May Being

[rejectomorph]

Dawn was dimmed by the lingering clouds which had veiled the ghostly moon, but afternoon brought a few hours of intermittent sunlight which made the heaped cumulus gleam. Two hawks circled for a while as chattering acorn woodpeckers took cover deep within the pine trees. Later the clouds closed in once more, and dusk was gray. The sun had not been out long enough to turn the day hot, and the chirps of the crickets were slow. Again, the night is too cool to bring the scent of jasmine to my room, though I can smell it when I lean close to the hedge. A short while ago, a soft sprinkling of rain began to fall. The serenity makes me want a nap. I'll probably just have some popcorn and listen to Connee Boswell. Sunday, should it continue thus, will count as a pleasant addition to May.



Sunday Verse

Begin

by Brendan Kenelly


Begin again to the summoning birds
to the sight of light at the window,
begin to the roar of morning traffic
all along Pembroke Road.
Every beginning is a promise
born in light and dying in dark
determination and exaltation of springtime
flowering the way to work.
Begin to the pageant of queuing girls
the arrogant loneliness of swans in the canal
bridges linking the past and future
old friends passing though with us still.
Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
since it perhaps is what makes us begin,
begin to wonder at unknown faces
at crying birds in the sudden rain
at branches stark in the willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for bread
at couples sharing a sunny secret
alone together while making good.
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

that boswell recording is very nice. i don't think i'd heard of her, oddly enough, though i have heard many other singers of that type. the photos used in the video are terrific. she and her sisters look beautiful in those clothes!

[rejectomorph]

The Boswell Sisters were the pioneer swing era vocal group. From very early in their career they were singing jazzy arrangements (usually worded out by Connee- she wrote nothing down) that already had every element the Andrews Sisters would use in their popular WWII era music. In their 1931 recording of When I Take My Sugar to Tea, for example, you can hear both the echo of 1920s jazz and the beginnings of the swing that would dominate the 1940s.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

yes, i do hear that! she had a lovely voice. i clicked around from the song you linked to and listened to others. someone in a comment on one of them said that judy garland studied boswell's recordings and learned from her, also that ella fitzgerald was a fan. interesting!

[rejectomorph]

That was supposed to be "...worked out by Connee..." in the second line of my comment.

Anyone familiar with any of Judy Garland's various recordings "Stormy Weather" can certainly hear Connee Boswell's influence. Here (though the sound on the clip is not too good) is Boswell's version of Harold Arlen's classic, from the short "Swing Parade of 1946", a few years before Judy made the song part of her concert repertoire.

You'll notice that Connee doesn't change position, as though her dress were part of a stage set. It might have been. Connee Boswell was the FDR of music. She had suffered either a childhood accident or a case of polio (it was never revealed which, as far as I know), and did most of her performances from a seated position. It's very likely that she was seated on a stool placed inside that voluminous skirt, or propped on some sort of stand.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

yeah, there's something going on with that enormous skirt. it made her very tall! and yes, i could hear where judy got a lot of her style.

just as the clip cut off, i saw moe howard in the frame beside a table! i hope the stooges weren't waiters at that nightclub. *g*

[rejectomorph]

I've found an unidentified Connee Boswell solo video, a bluesy version of the Gershwins' They Can't Take That Away From Me with a lush orchestral arrangement that sounds almost like some of the things Gordon Jenkins did in the 1950s, though it's apparently from 1939. And among the visuals is a photo of Connee in a wheelchair, on a public street (it looks like it might be Paris) with her sisters standing by. It's the only such picture I've ever seen.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

what a moving version of that song. it's usually done all snappy, like astaire's take on it. the visuals are wonderful. she and her sisters were beautiful and wore gorgeous clothes!

that's a nice little transport chair she's sitting on in the one frame. not too obvious!