I Could Go on Singing

AMG Review of I Could Go on Singing

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Technically, this is the original motion picture soundtrack album for the 1963 film I Could Go on Singing. Since the primary musical performer is the movie's star, Judy Garland, however, and only a few tracks are given over to instrumental orchestral performances, it is usually classified as a Garland album. But it should not be confused with a regular Garland album. Here, she really only introduces two new songs to her repertoire, the title tune, specially written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and the 1926 Tin Pan Alley evergreen "Hello, Bluebird." "I Could Go on Singin' (Till the Cows Come Home)" appears twice, once with an introductory orchestral fanfare, and a second, longer rendition beginning with an introductory verse, but both turn into show stoppers for Garland. "Hello, Bluebird" is one of those old chestnuts she was always so good at making her own. Elsewhere, she reprises "By Myself" from her 1957 album Alone and repeats the solo piano arrangement of "It Never Was You" from her 1960 album That's Entertainment! There is also an impromptu soundtrack performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "I Am the Monarch of the Sea" from H.M.S. Pinafore, performed with a group of English boys. The whole thing adds up to less than 27 minutes of music, but the album makes a nice souvenir of what turned out to be Garland's final film appearance, one in which she played a character thought to be much like herself.