A regretful William Dart makes amends for some tracks that had to be left out of earlier programmes this year. And he takes a side-path excursion exploring some diverse and glorious versions of the song 'Strangers in the Night', originally made famous by Frank Sinatra in 1966.
Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night, cover image Photo: Reprise Records
We start with a classic Piaf cri de coeur, sung here by a woman best known for battling Missouri good old boys with her three billboards.
Frances McDormand gets up quite a snarl in this song, voicing the character of Captain Chantel Dubois, the leader of animal control in the 2012 animated feature, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.
Halfway through another year of New Horizons I find that I do have regrets. That is, apart from the ever-present realization that’s there’s just so much wonderful music in this world, and so little time to discover and enjoy it.
As Patrick Dennis’s Auntie Mame once shrieked, with a foot-long cigarette holder in her hand, “Life’s a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.”
Well, let’s hope that this half-hour of tasty musical nibbles is some compensation — bits and pieces that have surfaced in the wake of my programmes so far this year.
Just last week, presenting the music of Joan as Police Woman, I mentioned a version of the Beatles song 'I Will' recorded for MOJO magazine a decade ago.
To my shame, I rediscovered the disc too late for inclusion in that programme. But, having now extricated it from a dark and obscure place, I’m not so won over by what Joan Wasser and fellow artist Violet make of this lovely, lilting ballad.
Just a teaser this week ... Click the Listen button above to hear these and many more tracks, including those six versions of 'Strangers in the Night'. Also on the programme: The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and NZ's own musical theatre star of the Sydney scene, Hayden Tee.
Music Details
'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)
'Non, Je ne regrette rien' (Dumont/ Vaucaire) – Frances McDormand
Madagascar 3, Original Movie Soundtrack
(Interscope)
'I Will' (Lennon/ McCartney) – Joan as Police Woman
Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered
(MOJO)
'Martha My Dear' (Lennon/ McCartney) – Vashti Bunjan, Max Richter
Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered
(MOJO)
'Happiness is a Warm Gun' (Lennon/ McCartney) – Aidan Smith
Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered
(MOJO)
'This Charming Man' (Marr/ Morrissey) – The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
I Love You
(The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits
(Reprise)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – The Norman Luboff Choir and the Melachrino Strings
Forever Frank
(Simitar Entertainment)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – The 7 Sopranos
Popcorn
(Fanfare)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – Marvin Gaye
Live at the Copacabana
(Motown)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – Ian Whitcomb
PianoMelt
(Muskrat)
'Strangers in the Night' (Kaempfert) – Mina
Catene
(EMI)
'Alta Marea (Don’t Dream It’s Over)' (N Finn) – Antonello Venditti
Le Donne
(Heinz Music)
'Don’t Dream It’s Over' (N Finn) – Hayden Tee
Generation Why? Live
(Your Management Int)
