Word: berlin
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...Toward the end he often soured into rancor and vindictiveness. He laid a paranoid rant on Alec Wilder when the esteemed musicologist asked permission to quote snatches of Berlin songs for his study "American Popular Music." And though Berlin enjoyed writing parodies of other composers' songs, he sued Mad magazine for a 1962 folio of song parodies, including several of his ("Always," "A Pretty Girl..."). The suit was eventually dismissed. Finally he believed that a cultural environment that ignored his contributions was no culture at all. "Show business?" he told a friend. "There's no more show business! We whistle...
...FANTASY BERLIN CD I can't leave Berlin stewing, and me depressed. I have to forgive him for living past his currency, and remember the terrific music he created. So here's my own fantasy album of songs (in alphabetical order), culled from the dozens of CDs I've listened to with pleasure over the past six weeks that Irving Berlin songs have wallpapered my life...
...After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It" (1920), performed by Marilyn Monroe (1954), on "Irving Berlin in Hollywood." Monroe's liquid alto puts fun in the song's sexual weariness. She's at once Marlene Dietrich and Carole Lombard - the woman who's seen it all and the gal who hints she wouldn't mind doing it again...
...Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911), by Ray Charles (1959), on "The Genius of Ray Charles." A coon song can be a black song, as Charles transforms Berlin's antique march into a big-band raver. The band (Ralph Burns did the brassy, bluesy charts) plays the melody and Charles comes in an antiphonal bar later, bleating "Come on an' hear!" By the end of the chorus he's quoting his own "This Little Girl of Mine" and has the Raelets chirping a descending, exultant "Zander ragtime band!" Great music...
...Anything You Can Do" (1946), by Judy Garland and Howard Keel (1948), on "Irving Berlin in Hollywood." Garland was to star in the "Annie Get Your Gun" movie, but frazzed nerves forced her withdrawal. The nerve shows in this duet of rivals, sung at a faster-than-usual tempo, and with an antagonism that ends up somewhere between alarming and awe-inspiring...