Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans in disarray!

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

This fight is for everything.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Democrats are back in array!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

You are here: Home / Music / How strange the change from major to minor

How strange the change from major to minor

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“My Funny Valentine” is my favorite song of all time and I don’t know why I’ve never done a thread about it on Valentine’s Day. Although the lyrics are in some way the best part, there isn’t a vocal version I especially like; Chet Baker ruins it by ending minor instead of major and the Ella versions I can find are all annoyingly orchestrated. It’s sung in “Fabulous Baker Boys” (great) and “Talented Mr. Ripley” (meh), by the way. At some point, I hope that at least one of the Mad Men listens to it as he broods over a glass of Canadian Club.

Here’s the ’50s Miles Davis quintet (really quartet here since Coltrane wasn’t allowed to play on the ballads). Is there a version you like especially?

Update. Also too, open thread!

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  2. 2.

    gbear

    there isn’t a vocal version I especially like

    There’s the Elvis Costello version, but every song that Elvis Costello sings is mostly about Elvis Costello.

  7. 7.

    DougJ®

    @MikeJ:

    This reminds me of my all-time favorite reader email to Eric Alterman. He was soliciting titles for his new book and the reader suggested “Songs For Swinging Liberals” with a picture of Alterman and Krugman with skinny black ties, loosened at the collar, standing outside the Strand.

  10. 10.

    Dilford

    There’s a Paul Desmond version on the CD “Late Lament” where his alto really inhabits the song, but the string(s) arrangement makes it, well, I suppose “(meh)” is as good a word as any.
    (I do a little 2 hour jazz show once a week on our community radio station and I promised an alternative to yesterday’s Valentine’s show next week. Any suggestions for spiteful, hateful, resentful jazz? So far I’ve got Mingus’ “Haitian Fight Song” down as a for-sure, but I’d welcome more ideas.)

  14. 14.

    Violet

    @DougJ®:
    It’s not the ending. It’s sad from the beginning for me. It seems full of longing and desire unfulfilled.

    I do like Tony Bennett’s version better than some. I just like his voice, though.

  16. 16.

    DougJ®

    @Dilford:

    Mississippi Goddamn? Not really jazz but it is Nina Simone.

    So What always sounds a bit sarcastic.

    But maybe resentful, wistful would work better. Lots of those. I would like some of they lyrics to But Not For me on my tombstone: It All Began So Well But An End.

    EDIT: How about I Wanna Be Around?

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    Elvis C, Rickie Lee Jones, Etta James all have worthy versions. Only Etta makes it sound like a threat.

  23. 23.

    burnspbesq

    The second great Miles quintet (George Coleman on tenor – this was before Shorter joined), live at what was then known as Philharmonic Hall in 1964. The first record from that date is actually called “My Funny Valentine.”

  24. 24.

    jl

    Open Thread Item Flash Alert Siren Alarm Bulletin

    What libertarians are arguing about: is a publicly defense against a giant asteroid hitting the earth a legitimate function of government.

    Asteroid defense and libertarianism

    “…taxing people to protect the Earth from an asteroid, while within Congress’s powers, is an illegitimate function of government from a moral perspective.”

    http://volokh.com/2011/02/15/asteroid-defense-and-libertarianism/

    To be fair the writer prefaces this with a proviso that he does not speak for all libertarians, and ‘an argument can be made’. But, still, this is apparently what they are arguing about today.

    Found via Brad DeLong’s blog:

    Empirical Proof that America’s Libertarians Are Completely Insane…
    http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/02/empirical-proof-that-americas-libertarians-are-completely-insane.html

  29. 29.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    Praise President Obama for wisely proposing Draconian budget cuts for the elderly, children, and the poor only halfway to his esteemed and honorable Republican friends’ goals – and not one step more than halfway. The man has balls of Steele.
    .
    .

  30. 30.

    inkadu

    @DougJ®: Have you heard his Bachrach and Bachrach-inspired albums, Painted from Memory and North? His voice is rough, but it’s got character, and it is very well trained, even if its not beautiful.

