So, today is what would have been my mom’s 75th birthday. She passed away in 2018 from lung cancer. Although she loved a lot of music – she loved Elton John and Fleetwood Mac probably the most. And, her most favorite song in the whole world was Dancing Queen by ABBA. Whenever I heard Dancing Queen coming from the living room – I’d pop my head in and sure enough she’d be dancing up a storm all by herself. So, in loving memory of my mom and anyone you lovely people miss – let’s celebrate the music they loved.
And, just because this popped up in my YT feed and is a lot of fun…
As always – thanks for your support of Deadsplinter and DUAN!
ill just go with my dads favourite song then (or..well..two of them…really he was pretty big into his music)
the boxer
and money
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – Moonlight Serenade
My father loved opera
Pavarotti – Nessum dorma
And my Twofer Tuesday is for your mom
Erasure – SOS
I had a boss whom I liked and admired very much. He was much smarter and more talented than I, which is always a good thing to have in a superior, and he was very funny and charming, etc.
He was an Italian and no one-on-one lasted fewer than two hours and often stretched on longer. He often came up with innovations that you couldn’t disagree with because inevitably they were improvements. These were laid out for me, one-on-one, over the course of a long morning or afternoon.
Anyway, at the time I spoke Italian a lot better than I can now, but never in front of him, because Italian is a very nuanced language, and I never worked in Italy so I wouldn’t know how to phrase things when speaking to my superior. BUT, I used to leave those meetings and have to report to my staff the changes that were afoot and would sing a few bars of “Nessun Dorma” to amuse myself. “Nessun dorma” means “No one sleeps,” or more classically “None shall sleep,” which is what happened when these initiatives were launched.
Thanks Hannibal! She loved SOS too!
@Lymond I love that your Mom danced for the joy of it. My father liked Bing and having spent almost 25 years in the navy during two wars, it had special meaning to him.
@Elliecoo – She was a really cute little lady – so her dancing to ABBA is a nice happy way to think of her.
My dad’s favorite artist was Alfred Apaka & he loved to sit on our deck w/ his big martini and listen to this…
and I will never forget taking my buddy Braddah Gary to see Israel Vibrations and seeing his face when he saw these amazing guys dancing on stage on crutches. He broke into tears he was so inspired by them and their music. RIP Braddah Gary! Now I’m crying thinking about him & how much cancer sucks!
Cancer does indeed suck. Here’s for my BFF Lynne:
My grandmother loved the songs of her time (post-WWII era), but we especially bonded over musicals. We’d watch them from her collection and I’d go through the songbooks and play them on the piano.
A few faves:
Ethel Merman and Bruce Yarnell, “Anything you can do” from Annie Get Your Gun, Lincoln Center revival
Robert Goulet, “Almost Like Being in Love” from Brigadoon (1954)
My father’s favorite song was my mother’s favorite song, and my mother adored Jerry Vale. Whenever they went to a wedding or a dance at the Moose Club, Dad would slip the bandleader a fiver to play this for my Mom. I have inherited his deeply romantic streak. It’s why I’m such a big hit with the ladies.
My dad loves classical, opera and the Beatles
I have told Better Half that when I die I want no real service since I am agnostic/atheist. I want to be cremated, but I want as many people to gather as possible, somewhere in the high three figures let’s say. i want a rendition of “Ave Maria” sung so that every syllable is drawn out and it goes on for at least 15 minutes. He countered, “How about I hire a bunch of ‘little people’ and we do ‘Ding dong the witch is dead’ instead?”
I reminded him that I make the food in this family and the judicious addition of any number of ingredients would ensure that he predeceases me.
My grandfather loved Frank Sinatra.
“On the Town” is one of the best musicals about New York City, and here’s a very young Frank Sinatra (he’s “Chip”):
Whoops, not so young. Google tells me Sinatra was in his early 30s when this movie was made.
My mom really loved Andrea Bocelli. Every time I hear his voice, I think of her.
At our wedding reception, my father-in-law danced with his newly married daughter to this.
The Beatles – In My Life
RIP, Gary.
My friend & neighbor, Dan, is the one I miss sometimes.
He’s the buddy some of y’all have heard me talk about before–he was dealing with mental health stuff (iirc, bipolar), juuuust before Obamacare went into place & the marketplaces opened up,back in 2013.
He worked in construction, so was laid off for the winter. And he was trying to find a med that *worked* for him, but was uninsured & paying hundreds for things that just didn’t work.
He was *that guy* at the Old Guy Bar (the bar we hung out at), who was able to become friends with everyone. The kid walked into a room full of strangers, and within 5 minutes, could have a room full of lifelong friends. He had SO much charisma, and was just a genuine, and funny m, nice person. He was a TOTAL ham, with the best, hooting laugh.🤣💖
And even though, logically, I know there’s not a damn thing I could’ve done, it still makes my hear ache like hell, that I never realized he was in *that* much pain. And when the end of November rolls around, or when I hear the song “Drink a Beer” by Luke Bryan, I still tear up most of the time.
Dan was a year younger than me, and many of the regulars (the “old guys”😉) thought of him like another son–and when he killed himself that November, it broke plenty of us.
When this song played at his funeral, I suddenly realized *whose* funeral I’d seen in a…
dreamnightmare(?) premonition(?) I’d had a few months before (one of my reasons for ^^^those guilty feelings💖)…I’d woken, sobbing, from that dream, knowing someone died, because I’d been at a funeral–inna place i didn’t recognize, surrounded by a bunch of folks I knew from the Old Guy Bar…
Months later, when the first notes of Willie’s song started, my heart *jolted* as I looked around, and realized the place I’d seen, and the funeral I’d “been” at in that dream was Dan’s… it was the SAME layout, same bricks, same oddly-angled window on my left, same folks sitting by me, etc…
I’d never been in that building, even once before, in my entire life…
Sometimes, I’ve learned, that in my dreams time can be a bit… slippery, and “back-and-forth-y”
This one was one of Dan’s faves. I know about it, because of him, and would’ve loved to love it myself, without having had to lose the kid💖;