Today's the BIG DAY!

[Rick Munroe]

It was finally re-released, digitally remastered with a bonus track. :+

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000084TTG.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[jackhammer91406]

Rick,

Thanks for bringing a smile to my face. You are a wonder!

 

[Candyman]

Gee Rick I didn't realize that you could sing to. Your talents continue to amaze me. Just remember to stay warm, buts that's Derek's job!!!

Hugs Candyman

Remember it melts in your mouth not your hand:P

[Chuck50]

HOOOO Loves ya Babe we all do Ricky HUGS Chuck50:9

[Guest Bitchboy]

Shit, now I'm torn between a visit to Virgin or the prez's SOU address. However, I think the Ethel disc has more value. Didn't she declare war on Ernest Borgnine?

[Rick Munroe]

I just got back from Tower and have it in my possession...it is now officially available on request for all in-calls as hot fuck music (nothing can ever compare to "Connie Sings Jewish Favorites" but this will be a close second).

[btmstudnyc]

There's no business like HOE business like NO bizness I KNOW.

 

JIM

[Guest alanm]

I loved Mary Martin's "Peter Pan" when I was a kid. Just think of the camp value of a Mary Martin disco album with all those great songs from "Peter Pan," "South Pacific," "The Sound of Music" and "One Touch of Venus" sung to a disco beat. No, in the final analyse, Ethel Merman is camp, Mary Martin isn't. Funny how all this works!

[KY_TOP]

I'm waiting for "Ethel Merman Does the Village People" CD to come out.

I understand you've never lived until you've heard her do YMCA.

[Guest fukamarine]

>I'm waiting for "Ethel Merman Does the Village People" CD to

>come out.

>I understand you've never lived until you've heard her do

>YMCA.

 

And I'm waiting for the new Bette Midler release of "All Time Opera Favorites - as originally heard at the Met"

 

fukamarine

[Guest Derek Ross]

Someone has to stop him. He's been playing it non-stop for a week. It went from funny to bizarre to a living hell really fast. He's just lucky he's cute.

[Guest Love Bubble Butt]

OK, don't beat up on me. But who is Ethel Merman? (I'm guessing a comedian who parodies songs other singers?)

[Rick Munroe]

>who is Ethel Merman?

 

Go rent the movie "Airplane!" and that'll make it all clear to you. :+

[Candyman]

Derek-tie him up-stuff his mouth with something big and then threaten to play John Ashcroft sings the top 10. If that doesn't work just slap him silly}(

 

The Candyman

remember it melts in your mouth not you hands:P

[Guest alanm]

"Airport" + the original Broadway cast "Gypsy" + the reissued disco

CD. I actually saw Merman in "Gypsy" in 1960 when I was 16. Best

performance I have ever seen on Broadway. No one was ever more at home on Broadway than Merman, the TV and movie Merman was a totally different person. She needed that live audience.

[Guest drock56]

>Best

>performance I have ever seen on Broadway. No one was ever more

>at home on Broadway than Merman, the TV and movie Merman was a

>totally different person. She needed that live audience.

 

If you can get it, the original cast Recording (from the

late 40's) of Annie Get Your Gun. I think my parents

knew something was different when I wanted to take it

to kindergarten....

[Guest Big14U]

Ethel was the original LOUD performer.....

She never needed a microphone one could hear her voice no matter where you were seated.

 

I just love her gayest song of all ( Derek this could be your theme song ) You're The Top

 

You're The Top

sung by Ethel Merman

Words and music by Cole Porter.

 

Introduced by Ethel Merman and William Gaxton in the musical "Anything

Goes."

Sung by Miss Merman and Bing Crosby in the first film version in 1936 and

by Crosby, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor and Jeanmarie in the second film

version in 1956.

Sung by Ginny Simms and Cary Grant in the 1946 film "Night and Day."

 

(Verse 1)

At words poetic, I'm so pathetic

That I always have found it best,

Instead of getting 'em off my chest,

To let 'em rest unexpressed.

I hate parading my serenading

As I'll probably miss a bar,

But if this ditty is not so pretty,

At least it'll tell you how great you are.

 

(chorus 1)

You're the top! You're the Colosseum,

You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum,

You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss,

You're a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeart sonnet,

You're Mickey Mouse.

You're the Nile, You're the Tow'r of Pisa,

You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.

I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top[!

 

(verse 2)

Your words poetic are not pathetic

On the other hand, boy, you shine

And I can feel after every line

A thrill divine down my spine.

