Not exactly a ballad starting about 3:00 min in.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hVZpItG5gpY
Definitely not a ballad
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjgmmkzxE
BB King
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTROSBShME
Louis givin' it the Satchmo treatment
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k
1934
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EZAyKfQvFeo
My opinion, a good tune just has "legs. And can stand however it's performed.
that's reflected in the multiple styles and variable tempo settings in this wonderful app.
)BOB
Last edited by pdxdjazz; 09-15-2017 at 07:38 PM.
I learned the lyrics to this tune almost 60 years ago. There is nothing about them that suggests a tempo for this song. The lyrics are not "wordy" making them difficult to sing at a medium tempo, in contrast to those of a song like "Midnight Sun." If you examine my chord chart, you would note that I list the style as a medium ballad and suggest a tempo of 120 bpm.
Early recordings of the song do not take a slow tempo. Dick Powell, who introduced the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1OZ14N_WZ4), in a 1934 performance sings it at a tempo of about 102 bpm. Al Bowlly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjgmmkzxE) in what sounds like a 1930s performance, comfortably sings the tune at 160 bpm. A 1934 performance by Smith Ballew (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_5-dLQ3Wc) goes a little more slowly at about 148 bpm. Another 1930s performance, this one by Harry Roy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k) goes at about 126 bpm.
To be sure, there are slower performances. Louis Armstrong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6AvXWqm7k) sings it about 104 bpm and Frank Sinatra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFRwXYyQ_FQ) sings it at about 88 bpm. Both Nat Cole and Dean Martin sing it about 70 bpm. However, she sings it at about 60 bpm, which is even slower.
All this is to show that this tune can be comfortably sung at many different tempos, and that nothing in the lyrics suggests a particular choice. I stand by my own opinion that her rendition drags and is overly sentimental, and that 120 bpm is a reasonable tempo for both a vocal and instrumental performance of it. You are free to disagree.
Last edited by Keith88; 09-16-2017 at 11:33 PM.
Bookmarks