So hush, little baby, don't you cry

Porgy & Bess - 1958

And so we start, with this unlikely gem.

Unlikely because you're not going to find much jazz here. I do like it a lot, but I intended to keep this to mostly rock and pop. But when sorting the list by year, this is the first album that popped up, and I thought I could not resist. It's been a favourite of mine for a long time.

Actually, Gershwin wrote this in the mid 1930s, and there have been some other very famous versions of this play, but this one is the one I am familiar with, and while it's probably not for every day listening, it is a wonderful piece of music.

So why should you listen to it?

• It's not every day that you get to listen to one of the most insanely gifted female voices singing side by side with a guy who, one would think, shouldn't be singing in the first place. It's even rarer to have such combination work. Here it does, and it works amazingly well.
• Some of the most famous songs here are classics. Even if you're not too fond of the genre, you are bound to recognize, at least, a few songs. 
• Many of these songs have been covered many times with varying results. For example, Cher did an amazing job with "It ain't necessarily so" in the late 90s tribute album The Glory of Gerswhin (we'll get there, in a couple of years, i guess). In the same album, Sinead O'Connor murdered "My man is gone now". But I find these versions better than any cover I ever heard.
• Talking about "My man...." : This must be one of the most heart-breaking, gut-wrenching songs ever performed. 
• And talking about "It ain't necessarily so": This is a song that mocks beliefs and religion. It's extremely funny and, still, not fully disrespectful or aggressive. Do you remember the times when you could mock something without being aggressive? And also, without having tons of people raging at you on a myriad of social media! 
• Ella, Louis, Gershwin. Do I really need to say more? 

Guitar groups are on the way out....

The Beatles - Decca Audition - 1962

The story is quite famous. In January, 1962, The (still very unknown) Beatles auditioned for Decca. They recorded 15 songs, most covers of some 50s and early 60s songs, plus a few of their own. After the audition, they were rejected with the line that heads this section, plus one of the most notoriously myopic lines ever: "The Beatles have no future in the music business."

It's still debated who came up with such a silly line, and clearly whoever it was, they were sorely mistaken. But listening to this material again, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the guy. He didn't catch the potential of the band, that's for sure. But I had forgotten how absurdly 50s this sounds. In a way, I can understand that someone might have felt that this style of music was on its way out because, well, for the most part it was. Even the Lennon/McCartney songs here, like "Like Dreamers Do", "Love of the Loved" or "Hello, Little Girl" sound like a soundtrack for a 50s movie.

Still,

• These are actually very cool songs, if you like 50s music from time to time. And they're quite well performed, if you consider the times and situation.
• Listening to Paul McCartney singing "Besame Mucho" never fails to put me in a good mood.
• You're not going to be able to get this anyway, most likely. I bought a "bootleg" cassette (remember those?) many years ago, and of course, i don't have it anymore, so I had to listen to what I could from YouTube and from the 1995 Anthology album, that has a few of those. It's a shame, i think.

Someone to Love, Somebody New, Someone to Love, Someone like You

The Beatles - Please, Please Me - 1963

Yes, I'm making fun of them, a bit. "Love me do" must have the silliest lyrics ever. Well, maybe not, but they're pretty silly indeed. And while there's a few better lyrics here (hmmmm, "I've known a secret for a week or two, nobody knows, just we two" is not one of them though) , the whole album is very early 60s pop. Which is not a bad thing at all.

Listening to this one right after the Decca audition, though, you can feel the change, and it's amazing considering that this one began being recorded less than a year after that audition. There's still a bit of a 50s vibe, but it's at few and far between moments, and for the most part, this is much closer to the sound that would be their trademark during the first half of their career. 

Some highlights:

• "I saw her Standing there" is an all time classic rocker. I wish I could hear this album for the first time not knowing anything about them. Must have been quite something for folks back then.
• As an aside, Paul McCartney said he pretty much copied the bass riff for this one from Chuck Berry. Mental note to self: Copy wisely
• Lennon's "C'mon, C'mon" in the chorus of "Please, Please me" is one of those details that actually make a song. Without it, it's an OK-ish pop song. With it, it's a classic.
• Story tells that Lennon was having a cold on the day they recorded most of the album (yes, the day, as in one). Still, he carries this whole album, pretty much. I don't think without his vocals, this would have been the same. Not just for the more rock songs, just listen to "Ask me why", or "Baby, it's you", two of my favourite songs here.
• Ringo's first appearance in vocals is here, in "Boys", another rocker. He never really had your typical singing voice, and I have always been amazed at the fact that he sang at all. But on the other hand, I think he did a pretty good job.

Random thoughts

• A friend of mine and I had adopted the phrase "high as cotton" to refer to people who were, well, high, of course. That comes from the line "and the cotton is high" from Summertime. 😃
• For a long time (longer than I dare to admit), I was certain that the lyrics of "I wants to stay here" said "you are too dizzy to understand" instead of "you are too decent to understand". Po-tey-tou, po-tah-to. 
• For some reason, music from the 50s, like the Decca audition ones, always remind me of David Lynch's Mullholland Dr. So, for me, the Decca tapes sound mostly like this
• In Argentina, Please, Please me was translated as "Por favor, yo", something like "Please!! Please!! Me!!). Never knew if it was stupidity or censorship. Don't think there's a difference.