Music Monday: Nat King Cole

Hello darlings,

Someone read my last post! I'm so happy. For this Music Monday, I decided to focus on one of my favorite male singers (and there aren't a lot of them) Nat King Cole. Honestly, he's ruined me for almost anyone else. His voice has so much depth and richness and warmth. It's textured. It's weighty. It's a man's voice. I'm not going to call out anyone in particular but I'm sure we can both think plenty of examples of weak singers who rely on falsetto and those who make a pathetic attempt at singing standards.

There are so many of his renditions of songs that I love...
It Happens to Be Me, Make Her Mine, Forgive My Heart, What'll I Do?, Smile, Nature Boy, It's Only a Paper Moon, A Blossom Fell, When I Fall In Love, Angel Smile, Unforgettable, Can I Come In For A Second?, Impossible, Mona Lisa, You Stepped Out of a Dream, That's All, This Can't Be Love, The Very Thought of You, But Beautiful, The More I See You, On The Street Where You Live, Making Believe You're Here

I managed to narrow it down to just a few. Try. Try not to melt as you listen to them. :) His albums are a master class in song interpretation and creating intimacy with the listener without sacrificing skill. Perfection.

Music Monday: Nashville "No One Will Ever Love You"

Hello my loves,

I have come up with a new idea for this blog. I'm calling it Music Mondays. I don't know if it's a good idea or a horrible idea, or if anyone will even read these posts but darn it, it's my blog. :) I can't promise that I'll do these every Monday or that they'll have a regular format but for right now I'm thinking I'll just use the time to post about my thoughts on a song or album that I like. This way I can produce content that's interesting for me on days when I don't have reviews lined up. Hopefully someone will like it.

I decided to devote my first post to the song "No One Will Ever Love You" which was performed on Episode 2 of the show Nashville. The singers are Connie Britton and Charles (Chip) Esten. Does anyone else remember him from his days on Whose Line Is It Anyway? Aren't you thrilled he's landed a show where he gets to sing? No? Just me? OK, then.

First of all, I'd like to say that if you're not watching Nashville, you really should be watching Nashville. Actually, it's probably not to everyone's taste. OK, if you're anything like me, you should be watching Nashville. I'm not a massive country music fan but let's put it this way, I know Loretta from Dolly and Reba from Jennifer Nettles. And while I don't keep up with everything that's currently popular in country music, I do like Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, and Taylor Swift. But aside from the music, I just connect with this show. This may not make much sense, but this show is what I wanted Smash to be. The balance between the story lines works more or less. The political plot line is weak but it's certainly not like the random, inexplicable, uninteresting tangents that happen on Smash. Nashville gives me a nice blend of serious drama, melodramatic soap opera antics, and fantastic country music. Every Scarlett and Gunnar duet makes me melt. I might get around to them in a later post but there is just so much to unpack there.

So why did I want to draw your attention to "No One Will Ever Love You"? It's haunting. Hypnotic. Connie Britton's vowels drive me crazy and yet there's something that feels right about the way she pronounces things. When she sings "They're not waiting for you", the way she pronounces "for" gives this little kick to the end of the phrase that keeps the song from being too regular. It hints at the undercurrent of strangeness in this questionably romantic song. There are so many layers. The melody and the pace are so melancholy and haunting. But the way she's singing and the lyrics are seductive.

The words are so simple and yet so open to interpretation.