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What is your favorite love song?

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Erik Christensen

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I wish you roses in the spring

Fledglings on the wing

Fireflies that sing your name

I wish you sunlight on the grass

I wish you memories that last

Shelter from the passing rain

I wish you Joy

I wish you Joy

I wish you Joy

I hope the wind is at your back

And it's keeping you on track

That you never lack for love

I hope you walk beside your heart

Even in the dark

Guided by the stars above

I wish you love

I wish you love

I wish you love

And so wherever you may roam

Out there on your own

Home is just a heart away

I wish you joy

I wish you joy

I wish you joy

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This is more about the interpretation than the song itself (I don't generally like 3 minute love songs), but it is brilliant. It makes me shiver every time:

It's a very lovely rendition, but I think there's something missing...

Dalida was considered the definitive interpreter of the song "Je Suis Malade", even by Serge Lama (the original singer and composer of the song) because she was able to convey the full emotion of the piece without resorting to vocal artifice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao-Tvv96FKc

Lara's interpretation is an intense emotional outburst- there's emotion, but it doesn't move me as much. What is lacking I think is full depth of a mature woman which is Dalida's trademark, there is an emotional depth that is lacking from Fabian's current interpretation (the more a singer lives, the more depth their interpretations acquire, after all), a desperation and melancholy that transcend the immediacy of one moment or another. Dalida remains a legend (first singer to ever receive a diamond disc) , Lara is good and I've been watching her since Carpe Diem -- and she's ripening nicely.

Dalida truly was exceptional ... always larger than life and amazingly glamorous and communicative. I guess that even her grave demonstrates how she was seen by the people who listened to her:

smaller.jpg

She's quite a contrast when compared to the other famous singer of her generation, Barbara (who outlived her by ten years)- one was a golden, statuesque woman with passion and bubbling with emotion, incredibly glamorous and strikingly attractive with that mane of hers, and the other one was even taller but slimmer, dark-haired and always in black, and the passion in her music was subtle, more poetic.

Dalida, born in Egypt of Italian parents made her career in France, was a Marilyn Monroe figure herself- she was ebullient and had a great love of life, she was also an excellent actress but the public usually saw her more as a comedienne than a dramatic actress, and for a while she was considered more of a dance floor singer than a chanteuse - which was wrong, all she merely did was embrace the new rythms such as disco and the beat of the 80s to incorporate into her songs, but she never stopped singing more serious songs - she loved variety in everything. She had an unfortunate turn of events in her romantic life, as two people she was with over the years ended up dying either in accidents or suicide. The french press continuously hounded her and rumors were always printed about her, she told her friends over and over that she felt desperate and alone, as if everyone wanted to tear her apart (sounds familiar?). Eventually, at 50, worn out after so many years of fighting loneliness she drank an overdose of sedatives and laid herself out on her bed after writing a note reading "Please forgive me, life has become unbearable to me."

Barbara, by comparison, led a mostly solitary but very happy life- an introspective and very sensitive woman, she was also in love with life but her passion was less prone to bursts than it was to move at a slow burn. She wouldn't have sung "Je Suis Malade"-- instead she composed (and sung) "A peine" (

) (she always dressed in black, which she once addressed in a song when she said "pour moi le noir c'est un couleur de lumieres" - for me black is the color of lights). She died after a happy mature life (offsetting a truly tragic and unhappy childhood and adolescence, part of it involving her jewish heritage and World War II, sexual abuse by her own father, and deep poverty) long and fruitful career just months after releasing her last CD in 1997 at the still relatively young age of 67. Both women reached their heights of their career and were simply outstanding, exceptional individuals... which is what I see lacking in most of today's singers - Lara seems to be on her way, though, to reach those heights.

