And there was music, and there were wonderful roses

Today would have been the 91st birthday of the dearly-departed and peerless Barbara Cook. All hail.

By way of a little tribute to the lady with the golden tonsils, here she is (as a very young gal), performing songs from the show that launched her long and legendary career...

Barbara Cook sings a medley from The Music Man on the Bell Telephone Hour, 1960

There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you

And there was music

And there were wonderful roses
They tell me
In sweet fragrant meadows of dawn, and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you!

Sigh.

Barbara Cook (25th October 1927 – 8th August 2017)