A no excuse but it’s Friday so what the hell kinda post.
Back in the mid to late 80s I had a terrible fake ID that I used to use to get into the bars on campus. These bars have since been all cleaned up (i.e., totally razed) and now my youth has been taken over by a massive Gap store or something. It no longer smells like beer and vomit on that block; I miss the good old days. These then are the top 10 songs that would make me RUN onto the dance floor during my tenure as a girl who thought nothing of throwing herself around in public in a short black flippy skirt with garters underneath.
Ministry: Stigmata (I have to give a shout out to Ministry: Everyday is Halloween because the first time I felt OLD compared to the kids is when the Stigmata fans had no idea that Ministry used to make songs like that. Stigmata came in 1988 so that puts me at eighteen and mourning my lost youth.)
This Smiths: How Soon is Now (of course because nobody could understand my pain like Morrissey and apparently everyone felt that way because man, you’d have to SHOVE people out of the way to dance to this one)
I’ve been playing Company (2007 revival) on iTunes non-stop since I watched it streaming on Netflix. (You can also catch it on YouTube.) I wasn’t much a fan of that soundtrack (preferring the original, especially after watching the documentary of the recording session ALSO available both on Netflix and YouTube) but after seeing it performed, I got to liking it a lot. I’m also now crushing on Raúl Esparza after being underwhelmed by him in Tick Tick Boom (aka “Rent Lite”). He is my new imaginary boyfriend.
But I didn’t actually find Sondheim via showtunes. I actually discovered that I loved him (not realizing how many standards he’d written) when I was deep in a decade-long obsession with female jazz vocalists. It was Dianne Reeves singing Sondheim — this song — that got me hooked.
I don’t always like his songs at first but once I’ve heard them enough, I love them. I compare that to, say, Andrew Lloyd Weber who I often like at first (with the exception of Phantom of the Opera, which I loathe) and then listening to it starts driving me insane and I feel like I’ve heard every little bit of it and can never hear that particular song again. There are exceptions but they are singular. (Although I’ll admit to a nostalgic fondness for Cats but that’s because I got the London Cast Recording for Christmas when I was 12. And the way I hear it, it’s still a good musical if you’re 12 but it’s not so great if you’re 40.) (You can disagree with me and we can start a flamewar here except I have a policy about never commenting on youtube.)
I feel the same way about Stephen Schwartz. Defying Gravity is an amazingly great song but the rest of the score? Meh. But Sondheim? I can listen to everything he wrote and I am always fascinated especially when I hear a new rendition. I feel the same way about Rodgers & Hammerstein and Gershwin and Cole Porter. Those are great songs — great, great songs. And anyone who says Sondheim isn’t hummable obviously hasn’t listened to much Sondheim.
Here’s a terrific version of a terrific song: Tim Curry giving an extremely emotional performance (only audio, no video sadly) of Losing My Mind
"It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself."
