A word about Eydie Gorme (August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013)

American Thinker ^ | 08/12/2013 | Silvio Canto Jr.

[SeekAndFind]

Let's take a break from politics today and remember Eydie Gorme, who passed away at 84.

"Ms. Gorme, who was born in New York City to Sephardic Jewish parents, grew up speaking English and Spanish. When she and her husband were at the height of their career as a team in 1964, the president of Columbia Records, Goddard Lieberson, suggested she put that Spanish to use in the recording studio.

The result was "Amor," recorded with Mexican combo Trio Los Panchos."

And this is where my parents and thousands of other Cuban parents came in! She recorded music that was heard from here to Argentina.

In those early days in the US, my parents found tropical relief in cold Wisconsin winters by listening to all of those Spanish ballads that Eydie Gorme recorded.

I can remember listening to her LP (that's what we had before CD or MP3 files) over and over again. My mom really loved them. It was the romantic music that she and my dad dance to in a little town in central Cuba. Frankly, I learned to love it too, especially as I got a little older and could not find anything exciting in pop music. I found myself doing what a lot of friends did; I got the CD version of the old LPs that we used to listen to. One of those CDs was Eydie Gorme singing in Spanish. My friend Bill Katz (of Urgent Agenda) discussed her career and musical elegance:

"Eydie Gorme's career reminds us that we once had truly great popular music in America, sung by singers who actually could sing, and who could engage the audience. We had real composers and lyricists. Our music entertained, but didn't degrade. I have to believe there's still an audience for that music. "

[SeekAndFind]

They don’t make that kind of entertainment anymore.

In fact, other than Steve and Eydie and George and Gracie, can anybody else point to a husband and wife entertainment team nowadays? ( Jay-Z and Beyonce perhaps? <-— But I don’t see them performing together )

[dfwgator]

Who peed in your cornflakes this morning?

[Fiji Hill]

They used to do the Cole Porter song, "Friendship" beautifully.

I would love to have heard that!

Tommy Dorsey's recording of it sounds as though it was done by a bunch of backwoods hillbillies and is a far cry from the style of the Gentleman of Swing. The woman singing the solo is a very young Jo Stafford.

Friendship--Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (1940)

[SeekAndFind]

Here’s Steve and Eydie doing Cole Porter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOluE2DcY7Y

[Liberty Valance]

From yesterday's excellent thread ...

EYDIE GORME, EL TRIO LOS PANCHOS, BOLEROS ROMANTICOS

[Fiji Hill]

That was great! They don’t make documentaries like that anymore.

[dfwgator]

For us Gen-Xers, she's probably best known for "The Sinatra Group" skit on SNL:

Frank Sinatra: No, you're wrong, schoolboy. You don't need to work blue! You'll never play the big rooms with that crap. Ask Redd Foxx. You don't need the blue stuff, kid, you got talent!

Luther Campbell: But I don't have talent.

Frank Sinatra: You've got it, kid. You listen to me - you've got a Ben Vereen quality, I can't put my finger on it. Take the high road, baby!

Luther Campbell: I swear, man, I don't have any talent. None! This is all I got. [ to Billy Idol ] Tell him, man.

Billy Idol: Yeah, he sucks!

Sinead O'Connor: He's not talented.

Frank Sinatra: No, Bob Goulet - that's not talented! You got talent! You got a Dionne Warwick/Falana kind of thing going. Steve and Eydie?

Eydie Gorme: Oh, you're right, Frank.

Steve Lawrence: Absolutely. He's great!

Frank Sinatra: Of course he is, you brownnoses. Look at you, you're just swimming in my wake.

[zbogwan2]

Steve and Eydie’s duets brought sweet warm feelings to me and mine whenever we listened to them. Rest in peace Eydie!

[Sergio]

bkmk

[OneVike]

Thanks for the post S&F. My mother passed away almost 10 years ago, when I was a boy in the 60’s I remember how nuch she said she enjoyed Steve and Eydie whenever they were guests on any of a number of variety musical shows that were popular back then.

I remember thinking how beautiful she was.

Rest in peace Eydie,

[ExCTCitizen]

RIP Eydie Gorme...

[ken5050]

Fascinating recording..in a very weird way...no wonder the "Big Band Era" died along with Glen Miller. It does sound like a hillbilly band recording in a coal mine.

One question: Your write hat it's a 1940 recording..on the screen it says 1947. Even by 1940 Jo Stafford was a very big star. I can't see her doing that even in 1940. BTW..she was my dad's favorite singer. He was He was a pilot with the 8th AF in WW II..spent 3 years in England..Stafford did many USO tours...he got to meet her once..

[Fiji Hill]

"Friendship" was originally issued on the Bluebird label--#10800--on June 27, 1940. Bluebird was a subsidiary of Victor. I can't read the serial number on the Victor disc shown on the video, but it's probably a 1947 reissue.

The flip side of the Bluebird disc is The Wrong Idea by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra--another weird tune that lampoons the "sweet" band sound of Sammy Kaye, Richard Himber, Larry Clinton, et al.