My parents -- who were musical themselves -- had a number of Sarah Vaughan records, and so I've listened to Sarah all my life.
This rendition of hers I only came upon more recently.
Kurt Weill famously wrote musicals (starting in Germany) with Bertolt Brecht, "Three Penny Opera" (think Mac the Knife) being the most famous. Weill along with many other artists and intellectuals was part of what could be called the Weimar cultural invasion here in the states starting in the 30's given the anti-Jewish sentiment brewing in Germany, which caused so many Jews to flee. This Weimar invasion is an interesting historical phenomenon to have a look at as it had a marked influence on American culture -- Hollywood, for example -- with post-war Film Noir being a prime example. Where the Jews who ran Hollywood initially were instrumental in creating, at least in part, something of a "mom and pop, American as apple pie" type of mass entertainment, those who came with the Weimar invasion introduced far darker, more licentious fare. This had to do with the renowned licentiousness of Berlin in the Weimar years.
I've only just come upon this notion of the Weimar invasion. There are those suggesting there was a deliberate agenda involved, but I would have to do some research to back that claim. From what I've heard so far, though, I'm inclined to agree.
As for the song I'm posting, "Speak Low," Weill's composition along with the lyrics perhaps gives some sense of the Weimar sensibility. When I think of Weill I think of minor chords. If America was (and still is) considered young and naive by many Europeans, then the Weimar invasion couldn't help but singe that naiveté with its own form of sophistication or even dissipation.
I just read that Weill's line "Speak low when you speak, love," is a play on words regarding Shakespeare's line "Speak low if you speak love" from his play "Much Ado About Nothing" where Don Pedro advises Hero to lower his voice while speaking of love.
As for Sarah Vaughan, I once heard someone say of her voice: it's really like a musical instrument. This is a live recording from 1958. It's the Youtube version of this recording with the best mix, I feel, since Vaughan's voice is competing with a noisy crowd, and the mic seems to be picking up the instruments more than her voice. But here at least this imbalance is somewhat remedied.
Anyway, I think this song is really of this moment. There is so much uncertainty at present, with the exception of the encroaching and momentous end of all we've known.
What's that Woody Allen line? I'll have to look it up.
Here it is:
"Life if full of misery, loneliness, and suffering -- and it's all over much too soon."
Speak Low
composition: Kurt Weill
lyrics: Ogden Nash
Speak low when you speak, love,
Our
summer day
withers away
Too soon, too soon.
Speak low when you speak, love,
Our
moment is swift, like
ships adrift,
We're
swept apart too soon.
Speak low,
darling speak low,
Love is a
spark lost in the dark,
Too soon, too soon,
I feel
wherever I go
That
tomorrow is near,
tomorrow is here
And
always too soon.
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late, darling we're late,
The
curtain descends, ev'rything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you
speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.
