Last week I mentioned how great all us YFIT (Young Faggots in Training) found Jane Olivor was for those nights when rejection was high drama. Or when that number written on the back of a Quest matchbook cover turned out to be Pizza Pizza rather than that hot guy who you know was just the one.
Another diva we could all weep into our watered down drinks with was Roberta Flack. My tongue is placed firmly in cheek when I say all this but damn 40 years later she still packs an emotional wallop.
Unfortunately I can't find either her "That's No Way to Say Goodbye" or "The Ballad of All the Sad Young Men" on YouTube. But was able to get audio files.
There is a certain lightness in the way Flack sings Leonard Cohen's bittersweet farewell. These two are parting not because they don't love each other but because they are going separate way - perhaps after a vacation romance?
And I don't think anyone - not even good old Shirley Bassey - sings what has to be the quintessential gay anthem: The Ballad of the Sad Young Men. This was my friend Rick's favorite end of evening number.
My god we were a morose lot, wheren't we?
27 maggio - Sant'Agostino di Canterbury
6 comments:
I personally loved the way she sang "Suzanne" I had sort of forgotten about her after all these years, but as you say, her sound still packs all the wallop that it did back when we were morose youngsters.
That was very mellow and beautiful ...I can imagine you boys sitting around enjoying the beauty of her voice. But I hope you counter acted that with some upbeat music to get you going again.
sigh.*..the first time i heard that song i wept...i love it..and leonard cohen just is the best ever..we'll take berlin.
If I remember correctly "First Time" was in the movie 'Place Misty for ME" I saw it with a guy who wasn't for me. I was pursuing my future husband.
DF
Love Roberta!
For some reason, the day I learned to ride my bike really well, in second grade -- when I flew through the summer cornfields of Kansas and was promptly grounded upon my return by my frantic, worried mother -- is infused with her "Killing Me Softly" song. It must've been playing in the house that day.
PS: I always loved "Jesse". One of my favorites.
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