Now gifted humans like Vincent Youmans

Might think that your song is bad,

But for a person who's just rehearsin'

Well I gotta say this my lad:

 

(chorus 2)

You're the top! You're Mahatma Ghandi.

You're the top! You're Napolean brandy.

You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain,

You're the National Gall'ry, You're Garbo's sal'ry,

You're cellophane.

You're sublime, You're a turkey dinner.

You're the time of the Derby winner.

I'm a toy balloon that is fated soon to pop.

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top!

 

(chorus 3)

You're the top! You're a Ritz hot toddy.

You're the top! You're a Brewster body.

You're the boats that glide on the sleepy Zuider Zee,

You're a Nathan Panning, You're Bishop Manning,

You're broccoli.

You're a prize, You're a night at Coney,

You're the eyes of Irene Bordoni,

I'm a broken doll, a fol-de-rol, a blop,

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top.

 

(chorus 4)

You're the top! You're an Arrow collar.

You're the top! You're a Coolidge dollar.

You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire,

You're an O'Neill drama, You're Whistler's mama,

You're Camembert.

You're a rose, You're Inferno's Dante,

You're the nost of the great Durante.

I'm just in the way, as the French would say

"De trop,"

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top.

 

(chorus 5)

You're the top! You're a Waldorf salad.

You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad.

You're a baby grand of a lady and a gent.

You're an old dutch master, You're Mrs. Aster,

You're Pepsodent.

You're romance, You're the steppes of Russia,

You're the pants on a Roxy usher.

I'm a lazy lout that's just about to stop,

But if Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top!

 

(chorus 6)

You're the top! You're a dance in Bali.

You're the top! You're a hot tamale.

You're an angel, you simply too, too, too diveen,

You're a Botticelli, You're Keats, You're Shelley,

You're Ovaltine.

You're a boon, You're the dam at Boulder,

You're the moon over Mae West's shoulder.

I'm a nominee of the G.O.P. or GOP,

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top!

 

(chorus 7)

You're the top! You're the Tower of Babel.

You're the top! You're the Whitney Stable.

By thje River Rhine, You're a sturdy stein of beer,

You're a dress from Saks's, You're next year's taxes,'

You're stratosphere.

You're my thoist, You're a Drumstick Lipstick,

You're da foist in da Irish svipstick,

I'm a frightened frog that can find no log to hop,

But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,

You're the top!

 

 

 

:-)

[Rick Munroe]

I hate to tell you this but I think she's awful! I only like this CD for the sheer audacity of it all. It's as painful to listen to as my Brady Kids CD's...which are my other all-time favorite things to play. :+

[DaninWA]

I had a roommate like that when I was in college. His obsession was Jimmy Buffet. I swear, if I hear Margueritaville one more time, someone's going to die a slow, horrible death.

 

Dan

[Guest Hole_4_Hire]

>I hate to tell you this but I think she's awful! ...It's as painful to listen to as my Brady Kids CD's

 

I've heard her voice described as "...the North wind blowing over corn stubble in January". Doesn't that pretty well describe her? :7

[Guest feisty1]

>I hate to tell you this but I think she's awful!...

 

I've never been able to warm to her singing either. I suspect Alanm is right -- you had to have seen her on stage to really get her appeal. I found her later comedic turns in movies (like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World") to be amusing enough, but nothing particularly memorable, and much more caricature than character. But what '30s and '40s recordings I have of hers are both bland and overblown. She must've had something beyond a big voice -- Cole Porter, still my favorite American songwriter, created entire shows around her and wrote many songs specifically for her to sing -- but whatever it was didn't translate well to any medium outside the live theatre.

 

--Michael

<N.P. "Just One of Those Things" - Louis Armstrong>

[trilingual]

Apparently on-stage Merman radiated a kind of forthright unself-conscious self-confidence (if you get my meaning) that made her appealing. She gave the impression there wasn't anything she couldn't do, or that anything could faze her. She was positive, optimistic and uplifting. That was undoubtedly very attractive back during the Depression and World War II. I think Merman also was appealing to women in a less liberated time. Ethel was the kind of performer who wasn't threatening to either sex, so that also must have had something to do with her success.

 

Besides the big voice, Merman is famous for her flawless diction. For a composer like Cole Porter, whose lyrics were the essence of his art, a performer like Merman who could deliver his brilliant songs in a theatrical setting and get every single syllable across to an audience must have been absolutely invaluable! After all, with Ethel he could be guaranteed that his words would be heard by the last person in the last row of the top balcony! "Laser-like" delivery probably defines Merman's style, long before anyone ever heard of such things. . .