BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
Our BetterMost Community => Chez Tremblay => Topic started by: southendmd on March 07, 2024, 10:34:49 pm
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There was an odd musical in 1960 called "Greenwillow". It had an odd plot that I won't go into, but there was one song that survived. Written by Frank Loesser, "Never Will I Marry" became a standard. Originally sung by Anthony Perkins (who remembers that pre-Psycho he was a teen heart-throb singer!), many singers covered it.
Here is what he looked like in those days:
(https://i.discogs.com/FZS8mNCWOxqyHVpk7Y4hUhV6ONKF8ExohwJIy4fR-Ko/rs:fit/g:sm/q:40/h:300/w:300/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTg1NTcy/MDAtMTY2NjI0NTA0/Mi03MDk2LmpwZWc.jpeg)
Here is the original:
Never, never will I marry
Never, never will I wed
Born to wander solitary
Wide my world, narrow my bed
Never never never will I marry
Born to wander 'til I'm dead
No burdens to bear no conscience, no care
No memories to mourn no turning, for I was
Born to wander solitary
Wide my world, narrow my bed
Never never never will I marry
Born to wander 'til I'm dead
No burdens to bear no conscience, no care
No memories to mourn no turning, for I was
Born to wander solitary
Wide my world, narrow my bed
Never never never will I marry
Born to wander 'til I'm dead
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Anthony Perkins sang it again about 20 years hence, in a Broadway special.
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Barbra did it in 1964. :P
And also, live at the Bon Soir, in 1962!
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And a variation, with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton: "I Never Will Marry".
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A very nice contemporary version:
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Judy Garland in 1963:
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The great Vic Damone:
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Thanks for posting this, friend. I enjoyed listening while making breakfast. They don't make 'em like Damone any more. He really did justice to the song.
I don't identify with all the sentiments. I enjoy the freedom of being single but that doesn't mean I don't need or want people to be close to. Instead, I rely on a large network of friends many of whom I consider family.
I have the freedom to travel often, but that doesn't mean I have no home to come to at the end of my trips. "Not all who wander are lost" someone said.
As for solitary, I do appreciate my "fortress of solitude" when it is needed. But when it is not needed, I'm quite the social butterfly! I wonder if there's a song for single people like me.
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A very unusual version by none other than Tony Geary, the one and only Luke from General Hospital. I never knew he had a voice!
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Another "single" song is from Stephen Schwartz's "The Baker's Wife". Never actually made it to Broadway, only off. The original starred a very young Patti Lupone who sang a gorgeous "Meadowlark" that became a big cabaret hit. Paul Sorvino starred as the baker and sang this soulful song "If I Have to Live Alone" (but I can't find it anywhere on youtube for some reason). Here is the London version (that's Alun Armstrong, famous as "Master of the House" Miserables fame):
The house seems smaller since she's been gone.
The lights stay dim and the shutters drawn.
But the clock keeps running and time runs on,
and there's time enough has flown
if I have to live alone.
The leaves still rustle, the wind still whines;
the sun shines colder but still it shines.
I do my living between the lines
like the silent times I've known
when I had to live alone.
Before I knew her I had my ways
to fill the hours, to kill the days.
Have a meal at the cafe
ev'ry night at ten;
take a walk, take a nap, perhaps a card game now and then.
I've lived alone before and I can do it again.
I still hear laughter, I still see stars, and if it's true that a smile comes hard,
well, that's the reason that God made scars, to protect us once they've grown.
Let them harden now like stone,
let them harden now like stone
if I have to live alone
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What a sad song. It really captures the anguish of loneliness.