SUMMER SOUVENIRS
In a way, this post is a retroactive prequel to my EARLY AUTUMN post of Sept. 24, 2014 which recognized such classic old songs of the season as AUTUMN IN NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER SONG and (aptly enough) EARLY AUTUMN. I don’t know where you are, but where I am, tomorrow is the last day of summer, and I am off again on another seasonal trip to music’s halcyon days, before SUMMER HAS GONE:
Doris Day, as some of you may remember, was a top movie star in the 1950s-60s. A native of my home town (Cincinnati), and still with us at age 92, she started as a big band singer in 1939. Though never one of my favorite vocalists, I think her rendition of the above is so spot-on that a FADED SUMMER LOVE curtain call is warranted:
May your June-September memories be warm ones as autumn falls upon us, leaving behind SUMMER SOUVENIRS that live on (speaking of which, this song’s singer, 99 year old former big band vocalist Bea Wain, makes Doris Day look like a spring chicken):
The Observation Post 
Midwestern Plant Girl 6:27 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Very beautiful autumn songs!
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mistermuse 8:10 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
I ‘autumn-atically’ agree!
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linnetmoss 7:18 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Why do they all say “autumn” not “Fall”?
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mistermuse 8:07 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Well, if it must “fall” on me to answer that question, the songwriters probably thought “autumn” sounds classier and fits better in the lyrics (two syllables rather than one). 🙂
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linnetmoss 6:33 am on September 21, 2016 Permalink
Yes, “classier” because the Brits say it, I suppose…
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arekhill1 9:41 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
The leaves don’t fall off the trees until January here, Sr. Muse–the trees that do have falling leaves, palms and firs being the exception. Then they’re all greened up again by the end of March. Barely worth a tune.
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mistermuse 1:34 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
WINTER IN SAN DIEGO might make a good tune, Ricardo, but don’t color me green with envy, as I like spring and especially autumn too much to want to live there year-round.
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Cynthia Jobin 10:44 am on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
These days I can’t put Doris Day in mind without also thinking of PDQ Bach”s wonderfully sacrilegious “Agnes Dei and her sister Doris….”
Summer is not my favorite season, so it’s okay with me that it’s coming to an end. On the other hand, I love the bittersweet fall and am much more attuned to September Song and Autumn in New York. I once saw a bit on the Johnny Carson show where he was trying to prove that if you hummed the opening bars of Autumn in New York you couldn’t possibly then remember the opening bars of Moonlight in Vermont, and vice versa.
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mistermuse 1:19 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
My late mother-in-law’s name was Agnes, but her last name was Haas — she was a Haaswife until the Dei she got divorced, which was extremely sacrilegious because she was Catholic….and her sister’s name was Alberta, which is pretty close to Doris if you don’t think about it, which I hope you don’t. 🙂
Interesting bit about the bit on Johnny Carson. AUTUMN IN NEW YORK was composed by Vernon Duke in 1935, which I think was several years before MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT, so it appears the composer of the latter moonlighted as a Vernon Duke wannabe.
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Don Frankel 6:09 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Doris Day did the trick here Muse. Nice stuff.
Bea Wain? Never heard of her before. But I just got done listening to her sing Heart and Soul. Really nice. She was born Beatrice Weisner in Da Bronx. I think I’ve heard of that place. Thanks for introducing her, That’s why you’re here Muse. Keep them alive.
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mistermuse 8:20 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Bea Wain is one of my favorite female vocalists of the big band era, Don. I own several dozen of her old 78 rpm records, but I didn’t know she is still living until I checked. Her late husband was André Baruch, a well known radio announcer whom you may have heard of — he and Bea were a famous disc jockey team known as Mr. & Mrs. Music on WMCA in NYC back in the day. He was also part of the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast team on WMGM radio and WOR-TV from 1954 to 1956.
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BroadBlogs 8:27 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Bittersweet.
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mistermuse 9:01 pm on September 20, 2016 Permalink |
Indeed.
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inesephoto 4:33 pm on September 23, 2016 Permalink |
Exquisite September post! I absolutely enjoyed the music – can listen to Doris Day for hours 🙂
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