Sunday, February 22, 2015

One Enchanted Evening, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan.

     Don't worry! I'll connect these.

     I would be willing to bet that all my followers are very familiar with the song One Enchanted Evening. Probably all of you have seen the movie South Pacific and some of you have seen it many times. I have an LP (LOL) of the South Pacific soundtrack  that I listen to once in a while. You may be able to name a number of singers who've recorded the song.

     One Enchanted Evening is a show tune from South Pacific. It was written by Rogers and Hammerstein and was popular for it's romanticism and varied musical pattern. Giorgio Tozzi , a bass , sang the  song on the soundtrack of the 1958 movie. This is probably the version that most of us have in our head when we remember this song even if we've never heard of the opera singer Giorgio Tozzi.

   Now many other singers have sung and recorded One Enchanted Evening: Perry Como, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Jay and the Americans, Barbra Streisand, the Temptations, Art Garfunkel, Harry Connick and many more. I have probably heard all of these sung but don't remember any specific version.

    Frank Sinatra sang One Enchanted Evening and is probably one of the better known and recognized versions. Sinatra sang and recorded many many tunes over many decades.  He had his fans. He carefully crafted his image.

    Bob Dylan started out in the folk song genre. Since I liked folk music at the time Dylan came on the scene, I listened to Bob Dylan. I liked the protest songs. I also liked Woodie Guthrie and all the other protest singers. Over the years Bob Dylan went through many different music genres. Sometimes he was quiet for years. His image was hap hazard. His personal life went through many changes. I liked Bob Dylan's songs but his singing and voice weren't that famous. In fact, his singing was weak. 

     Recently Dylan put out a CD of Frank Sinatra's songs and wouldn't you know it one of those songs is One Enchanted Evening. When I heard this I thought well cool I wonder what it would be like. Well, it was underwhelming. I couldn't wait for the song  to end. 

    Well, you probably haven't heard about Dylan's CD . I do wonder who's version of One Enchanted Evening you like best?