Hubby and I love "golden oldies", and especially those romantic tunes that make one weak in the knees and foggy in the brain. For example, when we got married in 2010, we started off our music playlist with a little fun (Going To The Chapel by The Dixie Cups). When my sons walked me down the aisle, romance wafted through the air: namely the incomparable Johnny Mathis's Misty.
The lyrics:
Look at me
I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree,
And I feel like I'm
Clinging to a cloud
I can't understand,
I get misty just holding your hand.
Walk my way,:dreamy, glazed over look: Mmmmmmm.
And a thousand violins
Begin to play.
Or it might be the sound of your hello,
That music I hear
I get misty
The moment you're near.
Where was I? Oh yeah [ahem], sorry. If you haven't heard these songs before, click and listen. This is music that isn't anymore . . . and that's just sad. Most people think hubby and I like this stuff just because we're middle-aged. Au contraire. We've always liked it, from the time we were toddlers. Even many of these songs were older than we were. It didn't matter. The music spoke to our souls. But our childhood friends thought we were weird. Our first spouses rolled their eyes. But we listened anyway; in the middle of the night, alone in the car, or with headphones stuck to our ears. And then we found each other. Now we listen with abandon, with glee, walking around inside a happy fog.
Second marriages are wonderful, aren't they? We know exactly what we want.
And more importantly, what we don't.
Now this isn't to say we don't like some newer music, too. White Horse by Taylor Swift and You Don't Even Know Who I Am by Patty Loveless come to mind. But in this current rappin', rockin', angry, female-butt-swingin' musical desert, these are more the exception than the rule. But perhaps there's hope. The other night honey and I watched the 1954 version of Sabrina and suddenly realized we didn't have a copy of La Vie En Rose on our iPod. In case you're not familiar, let me introduce you to some samples first. The song is heard twice in the movie; the first time is an instrumental in the background while Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) is writing a letter to her father back in the states.
Dearest Father,
We shall be graduating next week and I shall be getting my diploma. I want to thank you now for the two most wonderful years of my life. I shall always love you for sending me here. It is late at night and someone across the way is playing “La Vie En Rose”. It is the French way of saying, I am looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses. It says everything I feel. I have learnt so many things, Father. Not just how to make vichyssoise or calf’s head with sauce vinaigrette, but a much more important recipe. I have learned how to live, to be in the world and of the world…and not just to stand aside and watch. And I will never, never again run away from life, or from love, either.
(La Vie En Rose can be translated as "Life in Rosy Hues" or "Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses". The song title's literal translation is "Life in Pink".)
The second time, Audrey is singing snatches of the song to Bogie (that's Humphrey Bogart for you youngin's).
So, to remedy the situation, we go off in search of the song. Good heavens, I never knew there WERE so many versions! Apparently, the most popular rendition is by Edith Piaf. We'd never heard it before. (And even more honestly, we didn't like the way she sang it.) The version I'd always heard in my head was by Louis Armstrong. It's played in the movie Wall-E. This is one cute clip. (Wall-E's watching a romantic scene from Hello, Dolly! on the tv, in case you can't place the movie.)
After many listens and rejections, we tripped over what has to be the most amazing, utterly heartstopping version of La Vie En Rose ever sung. It was a clip from YouTube, from the Australian version of The Voice. The singer is Rachael Leahcar, a legally blind teenager. Listening to her, it's hard to believe this voice, this range, this sheer emotion belongs to an 18 year old. From the first note, we were stunned. Mesmerized. Enraptured.
I immediately went out to buy a copy, but the only place I could find it is on iTunes.au. When I tried to purchase it, the site told me I couldn't -- and sent me back to the iTunes USA -- which doesn't carry it! What's up with that?
After an extensive search, I finally found Rachael's full (minus audience and cheering noises) professionally recorded version on YouTube. Have a listen. Better yet, share it with someone you love.
