Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played Nat Cole with -- a simply incredible live performance (wonder where?) of a Cole Porter song I never really appreciated until right this moment. I don't recognize the arranger (is it one of the three Farnon brothers? the greatest family trio of arrangers: Dennis Farnon arranged my favorite Chet Atkins “in Hollywood” album (1958); older brother Robert orchestrated Sinatra's "Great Songs from Great Britain" (London 1962). But they had a third brother, Dennis who was Nat Cole's musical director in Las Vegas. [?] Anyway, this best-ever live recording of "Miss Otis" to my ears, breathtaking: Nat's self-accompaniment on piano is a vivid reminder that he was one of the greatest-ever jazz pianists -- always making it sound simple and with . . . something indefinable: when he played those notes on piano you could hear his exquisite touch -- the felt of the hammers hitting those triplicate strings. Yes, the genius of Nat's touch. And I never heard it better recorded than this: MISS OTIS REGRETS, a song of his I never heard before! This song used to have a shorter Wikipedia entry. Two anecdotes that weren't there last time I looked, include a note about an allusion to the Porter song in a later hit by my second-favorite composer Harry Warren, "Lulu's Back in Town." "According to Charles Schwartz's biography the song began during a party at the New York apartment of Porter's classmate from Yale, Leonard Hanna. Hearing a cowboy's lament on the radio, Porter sat down at the piano and improvised a parody of the song. He retained the referential song’s minor-keyed blues melody and added his wry take on lyrical subject matter common in country music: the regret of abandonment after being deceitfully coerced into sexual submission. Only instead of a country girl, Miss Otis is a polite society lady. Friend and Yale classmate Monty Woolley jumped in to help Porter "sell it", pretending to be a butler who explains why Madam can't keep a lunch appointment. In the previous 24 hours, Miss Otis was jilted and abandoned, located and killed her seducer, was arrested, jailed, and, about to be hanged by a mob, made a final, polite apology for being unable to keep her lunch appointment. This performance was so well received that the song evolved, "workshopped" with each subsequent cocktail party, many of which were at the Waldorf-Astoria suite of Elsa Maxwell, to whom Porter dedicated the song. The "smart set" that attended these parties, known to use wit or wisecracks to punctuate anecdotes and gossip, began using references to "Miss Otis" as a punchline. Porter incorporated the tale of "Miss Otis Regrets" into Hi Diddle Diddle later that year. “Miss Otis” entered the lexicon of American pop culture, its enormous popularity and commercial success indicated when, a year later, Al Dubin and Harry Warren included an homage to Miss Otis in their song "Lulu's Back In Town", written for the 1935 film Broadway Gondolier. A man sings about getting ready for a date with Lulu, focusing all his attention on this awesome girl who's visiting town after having moved away: "You can tell all my pets, all my blondes and brunettes, Mister Otis regrets that he won't be around.” Thanks, NELSON GONÇALVES for sharing this one! Celebrated this night at SinatraFamily.com -- Forum -- "siriusly sinatra" -- MY FAVORITE VERSION -- YOURS TOO? sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/50225-My-Favorite-Version-%28yours-too-%29?p=1274517#post1274517
Oh what a lovely voice. Not sure sure about the orchestra as it sounds a bit like a silent film backing - trying to build the tension. However the piano is wonderful and NAT, well he’s beyond comparison
The man that invented »crooner and genius piano-player ,belongs to my own top-three aside Sammy Davis Junior and Elvis.😉
When my father bought our first record player in 1956 , a record by nat king cole , was one of the first he bought , along with the everley brothers .
Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played Nat Cole with -- a simply incredible live performance (wonder where?) of a Cole Porter song I never really appreciated until right this moment. I don't recognize the arranger (is it one of the three Farnon brothers? the greatest family trio of arrangers: Dennis Farnon arranged my favorite Chet Atkins “in Hollywood” album (1958); older brother Robert orchestrated Sinatra's "Great Songs from Great Britain" (London 1962). But they had a third brother, Dennis who was Nat Cole's musical director in Las Vegas. [?]
Anyway, this best-ever live recording of "Miss Otis" to my ears, breathtaking: Nat's self-accompaniment on piano is a vivid reminder that he was one of the greatest-ever jazz pianists -- always making it sound simple and with . . . something indefinable: when he played those notes on piano you could hear his exquisite touch -- the felt of the hammers hitting those triplicate strings. Yes, the genius of Nat's touch. And I never heard it better recorded than this: MISS OTIS REGRETS, a song of his I never heard before!
This song used to have a shorter Wikipedia entry. Two anecdotes that weren't there last time I looked, include a note about an allusion to the Porter song in a later hit by my second-favorite composer Harry Warren, "Lulu's Back in Town."
"According to Charles Schwartz's biography the song began during a party at the New York apartment of Porter's classmate from Yale, Leonard Hanna. Hearing a cowboy's lament on the radio, Porter sat down at the piano and improvised a parody of the song. He retained the referential song’s minor-keyed blues melody and added his wry take on lyrical subject matter common in country music: the regret of abandonment after being deceitfully coerced into sexual submission. Only instead of a country girl, Miss Otis is a polite society lady.
Friend and Yale classmate Monty Woolley jumped in to help Porter "sell it", pretending to be a butler who explains why Madam can't keep a lunch appointment. In the previous 24 hours, Miss Otis was jilted and abandoned, located and killed her seducer, was arrested, jailed, and, about to be hanged by a mob, made a final, polite apology for being unable to keep her lunch appointment.
This performance was so well received that the song evolved, "workshopped" with each subsequent cocktail party, many of which were at the Waldorf-Astoria suite of Elsa Maxwell, to whom Porter dedicated the song. The "smart set" that attended these parties, known to use wit or wisecracks to punctuate anecdotes and gossip, began using references to "Miss Otis" as a punchline. Porter incorporated the tale of "Miss Otis Regrets" into Hi Diddle Diddle later that year.
“Miss Otis” entered the lexicon of American pop culture, its enormous popularity and commercial success indicated when, a year later, Al Dubin and Harry Warren included an homage to Miss Otis in their song "Lulu's Back In Town", written for the 1935 film Broadway Gondolier. A man sings about getting ready for a date with Lulu, focusing all his attention on this awesome girl who's visiting town after having moved away: "You can tell all my pets, all my blondes and brunettes, Mister Otis regrets that he won't be around.”
Thanks,
NELSON GONÇALVES for sharing this one! Celebrated this night at SinatraFamily.com -- Forum -- "siriusly sinatra" -- MY FAVORITE VERSION -- YOURS TOO? sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/50225-My-Favorite-Version-%28yours-too-%29?p=1274517#post1274517
What a voice
Roy Orbison was called the Caruso of pop. Nat was the Fischer-Dieskau, and a superb Jazz pianist to boot
The man who invented crooner singin !
Sublime. If Roy Orbison was the Caruso of pop, Nat King Cole was the Fischer -Dieskau
Oh what a lovely voice. Not sure sure about the orchestra as it sounds a bit like a silent film backing - trying to build the tension. However the piano is wonderful and NAT, well he’s beyond comparison
You’re right, those orchestral breaks between versus are out of character for the song, completely frustrating.