    Beautiful voices are all beautiful in the same way; every ugly voice is different.

  34. 34.

    DougJ®

    @inkadu:

    I like the Bacharach album he did. I just don’t think he can carry off Rodgers and Hart.

    Touching Burt Bacharach’s feet and sticking your tongue in the holiest of holies ain’t the same fucking ballpark.

  39. 39.

    Sly

    Per Wonkette, it looks like John Edwards may soon be indicted for violating campaign finance laws.

    I certainly believe in an America where the son of a mill worker can grow up to be convicted of white-collar crimes.

  40. 40.

    burnspbesq

    @minachica:

    I’m not a great fan of Diana Krall as a singer (I love her as a pianist), but in fairness she sings the crap out of “Cry Me a River” on Live in Paris.

  45. 45.

    Anne Laurie

    I heard Cyndi Lauper cover ‘My Funny Valentine’ live, with her autoharp (yes, she was opening for Cher. Don’t judge.) Lauper has the perfect voice for this song, and I wish there were a recording…

    Also remember Natalie Cole’s version as quite listenable, but of course I can’t find that one on youtube. So, best available version, IMO, of one of my favorites:

  46. 46.

    inkadu

    @DougJ®: Well, if we’re trading Pulp Fiction quotes, character goes a long way.

    I guess I’m not enough of a musician to appreciate how much cosmically better Rodgers and Hart are; or maybe I just don’t care for the historical and cultural valences that cordon off some music from others.

  48. 48.

    Violet

    @Sly:
    The whole John Edwards saga just makes me sad at this point. He’s obviously not a good guy, but the mother of his children just died after a lengthy illness and his philandering, lying ways have been made very public. I still think the guy should pay for whatever laws he broke, just as anyone should (and many don’t, banksters I’m looking at you), but the whole thing just seems depressing and awful now.

    Will he go to prison and his young children have no mother or father around? I guess the oldest daughter will care for them. It just seems sad and terrible.

    I know many people have it so much worse and I shouldn’t be pitying him. I don’t really. It’s his family and especially those kids I feel bad for. What a messy situation.

  49. 49.

    minachica

    @burnspbesq: Wow, that is actually the version of Cry Me a River that made me love the song. I’ve been searching for it since I made that comment and couldn’t find it, so… thanks!

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @Violet:

    It’s probably because (IMO) the loved one is slipping off her pedestal:

    Is your figure less than Greek?
    Is your mouth a little weak?
    When you open it to speak
    Are you smart?

    To me, it sounds like the beginning of the end, not a happy romantic song. YMMV, of course.

  51. 51.

    JGabriel

    DougJ(R) @ Top:

    “My Funny Valentine” is my favorite song of all time …

    I always think of Sarah Vaughn’s 45 RPM of My Funny Valentine as the definitive version — even though I know there’s no definitive version for any song as heavily covered as this one.

    Plus, as a liberal blogger, you gotta love any female jazz singer nicknamed “Sailor” for her cussin’ habit.

    .

  52. 52.

    Violet

    @Mnemosyne:
    Yeah, I think that’s definitely part of it. I don’t know. It makes me sad every time I hear even the opening bars of it.

    Between this and the John Edwards thing, I think I’m depressed. I think I’ll go watch a dumb sitcom or something to take my mind off it.

    Or, I should probably go work on the health insurance submission stuff I’ve got to do. Talk about depressing…

  53. 53.

    Martin

    Never thought that highly of the song, unfortunately. For my taste reat songs need to push musical boundaries, at least a little. Rhapsody in Blue has been my favorite song since I was a little kid – it always stood out among the jazz that I heard in the house or when we went out. It’s overused as a background to New York, but I can live with that. I miss New York.

  59. 59.

    Sly

    @Violet:
    Perhaps I’m just vindictive, but I get a small degree of pleasure out of the story since I get to shove it in the face of everyone who earnestly believed that John Edwards was the only “authentic” candidate in 2008, and called anyone who supported another candidate kool-aid drinkers. The only thing better would be if Dennis Kucinich got caught in a kickback scandal, or something, because the people who carry his water are truly insufferable.

    But he won’t go to jail. And I have more than enough sympathy for his kids over the fact that their mother is dead.

  60. 60.

    jl

    This being Balloon-Juice, with Dead Heads, didn’t Jerry Garcia do a Funny Valentine? Anyone know where to find a recording online?

  62. 62.

    DougJ®

    @JGabriel:

    Great stuff, right up my alley. My favorite version I’ve heard yet, other than Miles.

    The Rickie Lee and Tony Bennet versions people recommended were great too.

  63. 63.

    JGabriel

    @despues76: I was surprised DougJ didn’t mention Vaughn at all up top. Obviously, there are famous versions by several artists, but Vaughn is the one I most immediately associate with My Funny Valentine whenever it comes up.

    .

  64. 64.

    Suffern ACE

    @jl:

    Young libertarian: But master, what if we looked to the skies and saw an asteroid was hurtling toward earth. Would it be o.k. to tax then if we had the technology to divert disaster?
    Libertarian master: No. Not even then. Even if we knew for certain that it would strike the earth. In fact, it would be immoral to even warn people as the warning might have unintended consequences. Like looting. It might destabilize property rights, which would be forever destroyed. Life would not be worth living then anyway.
    Young libertarian: And my mother and father. Could I tell them?
    Libertarian master: For a price, yes. And because I have told you these things, I get to know for free.

  67. 67.

    JGabriel

    @DougJ®: Glad you liked it. There are plenty more live versions from Sarah Vaughn on youtube if you want to explore. I like the Rickie Lee Jones version too (was a big fan in the early 80’s and used to have the 10″ ep where it was originally featured), though I’m not familiar with the Tony Bennet cover — I’ll have to give it a whirl.

    .

  70. 70.

    cleek

    the one on Cookin is my favorite. but there’s a nice one on ’58 Sessions, too.

    on the other hand, Loomer is fucking beautiful in a completely different way.

  72. 72.

    DougJ®

    @JGabriel:

    I went through a stage when I listened to that record she did with Clifford Brown every day, btw. Probably my favorite vocal jazz album.

  73. 73.

    JGabriel

    @Martin:

    Best SNL performance by any band, IMO.

    Hmm, I don’t know if I’d go that far. My favorite SNL performances so far are Costello’s Radio Radio, The Replacement’s Bastards of Young, and Talking Heads’ Take Me To The River.

    I haven’t seen all the SNL performances, not by a long shot, so I won’t even pretend those assessments have any authority. They’re just the ones that stuck in my memory.

    .

  74. 74.

    Mark S.

    @jl:

    Jesus, that is some wacky ass shit there. I thought maybe it was an elaborate joke, but these mother fuckers are dead serious in the comments. Sasha thinks it’s immoral for the government to take taxes to protect us from “natural causes,” which is the most insane (and stupid) argument I think I’ve ever seen. Here she goes:

    Yes, starvation counts as a natural cause, so federal programs (or any government programs) could only be justified on an attenuated theory like “If people are starving to death, they’ll commit more crimes, and we could control that with more police, but a cheaper way of doing it is with welfare payments.”

    Were these people beaten constantly as children? They seem to be lacking in any human emotions aside from greed and resentment.

  75. 75.

    suzanne

    @Violet: I feel badly for Edwards’ kids, too. Losing their mother when they’re young enough to be so dependent, but being old enough to know their father treated their mother so badly.

    Someone post a picture of a cute cat or something. Here’s a cute baby.

    There are 80 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my house.

  80. 80.

    JWL

    “My Funny Valentine” is my favorite song of all time and I don’t know why I’ve never done a thread about it on Valentine’s Day.”

