Programming note: Tomorrow, Sunday, I'll be here with Part Eighteen of the new audio serialisation of my highly prescient demographic bestseller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It.
~Happy Tenth Day of Christmastide. On this week's edition of Mark Steyn on the Town, we remember the late Brigitte Bardot via songs she sang herself and songs others sang about her. Plus: a New Jersey barroom with a single-minded jukebox, the lady who won the first Eurovision, a very scenic route to Mandalay, and a surfeit of cuckoos, as sung by a diverse range of performers from Peter to Paul - that's Peter Dawson to Paul Simon.
To listen to the programme, simply click here and log-in.
~Thank you for all your kind comments on last week's extended Sinatra Sextet: A Very Good Year. Nancy, a Montana member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
On the Town today was, in a word - WOW! This has thoroughly satisfied my Sinatra hunger. For now.
Thank you sir. Happy and blessed New Year to you and yours.
And right back at you, Nancy. Fraser, an East Anglia Steyn Clubber, agrees:
Thank God for Mark Steyn's On the Town in these dark days.
Debra Silver, a First Quarter Founding Member, is also on board:
One of the best... joyous and then occasionally triste.... as this past year has been...
Autumn leaves was particularly poignant for me...
Thanks for all of your wonderful musical medleys that bring such delight! May it be a healthier and happier year.
Gary Alexander thought Frank was in particularly fine form throughout:
Thanks for your double Sinatra Sextet, fitting for a man born on 12-12.... Double boxcars for the man who put 'Luck Be a Lady' on the map.
I loved 'April Played the Fiddle' a real gem. Then in May, a Girl Named June, then a summer trilogy and autumnal reverie. Frank's feeling and intonation were top drawer in all cuts.
These great songs of the Golden Era can almost make us forget today's political BS, at least during your magic weekend hour on Serenade ...
Mrs Chris, a Wisconsin Steyn Clubber, enjoyed it, but doubts her Grandpa would:
Mrs. Chris here. Thank you so much Mark for the musical trip through the calendar by way of Sinatra. I thought a lot about my mother during the show. She was a big Sinatra fan and I grew up listening to Frank. Mom will be gone 30 years in 2026; she would have loved this show! By the way, she started listening to Frank as a teenager and her Dad was not impressed. Mom said that Grandpa used to refer to him as Frank Sewer-natra. I guess he didn't want his only girl to grow up :).
We must do a Sewernatra Sextet one day.
Michael Smith, like me, believes in the importance of minimum-entry qualifications for Indian Summer:
I too am an Indian summer purist, even purer than purist. I will recognize it only where warm weather has followed the first frost, and not without acknowledging the frost and heat-blanketed land was formerly inhabited by the Piscataway Indian tribe....
Thank you Mark for a lovely trip through the calendar with Frank. A very good year, indeed.
One more from Josh Passell, a First Weekend Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, sparing a thought for our autumnal arranger:
I waited until noon today to shovel the four inches of winter's finest that fell overnight. Your Sinatra... duodectet (? I lost count ?) lasted the whole time, even as I paused to rest and smile ruefully at the opening notes of "The Summer Wind".
Gordon Jenkins must have been listening obsessively to Richard Strauss's "Four Last Songs" during his arrangements of "Autumn Leaves" and "It Was A Very Good Year": if you're going for an autumnal tone, the wise arranger goes for the best. I love the effect in both songs.
Thank you all. On the Town is my weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm Greenwich Mean 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, now in its ninth year, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership, which makes a perfect late Christmas present.
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/9pm Los Angeles