Spring Flowers in Song

 

Here are a few blooming ideas to start a soundtrack for the season. I invite you to share your own in the comments or even start your own flower patch with a particular musical genre. We’ll start off in the 19th century with Stephen Foster, “Ah! May the Red Rose Live Always!” Suzy Bogguss, a wonderful traditional country singer, offers this rendition:

Let’s jump forward a century from Stephen Foster to Bob Wills, and swing from Suzy to Patsy, the Divine Miss Cline singing “San Antonio Rose”:

Switching genres, Louis Armstrong gives us one of the best renditions of “Le Vie En Rose”:

From jazz to mambo, let’s listen to the 1955 hit “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” performed by Perez Prado “King of the Mambo” and his orchestra:

Onward to movie music and the theme song from Days of Wine And Roses – music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Johnny Mercer:

From movies to popular music that found a lasting home in Vegas, here is “Ramblin’ Rose” sung by Nat King Cole:

That is good, but not quite Sarah Vaughan and “Honeysuckle Rose”:

Shifting genres again, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris teamed up for Trio, and “Wildflowers”:

Here’s an early 1970s sort of country song, with Lynn Anderson singing “(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden”:

For those who don’t care for either kind of music (country or western), let’s go back uptempo with the Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup”:

Let’s close out this list, or this prelude, with an encore of a sort. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Le Vie En Rose,” as sung by my favorite French singing chanteuse, Madeleine Peyroux:

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  1. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    I’ve provided the soundtrack, now all you need to do is type a bit!

    Please stop by the April group writing sign up sheet, with the broad theme “April Flowers.” Yes, it is April showers and May flowers in the old rhyme, and I’ve linked the two with good cause in this particular spring season. If you have a thought on work, we still have some openings in March, so you are welcome to make however brief a post and I will be happy to link it against a past open day, capturing your thoughts into the easily searchable theme. Tired of binge watching your streaming service? Cast an eye back across the wide range of different, delightful, and downright entertaining and informative past contributions. See the handy compendium of monthly themesCheck out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.

    • #1
  2. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Suzy Bogguss: what a major find. Thank you.

    • #2
  3. She Member
    She
    @She

    Clifford A. Brown: Let’s close out this list, or this prelude, with an encore of a sort. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Le Vie En Rose,” as sung by my favorite French singing chanteuse, Madeleine Peyroux:

    This was on my granddaughter’s nursery playlist.  And one afternoon, in Jenny’s kitchen, there I was, doing the dishes, when a voice came over the nursery monitor on the table.  A tiny little voice, about eighteen months old, with absolutely perfect pitch, singing:

    Bla.  Bla bla bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla blaaaaaaa bla.”

    It was one of the most charming and extraordinary things I’ve ever heard.  Thanks for the reminder.

    • #3
  4. She Member
    She
    @She

    This one.  It was the slow march of Dad’s regiment (Wolfe’s Own, The Loyals, Lancashire, so, “red rose.”).  We played this at his funeral.

    • #4
  5. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    She (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: Let’s close out this list, or this prelude, with an encore of a sort. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Le Vie En Rose,” as sung by my favorite French singing chanteuse, Madeleine Peyroux:

    This was on my granddaughter’s nursery playlist. And one afternoon, in Jenny’s kitchen, there I was, doing the dishes, when a voice came over the nursery monitor on the table. A tiny little voice, about eighteen months old, with absolutely perfect pitch, singing:

    Bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla blaaaaaaa bla.”

    It was one of the most charming and extraordinary things I’ve ever heard. Thanks for the reminder.

    La Vie En Rose was a key point in the ending of How I Met Your Mother.

     

    • #5
  6. Tree Rat Inactive
    Tree Rat
    @RichardFinlay

    Hmmmm.

    My mind went immediately to the little ditty from Shogun The Mikado. ‘The Flowers that bloom in the Spring’

    Probably doesn’t fit in here. Especially the second verse.

    Never mind.

    • #6
  7. B. W. Wooster Member
    B. W. Wooster
    @HenryV

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVq0IAzh1A

    • #7
  8. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret (View Comment):

    Suzy Bogguss: what a major find. Thank you.

    One of the many treasures from the “Beautiful Dreamer” album.

    • #8
  9. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    B. W. Wooster (View Comment):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVq0IAzh1A

    Yes, although I prefer Eva Cassidy’s rendition:

    • #9
  10. colleenb Member
    colleenb
    @colleenb

    What a great compilation! It is so sad that Stephen Foster’s songs are now neglected. “Hard Times” should be on everyone’s play list – especially in our current crisis. And the tune for “Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground” is heartbreaking. Of course my middle school was named after him (and now renamed it goes without saying), so I’m prejudiced. Thanks again to everyone.

    • #10
  11. Jeff Hawkins Inactive
    Jeff Hawkins
    @JeffHawkins

    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret (View Comment):

    Suzy Bogguss: what a major find. Thank you.

    She’s great, part of that mid 90s “pop country female” boom.  Does a great cover of Outbound Plane and her album with Chet Atkins is fantastic as well.

    • #11
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