"They Can't Take That Away from Me" as sung by Ella
Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExmoiGZuiFQ
Some
things you don't need words for. Listen to Louis Armstrong stop speaking in the
last line of this beautiful song. Who needs a syllable or two when you can make a soft loving
growl do the same thing? When, with your singing partner, you've already
created a world free of imperfection? What's
equally perfect is that the great Ella finishes up her way. What's above perfect is the sound they make. All this after he's just asked her, "Would you
repeat that again, dearie, please?" Who knows? Maybe the redundancy caused him to distrust language momentarily. I would've shut up for a
moment or two myself, but I'm not a musical genius, so I'm sure it was
something else. (Hint: it was musical genius.)
The song is another great conversation
between two great musical talkers. This time they're talking about loss, and
they both get it: all the smiles and the mannerisms and the life-changing ways
of the lost ones are cherished, but they're cherished calmly. (Of course, they both believe they may "never meet [the lost one]
again" -- in other words, they don't yet believe they've been deleted or
erased, which is just no fun at all). If it weren't for the lovely, airy,
heart-true (slightly sad) optimism of the trumpet (especially in the solo), I'd
probably cry when I listen to this song. (Don't tell anyone, okay?)
"The way you haunt my dreams . . ." Being a great musical artist must make that phrase easier to sing than it is for us non-professionals.
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