My father used to sing this song when I was little; it's the famous setting of the equally famous Kipling poem, written by American composer Oley Speaks in 1907. We were singing it today just for fun, and I decided (inevitably) to look for some versions on Youtube. The first one I listened to was the one I expected to be the perfect performance, sung by matinée-idol baritone Lawrence Tibbett, a paragon of baritonal virility; and it is great, but his fake Cockney accent just gets silly after awhile:
And then I found this.
Could anything be hipper? I love the "exotic" arrangement, and the fact that Sinatra changed "Burma girl" to "Burma broad," and, of course, Sinatra himself.
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5 comments:
Thanks for that interlude of smooth, suave Sinatra; I just loved it.
The dawn comes up like thunder over China 'cross the bay.
That's a wonderful line for a male singer.
Peter Dawson is the man for this song. On National Radio, Saturday nights.
Thanks for the memories. This is another piece of heritage we share.
Isn't it a bit Raj for Americans, though?
The two versions seem to refer to two completely different episodes of foreign venturism, and both are completely persuasive.
Loved the ending of Ol' Blue-Eyes' version.
The few Americans who still know this song are probably among the only Americans who have a notion what the Raj was.
Yes, it's very cool, isn't it, Otepoti? Funny enough, Lawrence Tibbett was also American, I think from Kansas.
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