SONG OF THE DAY
“Someone To Watch Over Me” by Blossom Dearie (My Gentleman Friend, Verve Records, 1959). Composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
I’M DUMB
I got a digital voice recorder for Christmas so that when I was in the car driving and I heard a great song on the radio, I didn’t have to almost die grabbing a pen and paper and trying to write it down. When I recorded the memo to blog about this song, though, I said “Someone To Walk All Over Me”…..Freudian slip much?
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Someone to Watch Over Me” is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin from the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), where it was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence.
– It has been performed by numerous artists since its debut and is a jazz standard as well as a key work in the Great American Songbook:
- Gene Ammons – Nice An’ Cool (1961)
- Chet Baker – Chet Baker Sings (1956)
- Chris Botti – When I Fall In Love (2004)
- Rosemary Clooney – Love (1963)
- Ray Conniff – Marvelous (1957)
- Blossom Dearie – My Gentleman Friend (1961)
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Sings Gershwin (1950); Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959); Nice Work If You Can Get It (1983)
- Roberta Flack – Someone To Watch Over Me (1987); played over the end credits and remains unreleased
- George Gershwin – rec. November 12, 1926 – released as Columbia 812-D, matrix W 142925-3
- Lena Horne – A New Album (2007)
- Keith Jarrett – The Melody at Night, With You (1998)
- Melissa Manchester – Hey Ricky (1982)
- Willie Nelson – Stardust (1978)
- Sue Raney – Sue Raney Volume II (2004)
- Linda Ronstadt – What’s New (1983)
- Frank Sinatra – The Voice of Frank Sinatra (1946)
- Rod Stewart – As Time Goes By – The Great American Songbook 2 (2003)
- Sting – At The Movies (1999)
- Barbra Streisand – My Name Is Barbra (1965)
- Sinéad O’Connor- Red Hot + Rhapsody (1998)
- Brian Wilson – Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010)
- Amy Winehouse – Frank (Deluxe Edition) (2008)
– Blossom Dearie (April 28, 1924 – February 7, 2009) was an American jazz singer and pianist, often performing in the bebop genre and remembered for her girlish voice.
– Different sources state her given names variously as Blossom Margrete, Marguerite Blossom, or Margrethe Blossom.
– As a child she studied Western classical piano but switched to jazz in her teens.
– After high school Dearie moved to New York City to pursue a music career and began to sing in groups. She moved to Paris in 1952 and formed a vocal group.
– While in Paris she met her future husband, the Belgian flautist and saxophonist Bobby Jaspar.
– On her first solo album, released two years later, she plays the piano but does not sing.
– After returning from France, Dearie made her first six American albums as a solo singer and pianist for Verve Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s, mostly in a small trio or quartet setting.
– Dearie appeared on television throughout her career, most notably giving her voice to the children’s educational series Schoolhouse Rock!. Some of her pieces in this series were written by her good friend Bob Dorough, the jazz singer and composer. Her voice can be heard on “Mother Necessity”, “Figure Eight” and “Unpack Your Adjectives”.
– Songwriter Johnny Mercer, with whom she collaborated for her 1975 song, “I’m Shadowing You”, gave one of his final compositions to Dearie for the title song of her 1976 album, My New Celebrity is You.
– Her voice and songs have been featured on the soundtracks of several films, including Kissing Jessica Stein, My Life Without Me, The Squid and the Whale and The Adventures of Felix.
– She continued to perform in clubs until 2006. One of the last remaining supper-club performers, she performed regular engagements in London and New York City over many years.
– Dearie died on February 7, 2009, aged 84, at her apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City.