Perhaps the previous generation had an unusual number of outstanding female singers who were very individualistic as well as exceptional, but alongside Dalida and Barbara you had Mireille Mathieu (Edith Piaf's successor), Nana Mouskouri (definitely on the softer side of things but with a unique style and almost unforgivably beautiful voice), Ornella Vanoni , Mina and Juliette Greco, and of course Edith Piaf in the very early part of the generation, under whose shadow all of the previous singers were performing (let's not even talk about the men you had walking around in that generation- Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour, Michel Sardou, Gilbert Becaud ...) nowadays I don't see a terrible deal of individuality--- there's a lot of it in what most singers wear, but when it comes to singing they all sing with the same standard pop technique and the sound is the same standard pop sound (squeaky pop soprano #1, whiny pop tenor #3, etc) and it's the same standard pop interpretation and ornamentation (just look for Patricia Kaas singing Barbara's "L'Aigle Noir" and you'll see what I mean, she turns an introspective song about childhood lost into something that sounds like she's having sex with the fricking eagle). Now and again you get a great surprise like Juliette Noureddine (

), whom I love, but otherwise the pickings have gone a bit slim (Julien Clerc and Michel Sardou are still singing, thankfully enough).

Here's to Lara. Unless something inconceivable happens, she'll blossom in interesting ways now in her 40s and she'll be at the top of her game (40s and 50s is usually the best period for a singer). She's also very beautiful and her eyes are very interesting- heavy-lidded and large, expressive. She makes for a very good full package.

Edited by kainscalia
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kainscalia, that rendition of Je Suis Malade is exceptionally good. Thanks for posting it!

Here is another evocative song ... this is a song of love and longing that a girl recently showed me. Kate Bush can really hit some notes sweetly.

Wuthering Heights, sung by Kate Bush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Ej4WDybCQ

The lyrics:

Out on the wiley, windy moors

We'd roll and fall in green

You had a temper, like my jealousy

Too hot, too greedy

How could you leave me?

When I needed to possess you

I hated you, I loved you too

Bad dreams in the night

They told me I was going to lose the fight

Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering

Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy come home

I'm so cold, let me in-a-your window

Oh it gets dark, it gets lonely

On the other side from you

I pine alot, I find the lot

Falls through without you

I'm coming back love, cruel Heathcliff

My only one dream, my only master

Too long I roam in the night

I'm coming back to his side to put it right

I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering

Wuthering Heights

Oh let me have it, let me grab your soul away

Oh let me have it, let me grab your soul away

You know it's me, Cathy

Edited by Thales
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Meh, liked the Pat Benatar rendition better.

I went and listened to the Benatar version, because what do I know of this song anyway? The Benatar version is better in some ways. I can actually hear the lyrics! but she does not hit those sweet notes that Kate Bush does.

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This is fun. I started off thinking that the posters who chose a song from the last couple of decades were missing a lot (I’m an old guy). Then I thought of my mother’s reaction to Elvis singing “Blue Moon”. So, I am willing to go listen to the recent songs.

You know what would be fun. Let’s all get together and play our songs for each other!

Myself, I have probably a couple hundred favorite love songs from opera, foreign language songs (none of which I speak), tin pan alley, to 50’s and 60’s rock and pop, down to and including “To Know Him is To Love Him”! But, I suppose if I had to choose one, that I always love to hear, it would be “The Girl From Ipanema”. The original song by the Gilbertos with Stan Getz. Aside from its wonderful melody, the texture of the voices and their incredible phrasing in this rendition makes it a marvel (in spite of all the elevators you have ever ridden in!).

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I can't say this is my absolute favorite, but it's up there as are all of the songs of this newer artist.

Make You Feel My Love by Adele. She's has very original lyrics and style considering all the other stuff that is coming out these days, very refreshing.

Also, I like Fidelity by Regina Spektor.

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One of my long time favourites is Something For Nothing by Rush.

What I admire about the band, is how multitasking they are. Geddy Lee sings, plays bass and keybord.

I like multitasking men!

The lyrics are great, quote:

You don't get something for nothing

You can't have freedom for free

You won't get wise

With the sleep still in your eyes

No matter what your dreams might be

What you own is your own kingdom

What you do is your own glory

What you love is your own power

What you live is your own story

In your head is the answer

Let it guide you along

Let your heart be the anchor

And the beat of your own song

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