We have another chance for the Random iTunes Fairy to match a song to a milestone. Today is frequent commenter Dana’s birthday — Happy Birthday, Dana! — so he will have the chance to comment on a song chosen (randomly) just for him.
Let’s spin the dial…
Well, this is a rather funny outcome. This is a remixed version of a cut on Ron Sexsmith’s sixth studio album, 2002’s Cobblestone Runway. And I happen to have featured the original version already, so we have Dana’s first reaction on record.
This song appears toward the end of Disc One of Miranda Lambert’s 2016 The Weight of These Wings. It’s one of only two tracks on the double album not written by Lambert.
‘Covered Wagon’ is a cover of one of singer-songwriter Danny O’Keefe’s earliest songs. O’Keefe is a Seattle-based folk-rock performer whose work has been covered by a host of artists over the past 50 years. The one readers of this blog might know best is ‘The Road,’ performed by Jackson Browne on his Running on Empty album.
Of all the classic musicals I’ve watched as part of my quarantine project, the one that most surprised and delighted me is 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Judy Garland. The two met on the set of this film and later married.
Meet Me in St. Louis is based on a series of short stories written by Sally Benson and published in The New Yorker. The film follows a year in the life of a St. Louis family, the Smiths, during the run-up to the 1904 World’s Fair.
It’s a heartfelt helping of warm nostalgia, like a scene from Disney’s Carousel of Progress come to life, but it has a compelling dark streak and a hint of sensuality. AFI places it at #10 on their list of the 25 greatest musicals of all time.
I love the experience of seeing something I’ve heard of but never really known, something I think is one thing but find out is something else entirely. That was how I responded to 1968’s Funny Girl.
The William Wyler film is based on the Broadway show of the same name, and features Barbra Streisand’s film debut, reprising the role she brought to life on stage. It depicts the relationship of actress Fanny Brice and her high-roller husband, Nicky Arnstein (played by Omar Sharif in the film).
The earliest film on AFI’s 100 years of Musicals list is 1933’s 42nd Street. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, this movie was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and shows up at #13 on AFI’s list.
While 42nd Street depicts the backstage antics surrounding the production of a Broadway musical, I question whether the film itself should be considered a musical. For over an hour of its running time, the only song-and-dance numbers are a couple of brief rehearsals for the show within the show. Only in its last 20 minutes does the film launch into a full-blown musical number, and that’s the one taking place on the Broadway stage.
Meet Me In Montauk 