Welcome to the second re-run in our Serenade Radio series of Steyn's Song of the Week. This episode celebrates one of the most beloved of movie songs, yet one that has become freighted by the premature death of its most celebrated singers, one after the other. We'll try not to get too gloomy about it, and, if you have no need for professional specialized vocalists, you'll enjoy both the lyricist and the composer having a warble - plus a song from the original stage production of The Wizard of Oz from 1902, and a rare outtake from the famous film.
Click above to listen.
If you missed today's audio edition of Steyn's Song of the Week on Serenade Radio in the UK, do treat yourself and catch one or other of the repeats:
It airs again on Monday morn at 5.30am London time - that's 9.30pm Sunday on the US and Canadian West Coast, so a kind of late-night vibe to it, but it's early Monday afternoon in Oz, so a mellow post-prandial feel to it.
Serenade has now added an additional rerun of the show on Thursday at 9pm UK time. Whichever you prefer, we hope you'll tune in. You can listen from anywhere on the planet right here.
Thank you for your enthusiastic comments about this series. Rich Klein, a First Weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, writes:
So far I've heard the 'Stardust' (via link here) and the 'New York, New York' (via my receiving apparatus at the appointed time). I enjoyed them immensely. They're a great half-hour respite from our gloomy times. I do endorse the idea of allowing Club members hear them via a link on SteynOnline. That's because they're so good, and it's a real shame to miss any of them.
As you know, Rich, many Song of the Week aficionados wrote to enquire whether the radio version would be available here for those who wish to listen at times other than Sunday afternoon, Monday morning and Thursday evening. And I responded that I was rather partial to what industry experts call "appointment radio". For one thing, I enjoy the way Serenade's Sunday programming flows from one great listen to the next - from Peter Tomlinson of TV's Tiswas to eternal teatime fixture Sing Something Simple to me to Johnny Beerling, the head honcho of Golden Age Radio One (and the guy who fired Jimmy Savile). Song of the Week fits very nicely in that line-up.
However, after we posted our "Star Dust" episode, Marc, a First Day Founding Member, scoffed:
Thank you for sharing that gem of a show. Appointment radio is so yesterday.
More and more things are "so yesterday", don't you find, Marc? Freedom of speech, freedom of movement... My totally yesterday show is honored to be in such company.
If you like rhymes and tunes but prefer them entirely separated, check out the first of our annual summer poems-and-classical-music specials here. If your taste inclines more towards words that don't rhyme at all, I'll see you back here in a couple of hours for Episode Eight of our current Tale for Our Time, Jack London's Burning Daylight.
This airing of my Serenade Song of the Week is a special presentation of The Mark Steyn Club. We launched the Steyn Club four years ago, and in this our fifth year I'm immensely heartened by all the longtime SteynOnline regulars - from Fargo to Fiji, Madrid to Malaysia, West Virginia to Witless Bay - who've signed up to be a part of it. Membership in The Mark Steyn Club also comes with non-musical benefits, including:
~Our latest audio adventure in Tales for Our Time, and its four-dozen thrilling predecessors;
~Other audio series on pertinent topics, such as our 2019 serialization of Climate Change: The Facts and our current adaptation of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade;
~My exclusive anthology of video poetry - because, as I always say, that's where the big bucks are;
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly (such as last Thursday's);
~Transcript and audio versions of Mark's Mailbox, The Mark Steyn Show, and other video content, including today's poem;
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, including exclusive members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show, assuming such events are ever again lawfully permitted;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the chance to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here. And for our special Gift Membership see here.
One other benefit to Club Membership is our Comment Club privileges. So, if you feel this show is so far over the rainbow it's jumping the shark, then give it your best below. Please do stay on topic on all our comment threads, because that's the way to keep them focused and readable. With that caution, have at it.
