a heartbroken ballad is the place, whether it be Other People or Vissi d'arte...
The drinking songs were apt. I remember a relative saying of Warren Mitchell, "Ah, sure he's a beautiful drunk," and it had to be explained to me that not every actor could play stocious convincingly. Sinatra's performance in Drinking Again is effortlessly brilliant.
"Where were you fifty years ago?" is my favourite part of the show because 1976 was a fabulous confluence of differing styles of popular music. (Come on, Mark. You've featured the 'Stones and The Smiths so you might as well go the whole hog and highlight the most tumultuous single release of that year - The Sex Pistols' Anarchy In the UK! Hopefully, it might even be apposite when you play it.)
~On the Town is Mark's weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm London time - that's 6pm in western and central Europe or 12 noon North American Eastern. You can listen from almost anywhere in the world by clicking the button at top right here. We also post On the Town at SteynOnline every weekend as a bonus for Mark Steyn Club members. 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 in its tenth year, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership.
Mark Steyn on the Town can be heard on Serenade Radio at its regular times:
Saturday 5pm London time/12 noon New York
Sunday 5am London time/9am Los Angeles
