The other day, while driving, I kept punching the SEEK button on my radio, looking for a station that played pop ballads. No luck. Just yelling, against a heavy-metal beat, plus talk, plus one classical music station.
Where have all the ballads gone? Where is Jerry Vale, now that we need him?
Musical tastes have changed dramatically, and not for the better, say I. The long, flowing melody lines, the cleverly drawn lyrics are out of style. They say that such things move in cycles, that ballads will come back into favor. Until that day, I will rely on my CD collection and on the iPod jack in my Hyundai to keep me entertained.
What kind of music am I talking about? Here is a representative list of some of the great ballads of yore.
All the Things You Are (Kern, Hammerstein)
A treasure, for its harmony and its lyrics. Every quality singer seems to have “covered” it.
If I Loved You (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
Should be heard as part of the famous bench scene from Carousel.
I Got Lost in His Arms (Berlin)
Berlin’s magic: Keep it simple. Almost every word in this gem is one-syllable long.
Moonlight Becomes You (Van Heusen, Burke)
A beautiful, underrated ballad, by two old pros. The “although” near the end is sheer artistry.
Dear Friend (Bock, Harnick)
From She Loves Me, this one is justly celebrated as lyric-writing of the finest order. Get this:
Couples go past me
I see how they look
So discretely sympathethic when they see
The rose and the book.
I make believe nothing is wrong
How long can I pretend?
Please make it right
Don’t break my heart
Don’t let it end
Dear friend.
And I Was Beautiful (Herman)
Not in quantity, certainly, but in style composer/lyricist Jerry Herman most approaches Berlin. This one, from Dear World, was well sung by Angela Lansbury. (“….and then he walked away, and took my smile with him.”)
This Heart of Mine (Warren, Freed)
Harry Warren it is said, is the most successful composer no one has ever heard of. He wrote a zillion singable tunes that were often undercut by pedestrian lyrics by Al Dubin and Mack Gordon. (Check the weak last line of “The More I See You.”) But this one, given an over-the-top treatment in the film The Ziegfeld Follies, is one of Warren’s best.
There are so many others, hundreds of them, now pushed off the airwaves by rock and rap. If you’re over 50, you probably have your own list of favorites. I know we’re not part of the demographic advertisers are looking for, but we do spend money. And fellows, we’re not listening to your radio stations these days.
