"More Than You Know" [by Helen Morgan, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald et al]

Cole Porter in "Red, Hot, and Blue":

<< I don't like Schubert's music or Schumann's,
I'm one of those humans
Who only goes in for Berlin and Vincent Youmans. >>

So here's to You, Mr. Youmans, composer of "Without a Song" and "Tea for Two," his most famous song, which he wrote at the last-minute for the show No, No, Nanette.

Comments

[Emily Fragos]

"The only thing better than singing -- is more singing." -- the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

Great post, David!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-4e04yXwY

The link above (copy and open elsewhere) is to “More Than You Know” sung by Michelle Pfeiffer at her “audition” in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS. This 1989 movie remains one of the best about the music business at the aspirant, cocktail-lounge level. Few, if any, would claim Pfeiffer has a voice comparable to that of Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, or Helen Morgan. But at her smoldering, toss-off-attitude best, Pfeiffer delivers here. I remember (inexactly, mind you) an anecdote about Rosemary Clooney singing in a Holiday Inn cocktail lounge during a “down” period in her career. A half-drunk patron there purportedly shouted out: “What’s Rosemary Clooney doing in a Holiday Inn?” To which Rosemary replied just as brusquely: “What are YOU doing in a Holiday Inn?”

[David Lehman]

Thank you for this very thoughtful comment, Earle. And for the link and the Rosemary Clooney anecdote. Amazing, that a singer of such quuality would have to sing for her supper at a chain motel. The music that many people seem to like today doesn't even sound like music to my ears.