The lady may have left the stage, but her spirit lives on in her recordings, and this is among her finest!! Sadly unreleased in the US for 28 years, this gloriously somber song was included in the 1995 anthology box set. Dusty sings with a sadness in her voice as she vocally paints a picture of a dreary day. While the overcast sky fails to crush her spirit, it does provide an opportunity for introspection and reflection. She is accompanied only by piano and orchestral strings which give this song a beautifully sad sound that make it perfect for playing on a rainy day.
22 Apr 04 ·delicado: I must say, this is a quite brilliant recording; thanks for mentioning it! I heard the original Randy Newman version the other day, but to me, neither the arrangement or vocal performance were a patch on Dusty. Not that I'm biased or anything!
This 1965 cover of a then new songwriter Randy Newman was a moderate hit for Cilla in the UK reaching No.17. It is superbly sung and arranged, indeed Randy Newman has said on numerous occasions that Cilla's version of this is his favourite version of all his songs. Dusty also recorded this in 1965, taking it slightly slower than Cilla, but an excellent version nonetheless.
available on CD - The Abbey Road Sessions 1963-1973 (EMI)
01 Oct 05 ·Flippet: I adore this recording. I don't understand why it wasn't an even bigger hit for Cilla at the time but I can totally understand why composer Randy Newman loves it. Cilla in her prime - unstoppable!!
Nice mellow one from A&M master arranger Nick DeCaro (Claudine Longet, many more), but this is probably my fifth "favorite" song off of this wonderful album, with versions of songs by Stevie Wonder ("happier than the morning sun") and Joni Mitchell ("all i want") that even the composers would have to admit have value added. I don't know if Ms. Mitchell necessarily sees the humor in changing the lyric "I want to knit you a sweater" to "I want to lift your sweater", but I do. Also a radical arrangement of "tea for two" only Bob Azzam can compete with. Nice comments by "konsu" on Nick's earlier album only show up if you put a space between "De" and "Caro".
from Italian Graffiti (MCA MVCM-21036), available on CD (MCA Japan)
29 Jan 03 ·konsu: Cordially corrected for hair splitters,and for the benefit of search engines everywhere!I'm sure Joni
has lifted a top or two in her heyday too!His work needs WAY MORE stateside attention indeed. 03 Apr 03 ·drchilledair: Even if you think you don't know who Nick DeCaro is, chances are you are familiar with his music, via his arrangements for many Golden Age of Warner-Reprise "Burbank Sound" recordings incl: Gordon Lightfoot's 'If You Could Read My Mind', James Taylor's 'Shower The People' and Randy Newman's 'Marie'. By conservative estimate, as producer, arranger, musician, songwriter, or singer, DeCaro, who died in 1992, partnered with over a hundred groups or artists - including not just Warners-Reprise artists like Arlo Guthrie, Maria Muldaur, Ry Cooder, the Everly Brothers, the Mojo Men & Harpers Bizarre, but also such diverse recorded citizenry as Barbra Streisand, the Ventures, Claudine Longet, Chris Montez, the Sandpipers, Del Shannon, Gary Lewis, et al - amassing a catalogue in excess of 300 albums and sundry 45rpm singles. In an interview I conducted with Randy Newman in 2001, he described DeCaro as being almost pathologically shy. Thus explaining, perhaps, the state of anonymity that still surrounds Nick, despite his prolific achievements. As a journalist I have devoted some of the last couple of years trying to redress this oversight. If you are interested, one result is an article I published in Japan in 2001. The English language version is available at communities.msn.com/NickDeCaro. A more recent article can be found on the web at www.spectropop.com/NickDeCaro
Recommend your favorite
tracks composed by Randy Newman
