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If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)
Artist: George Gershwin
Author: George Gershwin
Label: Columbia
Year: 1926
Piano solo; slow version of what was conceived to become a rhythmic dance piece. Sheet music bestseller. Title suggested by Howard Dietz, lyricist replacing Ira Gershwin, hospitalized for an urgent appendix operation.
Covers:
Gertrude Lawrence [first vocal version in musical Oh, Kay! as a serenade to a doll]
Frank Sinatra [and in film Young At Heart]
Linda Ronstadt [with the Nelson Riddle Orch.]
Lena Horne & Sting [in film of the same name]
Jimmy Scott [at Doc Pomus' funeral, landing him a recording contract with Sire; this was Doc's favorite song]
Dusty Springfield [her last recording, alone with piano; her mother's name was Kay]
Sinéad O'Connor [on Red Hot + Rhapsody]
Rod Stewart [with Queen Latifah]
Amy Winehouse [outtake Frank]
Susan Boyle [album title track]
Following the success of Rhapsody In Blue, Broadway thought they'd lost George Gershwin forever as their main composer of down to earth show tunes. They were wrong. George wasn't foolish: these show tunes were his main income. Besides, he never considered them to be less important than his symphonic work. A Gershwin never makes any difference between so called high & low forms of art: both need quality standards to stand out. And so, right after Rhapsody In Blue, Gershwin wrote a light musical with equal enthusiasm: Oh Kay!, best known for this Someone To Watch Over Me, a melancholic ballad that works best when a woman sings it, be it Gertrude Lawrence, Blossom Deary, Linda Ronstadt, Lena Horne, Dusty Springfield, Ricky Lee Jones or Sinéad O'Connor, as it's supposed to be a serenade to a doll.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)