Love Peggy lee, appreciate the existential angst and weltschmerz of this song: The song is based on Thomas Manns short fiction story Disillusionment. A quick read will reveal that much of the lyrics comes straight from the story, right down to a child watching a fire and the question Is that all there is to it?...Along with Mann and Kafka, there is yet a third German influence: Mike Stoller composed the music using the operas of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Youll remember them as the satirists whose work influenced such pop hits as Alabama Song and Mack The Knife.Summarizing the above, how many accidents had to come together to make this song happen? First, a friend had to recommend the works of Mann to Jerry Leiber. Next, Georgia Brown had to suggest a chorus. When Leiber and Stoller agreed, they went to their separate homes that night and came together the next day to compare notes; Leibers lyrics and Stollers music went together perfectly, despite neither of them being aware what the other was doing. Then they sought and were rejected by Dietrich and Streisand (or her agent, anyway). Finally, they get Peggy Lee and together in the studio they did 36 takes - take #36 was the one they thought was perfect. Except the engineer forgot to hit the record button, so she had to sing it again. Take 37 is the one we have today.Were not through counting accidents even then: Capitol refused to release the song. Peggy Lee had to use an appearance on Joey Bishops late-night talk show as a bargaining chip to get the song released. https://youtube/watch?v=3sWTnsemkIs
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:35:36 +0000
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