    Trust me: if by chance your favorite movie is Steel Magnolias, there’ll be no harm in keeping that to yourself.

  82. 82.

    Martin

    @suzanne: Heh. We’re down to 18. Crammed 100 boxes with room to spare in my Honda (much to the amazement of the folks at the distro center).

    They’ll go fast except for the Shout Outs. Can’t give those damn things away.

  83. 83.

    Anne Laurie

    @Dilford:

    Any suggestions for spiteful, hateful, resentful jazz?

    Don’t know from jazz, but if you’re not a purist, Warren Zevon has a bunch of great slash-your-wrists examples, some of which Nelson Riddle covered. And there’s Duffy, who definitely fits on the Etta James / Ella Fitzgerald / Patsy Cline axis:

  84. 84.

    Warren Terra

    @DougJ®:
    That’s not a good version of Zappa’s The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing, imho; the version on Thing-Fish is better (albeit only makes any sense in the context of that deeply, deeply weird album); I’m pretty sure there’s another, better version in my collection but I can’t seem to find it.

  85. 85.

    JGabriel

    @DougJ®:

    Probably my favorite vocal jazz album.

    My choice might be a bit of a cliche, but I think my favorite jazz vocal album is John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Don’t know if it pushes any boundaries or in any new directions, but it’s gotta be one of the most romantic and just flat out beautiful albums ever recorded.

    .

  86. 86.

    RalfW

    @Oscarbob: That Jeffrey Sachs video is amazing.

    The TeeVee host guy is incredulous that Sachs dares to blast the Laffer curve and the absurdist GOP.

    ≈The woman anchor, to her credit, seems more willing to actually commit a bit of journalism. The guy host is a self-revealing idiot.

  88. 88.

    shortstop

    @Violet: Probably because it’s a huge fucking backhanded compliment.

    Still, it’s a wonderful melody with some great wordplay. Our pooch is named Clementine and I like to sing it to her, with a few lyrics changed: “When you open it to speak, do you bark?”

  92. 92.

    Richard Fox

    Cleo Laine does a wonderful version of this song. Her interpretation is somewhat moody and reflective, and hits a sense of pathos other versions I have heard don’t reach. Check it out.

  94. 94.

    shortstop

    Do you guys ever listen to different people’s versions of the same great song back to back to back to back to back, then be so sick of the song you can’t listen to it for like a year? Not saying I’ve done that; just asking if any of you have.

  95. 95.

    Martin

    @Mark S.: If the government takes your money to stop the asteroid, how will John Galt be able to convince the public to act in their rational self interest to do it instead?

  97. 97.

    burnspbesq

    @JGabriel:

    JC&JH is a great, great record. So are the two Tony Bennett and Bill Evans records. So is Karrin Allyson’s “Ballads” record (all of the same songs as the Coltrane record of the same name). And I loves me some Jane Monheit.

    But my favorite vocal jazz record is “Moss,” the one-off joint project by Luciana Souza, Kate McGarry, Lauren Kinhan, Theo Bleckmann, and Peter Eldridge. The setting of the e.e. cummings poem “I Carry Your Hear with Me” is just stunningly beautiful.

  98. 98.

    Mark S.

    @Martin:

    John Galt would have used his static electricity machine to break up the asteroid so it only fell on soshalists and other vermin.

    ETA: Well, first he would give a two hundred page long speech.

  99. 99.

    suzanne

    @shortstop:

    Do you guys ever listen to different people’s versions of the same great song back to back to back to back to back, then be so sick of the song you can’t listen to it for like a year?

    Yes. I have declared a ten-year personal moratorium on “Hallelujah”.

  101. 101.

    burnspbesq

    @jl:

    I especially love this part of Volokh’s little screed. It explains matoko chan better than anything else.

    reductio ad absurdum doesn’t work against someone who’s willing to be absurd

  104. 104.

    burnspbesq

    Squee! My new 180g vinyl copy of “Swiss Movement” shipped today.

