https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IucqZ79dY24
This song was recorded
long ago, during my childhood, but I don't remember ever hearing it back then (it
was written in 1930, minus this 1958 version's lyrical variations). Liz Taylor,
Lana Turner, Liberace, the latter two smiling, all put in glamourous appearances (that's a lot of glamour); from my
more recent years, so do shows and clothes and cars and races and high-tone
places (I have only second-hand reports on the last of those). And then the song gives you the most charming,
lyrical line of self-mockery you'll ever hear inside or outside a popular song: listen to Ms. Simone's voice soar on the word "wrong" as she finally begins
to wonder about her man (me? he only cares for me?), and to how her grateful, laughing heart abandons the
possessive before "baby". That's love, baby (my baby, your baby, anyone's baby), and it's perfect because
it comes near the conclusion of some of the niftiest, tuneful jazz trio playing you're ever likely to hear. The soft insistent caress of brushes on snare drum (more love) and the gently
tweaked bass (ditto) sustain the pulse while the piano becomes whatever Ms. Simone
wants it to: big, small, brash, shy, all grown-up and child-like. But in the
end, the hero in this performance is the wondrous instrument of
her voice, which makes this beautiful song a thing you will want to experience again and again
and again. And again -- it's impossible to get
sick of.
(That video is
absolutely delightful, too, isn't it?)
