Saturday 9
On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
Saturday 9: On a Clear Day (1970)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) Is today a clear day where you are?
If only … here on Long Island we’ve had so many days of rain that I’m seriously thinking about building an Ark.
Seriously, though, NYC, Long Island and most of the region is under a state of emergency due to the extremely heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
2) Streisand sings that today she's "astounded." What has recently shocked or greatly surprised you?
I don’t shock easily …
3) Streisand's voice astounded people from an early age. She began performing in New York clubs when she was only 18, too young to order a drink in the establishments where she sang. Do you remember the first adult beverage you ordered at a restaurant or bar?
I don’t remember… I turned 18 during my senior year of high school. The legal drinking age in NY at that time was 18. But I probably didn’t legally order a drink anywhere until I was in college.
4) Barbra has discussed the importance of her Jewish faith in her life and has enlisted the guidance of Reform, Conservative and and Orthodox rabbis as she explored her religion's complexities. Do you enjoy discussing religion?
If you’ve been reading this blog awhile you know I’ve posted about religion many times. Barbra and I could have a very interesting discussion.
5) Taylor Swift just passed Barbra Streisand as the woman with the most #1 albums (12). What's the last album you purchased?
These days I stream music, and I don’t buy albums. I can’t remember the last album I bought. But I’m thinking I might buy the posthumous Jimmy Buffett album when it’s released in November.
6) The lyrics to "On a Clear Day" were written by Alan Jay Lerner. He attended Choate, a private boarding school in CT, at the same time as John F. Kennedy. While JFK was in the White House, Lerner had two major Broadway hits -- Camelot and My Fair Lady -- running concurrently. Obviously those two Choate alumni did very well. Have you been to any of your class reunions? Have you been surprised, pleasantly or less so, by how any of your classmates turned out?
My own classmates, no. My daughters’ classmates? A girl that I thought was very nice, but very shy, really blossomed…she’s a doctor now.
7) The music was written by Burton Lane. In the 1930s, Lane worked for MGM Studios in Hollywood. After he heard Judy Garland perform at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles, he brought her to the attention of his studio bosses and the rest, as they say, is history. Lane and Garland later worked together when Judy was an established star. He wrote the song, "How About You?" for her to sing in Babes on Broadway and received an Oscar nomination. Judy's best known movie has to be The Wizard of Oz. How many times have you seen it?
Just because I can recite dialogue along with the actors …yeah, I’ve seen it a few times.
8) In 1970, Glenn Frey formed the Eagles. What's your favorite Eagles song?
9) Random question: Which would upset you more, being trapped in an elevator or stranded atop a mountain in a ski lift?
The elevator would frustrate and annoy me. The ski lift would terrify me.
#7: Me, too! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, to #7 for me, too. I've never really thought about it or looked into it, but Pennsylvania must have been among the earliest states to make the legal drinking age 21. I don't remember it ever being lower and it was a right of passage to be greatly celebrated...something I didn't do because I was already married and had moved to Florida where the legal age was 19.
ReplyDelete#1 And don’t forget Connecticut! We got plastered also.
ReplyDelete#3 We used to head for the first bar in New York off of I-84
#6 The doctor in our class was and is a snob.
I was 18 and with my parents though the legal age to drink was/is 21. I did not like it so I didn't drink until the disco days and even then, just shared with my husband. I heard about all the rain in the news. I enjoyed the video!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure there is a bad Eagles song out there. Every time I come to your blog, I think about Christine McVie.
ReplyDeleteSongbird was a great song.
DeleteI feel the same about being trapped in a cage at the top of a mountain, too. And ditto on the Wizard of Oz. I think I can recite it! Lol. What we don’t do for our kids.
ReplyDeleteZippi was here..I hate the iPad.
DeleteThat was an interesting movie. It's been a while since I saw it. (I think I only ever heard this song when I saw the movie.)
ReplyDeleteSorry you've got torrential rains. I hope things clear up soon.
(Can you believe I've only seen The Wizard of Oz once? And that was only because I was showing it to a class. I don't know how I missed it as a kid.)
Oh, yeah... #9. Of course, I wouldn't have been on the sky lift to begin with!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. And yes, albums are tricky. I just got what I thought was the Original sound track from James Taylor's first album, which I have on vinyl. It turns our that he re-recorded all of it and it sounds so bad! lol Lesson learned.
ReplyDelete