Singers and Standards Geek

GWC Community Geek Hobbies
#1

Ok, time for me to come out of the closet: I am a singers and standards geek. A quick glance at my iTunes top 100 played illustrates this fact: Johnny Mercer, Bobby Darin, Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, George Gershwin, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin are just a few examples. When I consider it I realize this is yet another part of my life that I usually have to keep behind closed doors. It isn’t that I hide my love for this genre, it is that it isn’t all that common to find others that also share a love for them unless they are 40 years older than me. Thankfully Mrs. Solai and Lil’ Solai both share my love for this music, so it is alive and well in the Solai household.

So I pose the question to this community: Are there others who share this passion? Would you rather listen to Michael Bublé than Smashmouth? :smiley:

#2

cant beat some good Sinatra.

#3

I don’t consider myself a geek of this genre but I find myself always singing standards around my house. I would have to say that my favorite songs are mostly standards and my all time favorite song is Everytime We Say Goodbye by Cole Porter. It started when I finally gave Frank Sinatra’s music a listen about 10 years ago in high school and then got into Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and some Judy Garland. They don’t make music or singers like that anymore, do they? At least not with the same power and talent and influence that it once had.

What are some of your favorite’s Solai?

#4

Hmm, let’s go check my iTunes Top 100…

#2 - Accentuate the Positive, Johnny Mercer
#3 - Litty Bitty Pretty One, Bobby Darrin
#5 - Just One of Those Things, Nat King Cole
#12 - My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Julie London
#13 - Here Comes the Sun, Nina Simone
#38 - Old McDonald, Ella Fitzgerald (you have to hear this cover, it is smokin hot)
#40 - I’ve got you under my Skin, Frank Sinatra
#45 - Singin’ in the Rain, Gene Kelly
#66 - I’ve got you under my Skin, Louis Prima & Keely Smith
#69 - I like to Singa - Cab Calloway
#81 - Fly me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra

Other notable artists include Harry Connick Jr…I could listen to his album 21 a thousand times. Anything by Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, Billie Holiday or Norah Jones also rock.

#5

I’m pretty much all over the place, but I love me some standards. The GF, even more so (she can actually play a bunch.) We have a particular fondness for Cole Porter songs.

#6

I hear that. One of my favorite smartplaylists pulls all five star songs with the composer a of Gershwin, Porter or Kern.

#7

I got into the genre while working at Busch Gardens down in Tampa. A couple times a year we would have a Big Band weekend where Big bands woujld come in an play. Like some of the real big bands. Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, Guy Lombardo ( i think i remember his band being dicks…it may have been one of he others but i think it was Guys) They even had some of the guys in the bands from when they were still big. This also introduced me to one of if not the best percussionist i have seen. A dude named Peter Appleyard. He was with Benny goodman. The cat plays the Vibraphone mostly but can also wail on the Drums and the dude is 80.

I further got into it while working on cruise ships where many of the non main show singing sets were standards. I always find myself singing Fly me to the Moon and Mac the Knife (but i prefer the Louis Armstrong version honestly).

This type of music is prevalent in the Fallout series of video games. Outside of score the only music you will here is Standards.

Also this is normaly the type of music i listen to when i want to read. I can listen to it and not be distracted but still enjoy it.

#8

I listen to and like a lot of music, so I wouldn’t say I’m a geek about this stuff, but I’ll just say that the Mrs. and my song at our wedding was “Embraceable You.” So there you go.

#9

In a more-perfect alternate universe, an international cooperative strike squad hunted down Rod Stewart, made him stop recording standards, destroyed all his tribute CDs, and strong-armed Morrissey into taking a crack at the great American songbook.

In this alternate history, Morrissey revisited “Moon River,” with improved results.

#10

I like most all types of music including the singers and standards. My taste is surprisingly ecclectic. It is possible, when the iPod is on shuffle, to go from Aaron Neville to Abba to Jonathan Coulton to Rob Zombie to Walt Disney to Harry Belefonte to Muppets. In S&S category I have: Andrea Boccelli, Cole Porter (Kiss Me Kate sdtrk and more), Bing Crosby, Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Cliff Edwards, Dean Martin, Dooly Wilson, Eartha Kitt, Robert Goulet, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Conick Jr. and Michael Buble.

In a more modern vein if you aren’t listening to Melody Gardot or Rufus Wainwright you are missing out.

I have a lot of great Jazz on my iPod too. Something I share with almost none of my friends.

#11

While I will listen to all kinds of music, there is NOTHING like the old standards.

On a Livejournal meme once, I answered the question “With which famous person would you want to go clubbing and where?” with Harry Connick Jr in New Orleans. I’m convinced, if I put my mind to it and lived somewhere there was a market, I could be a lounge singer.

A sampling of my iTunes Library:

Harry Connick Jr- St James Infirmary Blues/A Closer Walk with Thee
Harry Connick Jr- Working in a Coal Mine
Harry Connick Jr- Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey
Harry Connick Jr- Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
Harry Connick Jr- Hello, Dolly
Harry Connick Jr- Sheik of Araby
(Oh, My Nola is an album I would totally recommend, Solai, if You like Harry and the standards!)
Ella Fitzgerald- I Get a Kick Out Of You
Ella Fitzgerald & Louie Armstrong- Dream a Little Dream Of Me
Frank Sinatra- My Way (My personal anthem!)
Frank Sinatra- Nature Boy
Katie Melua- I Think it’s Going to Rain Today
Louie Armstrong- Mack the Knife
Louie Prima- Oh, Marie
Louie Prima- Jump, Jive, and Wail
Louie Prima- Banana Split for my Baby
Louie Prima- Angelina, Zooma Zooma
Nat King Cole- Just One of Those Things
Peggy Lee- Fever
Pepper Acton (a local singer/songwriter friend)- Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Wendi Williams- I Got Rhythm

And that’s just what’s on my iPod, which is only a 4GB with space reserved for podcasts. :smiley: