Monday, January 29, 2007

I Heart Ella. *swoon*

Ella Fitzerald would have been 90 years old this April and if I could buy her a present, I would get her a brown and yellow basket, because every time I sing "A Tisket, A Tasket" in the shower, I want nothing more than to get that basket back to her. You should listen to her sing it. You'd want to give her one too.

I love Ella for a lot of reasons, some of which are outlined in the following snippet that I wrote last year. A lot of people love her, and some of the biggest names in jazz and pop are planning to honor her in a tribute album coming out this summer. Check out this fabulous
sneak peek from Verve's website; the link's video footage features folks like Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, and even Chaka Kahn and k.d. lang.

And here is my own little tribute to my very favorite vocalist. Enjoy, and join me in celebrating Ella Fitzgerald all year long!

You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
Artist: Ella Fitzgerald
Album: Ella at Juan-Les-Pins, Verve Records, 1964

Cole Porter rocks. I love his songwriting. And I have the gift of exaggeration, so if I said he wrote like a THOUSAND songs you’d be wise not to take me at face value. But guess what? He did. I haven’t heard them all, and in fact I would wager that some of them are pretty crappy because a thousand songs is a LOT. But some of them are just too marvelous for words (incidentally, that one’s not his). “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” is one of those too marvelous songs, despite the poor grammar.

The song has been sung by zillions of people, from Frank Sinatra to Dinah Shore to Nina Simone, but in my opinion it has never been done better than by Ella Fitzgerald. There is some bias here because I love Ella so much. Ella’s voice is pure and precise, passionate yet drama free – much like Ella herself. In a time when the music scene was teeming with chaos and overindulgence, the First Lady of Song stood out as being singularly non-tragic.

Back to the song. The lyrics are pretty simple (making it easy for good ol’ Porter to write a thousand songs):

You’d be so nice to come home to
You’d be so nice by the fire
While the breeze on high sings a lullaby
You’d be all that I could desire
Under stars chilled by the winter
Under an August moon burning above
You’d be so nice, you’d be paradise
To come home to and love

Depending on how these simple lyrics are sung, however, they can be interpreted in different ways. When Dinah or Frank sings them, the you’ds come across as coulds – a derivative of CAN. You can be so nice to come home to – you can be all that I could desire – you can be paradise – the possibility exists, but let’s be real. How likely is it that you will actually be all of that? You are able to, but I don’t think you really will, and that makes me sad, so the song is melancholy. Not to be confused with Duke Ellington’s "Melancholia," which is sad through and through, up and down, inside out.

But I digress. Back to “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.” Now when Ella Fitzgerald sings it, the you'ds become woulds – a derivative of WILL. It’s not just possible, it’s inevitable. You will be so nice to come home to – you will be paradise – you will be all that I could desire – I’m just not at home right now. I’m out listening to some hot jazz with my girlfriends. We’re drinking Manhattans and having a lovely time. We even danced the lindy hop and I had to lead since I’m the tallest one of us girls in my high heels. But I will come home afterwards. And you will be there, by the fire, because you said you would be. And you are nice to come home to and love. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. And no matter how sad it sounds when other singers cover it, when Ella sings it, this song is hopeful and triumphant.

Incidentally, I don’t believe that Ella’s version of this song can be fully appreciated unless you dance to it in your living room. In pajamas and high heels. Late at night. After hearing bad music somewhere else. Just ask my sister Kim, who has performed this ritual with me many times. Doing so will ensure that when you finally do go to bed, you’ll wake up certain that there’s hope – people will do what they say they’ll do, and they will be what you need them to be if you just let go and do your own thing. It is nothing short of jubilant.

2 Comments:

At 4:16 PM, Blogger GomezParkinson said...

I love Ella too and your take on different singers' interpretation of this standard is right on. I'm not sure when Frank Sinatra recorded the song, but Dinah Shore's hit recording was released in 1943 at the height of the dark days of World War II, so your "melancholy" observations make perfect sense, considering the time. I was listening to this Ella album at work this afternoon on the iPod. Her live albums are just extraordinary, full of infectious joy.

 
At 6:09 PM, Blogger Pam Howell said...

Thanks so much! Sinatra recorded the tune in '57 and even in front of a Nelson Riddle big band arrangement it's still a little sad.

Nice to hear that you love Ella and that she kept you company this afternoon! I'm going to put on "Live in Berlin" right now!

 

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