Another day, another new addition to Fabulon, the "Valhalla of the Stars" - the multi-talented Bea Lillie protégé, composer, lyricist and playwright Mr Leslie Bricusse.
Most famous for his long professional partnership with fellow "triple threat" Anthony Newley, the mass of "standards" in the great man's repertoire include Nina Simone's Feeling Good [a version of which I posted just the other day], What Kind of Fool Am I?, The Joker [used later as the theme song for Kath & Kim], The Candy Man and Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, London Is London, A Wonderful Day Like Today, Talk to the Animals, Who Can I Turn To?...
...and these!
...and our "Gay Pride March" anthem, to boot!
RIP, Leslie Bricusse OBE (29th January 1931 – 19th October 2021)
So sad - had no idea how many great songs he'd written.
ReplyDeleteGlad he had such a long life though.
Love that scene from that version of Scrooge
A bit of an "overlooked" genius, methinks. He could put his hand to an infinite variety of musical styles, and worked with some of the best in the business - John Barry, Henry Mancini, John Willams, Frank Wildhorn, and even Andrew Lloyd-Webber... Jx
DeleteI know you're not a big fan of Nancy but You Only Live Twice is one of my favourites, really moving lyrics
ReplyDeleteHopefully if you were going to sing in that style these days you'd hire an Asian singer but maybe not - yellowface still crops up (yellowvoice?)
You Only Live Twice is such a brilliant production that it almost, but not quite, disguises the fact that Nancy's "singing" is flat-as-a-pancake. Had she not had the good fortune to be born with the name "Sinatra", she'd have been booed off at karaoke, let alone landed a lucrative musical career.
DeleteFor this particular number, apparently John Barry wanted Aretha Franklin. Cubby Broccoli wanted Frank Sinatra. Frank "suggested" his daughter. The Mafia agreed. Everyone backed down and she got the gig. Jx
Can't imagine Aretha singing it, but then she could do gentle and wistful too. Kinda sad she never did a Bond song now
ReplyDeleteI do like a lot of Nancy's records, may be down to producers and arrangers than anything she brought.
The loss of a great talent is always sad news But what an amazing and varied body of work he left behind.
ReplyDeleteThe only flaw is Nancy Sinatra but now we know why.
It would have been intriguing to hear Aretha's "take" on You Only Live Twice.
DeleteInterestingly, the original demo was recorded by "My Julie" [as she was referred to by her second husband and manager, Don Black's brother] Julie Rogers. She had a lovely voice. Jx
And those of us old enough remember "Fool Britannia." 1963. (I'm rubbish at links on this platform!)
ReplyDeleteThat's an obscure one I had to look up. A satire on "The Profumo Affair", featuring Mr Newley, Peter Sellers, Joan Collins and Daniel Massey? Sounds interesting... Jx
DeleteI still have my 33rpm vynyl. Christ! That was brilliant. And given the :slower" Technology of the day, jolly quick to hit the market. (Wasn't Collins pregnant then? }
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According to a reviewer on Amazon, it was recorded in June 1963. Tara was born in October that year, so yes - Miss Collins would have had difficulty reaching the mic at the time it was recorded... Jx
DeleteI saw Linda Eder in concert. Lovely. Oh, this is sad. He wrote so many classics. Always sad when we lose a great one. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see Miss Eder live - she has a fab voice. Jx
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4gMC01bMgU I hope this is it.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'll need to set aside some time to listen to that! Jx
DeleteHe wrote some corkers. Feeling Good is up there with my all time favourites.
ReplyDeleteOh I kinda like Nancy's flat tones on You Only Live Twice! Apparently that sort of sound was fashionable at the time - or so they claimed on a documentary I saw about Bond themes.
Sx
It's a great Bond theme! However, if flat tones were indeed fashionable at the time, that would mean that the likes of Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Petula Clark, Mama Cass, Diana Ross and Vikki Carr (all of whom had massive hits that year) must have been terribly "out-of-fashion". I sense the "Sinatra-publicity-machine" at work, methinks... Jx
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