    “Trynta make it real compared to what.”

  105. 105.

    RalfW

    @JGabriel: re: Best SNL performances.

    I remember sitting in awe as these crazy-wierd people sang about a lobster back in 1980. Who would have imagined the B52s would go anywhere. But they did and I’m glad.

    Because my brother was listening to Boston and Frampton and Springstein, and I needed something like the B52s, and U2 and all that to not go insane from the boredom of mainstream rock.

  106. 106.

    Prometheus Shrugged

    @burnspbesq: Absolutely agree on the Miles w/George Coleman version. I’ve listened to that recording approximately once a week since 1981 (when I first discovered it) and never get tired of it.

  108. 108.

    Bmaccnm

    @Mark S.:
    Jezziz. I actually got sucked into that vortex and I couldn’t free myself without Herculean effort. Is is moral to require someone to pull me out of a Libertarian sewer-suck? These folks must have been beaten regularly. They must still BE beaten regularly. How else to explain their degree of detachment from shared humanity. “I shouldn’t be forced to do anything I don’t want to do. WAHHH” Go fucking Galt already, wouldya.”

    One salient comment: Libertarians almost never have to deal with the actual reality of their arguments. The highways and water systems are already built. The health insurance schemes are in place. Our society has a functional support system, and it doesn’t seem these WATBs have ever been anywhere that doesn’t have such a system. See Bolivia, boys. Somalia’s the spot for you. Jeeziz, I hate these people.

  111. 111.

    MikeB

    In my youth I played piano for Sarah Vaughan and traveled with her for
    about a year. She did Funny Valentine almost every night and she did
    something different and spectacular vocally with the tune every time.

    The woman was one of the all time greats and an excellent pianist as well.

    I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been around in that era. I
    heard Miles play Funny Valentine when we played opposite his group in Boston.
    You can say what you want about his personality, but he could rip your
    heart out with one note. He liked to play the first verse rubato, it was one of
    his signature ballads. I would tend to agree with burnspbesq that the ’64
    recorded version is his best.

  112. 112.

    Mnemosyne

    @suzanne:

    I think I will always and forever associate “Hallelujah” with Hawaii, specifically this weird keyboard player at Caffe Coco in Wailua. He played really cool stuff (like “Satellite of Love”) but it was very surreal.

  113. 113.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    I have a “mix” CD that is nothing but takes of my favorite jazz song, Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments.” I have listened to it over and over many times, and I never get tired of it.

    I linked to Booker Ervin above. Here’s a trippy take by UFO (United Future Organization).

    ETA: FYWP! Apparently I keep getting moderated because I use the word version? WTF?!

    ETFA: Okay, apparently it’s not that. I give up.

  116. 116.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    Do you guys ever listen to different people’s versions of the same great song back to back to back to back to back [. . .]

    Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments.” Have a whole “mix” CD of different versions. But I never get tired of it. UFO does it here.

    ETA: Apologies for the multiple, multiple posts. But, even with my experience with FYWP, I still can’t believe that it moderated me. I just can’t see the “tell.”

  117. 117.

    burnspbesq

    @Steeplejack:

    But, even with my experience with FYWP, I still can’t believe that it moderated me. I just can’t see the “tell.”

    I think the problem is that you are implicitly assuming that the actions of FYWP follow some rule that can be ascertained through the use of logic. Do the words “arbitrary and capricious” ring any bells?

  119. 119.

    Wag

    I wish Elvis and Diana would do a version of MFV with her playing piano and his voice. It would be the best of each of them. And you could mash it up with Chet’s solo and it would be perfect.

  121. 121.

    nadezhda

    @MikeB: In my youth I played piano for Sarah Vaughan and traveled with her for
    about a year.     … he just casually lets drop in the open thread. Simply wow.

  122. 122.

    burnspbesq

    Listening to a pretty spiffy recording of La Traviata right now. Ileana Cotrubas, Domingo, and Sherill Milnes.

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