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Sort of lost in the shuffle of recent obits was someone whose music was, in its way, more familiar to more people than almost anyone's. How quickly can you hum (or at least recollect) the theme songs to, for instance, The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl, I Spy or The Mod Squad? More recognizable still: this infectious little ditty. That's the composer himself, the Emmy-winning Earle Hagen, whistling.
Saw South Pacific yesterday, its first major revival since its 1949 Broadway run. The director of the show says that when you hear this music, you think, Oh my god, I knew this sound before I was born. My parents saw it to celebrate their first anniversary, in February 1950, so in my case that's probably true. It's eerily, thrillingly familiar.
But... those Hammerstein lyrics, you say. He's as corny as Kansas in August and the corn is as high as an elephant's eye. His plucky heroines are cock-eyed optimists who whistle happy tunes about happy talk and their favorite things. (His self-doubting heroes, from a carousel barker to a king, get soliloquies and puzzlements. Emile, in South Pacific, gets "This Nearly Was Mine," possibly one of the most magnificently heart-wrenching songs of loss ever.)
But let's leave the lyrics aside for the moment. Rodgers created some of the most exquisite music of the 20th century, and there is nothing like hearing a 30-piece orchestra in one of the most beautiful theaters in New York dig into that overture and those sweeping, rapturous melodies.
Isn't the show, you know, dated? you ask. Those pieties and preachments about tolerance and whatnot? Well, I did look at my watch during "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught." But is a show about war and racism dated? In today's New York Times, Frank Rich explains it better than I can.
It's also about romance, though, the yearning and dreamy kind. Romance as in "Some Enchanted Evening"/"Younger Than Springtime," and if that's passé, well, I can live with that.
Here's the Carnegie Hall concert version with Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell (who happens to live around the corner from us and is a very lovely guy).
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I was hoping you'd mention Frank Rich. My wife saw South Pacific last month on a brief trip to NY last month, and she said tears were on her cheeks during most of it. Knowing those things and watching this video got me all emotional too.
Yeah, I think Rich nailed it. And your wife isn't alone-- there was lots of sniffling. It seems to be (for whatever one's personal reasons) an unusually intense experience. I'm buying the new cast recording on Tuesday.
So glad to read your words on this show. We just bought tix for my father-in-law to celebrate his 75th birthday. The lyrics to the tunes are timeless (whether 7 or 75.
Just back from a brief trip to Provincetown, Masssachusetts. After we visited one of the lovely beaches, we got back in the car and turned on WOMR (broadcasting from the historic schoolhouse on Commercial Street). I heard a jazz rendition of a song that sounded familiar, and gradually realized: it's "Surfer Girl" (a nice thing to hear after you've been to the beach, albeit not surfing). The artist was unidentified, so I'm still puzzled. Does anyone know what this might be? (It's not from Wouldn't It Be Nice: A Jazz Portrait of Brian Wilson.)
When I watch or listen to the Beach Boys I often feel (as I'm sure many of you do) a mix of elation and melancholy, not only because so many of the songs are infused with melancholy, but also (of course) because it becomes about missing Dennis and Carl and the sweeter, more innocent striped-shirt times before the drugs and loss and messy complications. You see an old clip, and you know what's to come and, well, it's just heartbreaking. (I've seen a couple of Brian's shows in the last few years, though, and, all things considered, they were fabulous.)
This clip, for instance. It's wonderful and sad at once. Come to think of it, that's often how it feels to be at a Provincetown beach. (Check out Edward Hopper's Cape Cod paintings to see how lonely the shore can be.) I didn't grow up around beaches, but these boys did, and they (or Brian, anyway) must have known that it's not only about bikinis and blondes and huarache sandals. But this "Surfer Girl" is simple and gorgeous.
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Seconded. Love the melancholy in Brian's writing, and how the group tapped ito it and delivered. (I'm sure there were more than a few beach boys in Provincetown - if you get my drift...)
The only cover of this that I know is by Dave Alvin - have it somewhere but can't seem to find it at the moment, will perservere.....Doubt that this is the one you heard, but it's good anyhow....
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sad news.
now you've got me scratching my head trying to remember the dick van dyke theme.
Here it is!
I can't help but think this news would have devastated Floyd the barber. And driven Otis to drink. (Never mind on that second thing. What's done is done.) By the way, I believe Hagen won at least one Emmy for his work (the music to "I Spy"?), maybe more. And personally, I prefer the "Dick Van Dyke Show" intro where he falls over the ottoman, although the slight stumble in the third one is pretty cool, too: