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The Music Man doesn’t get enough credit for how inventive it is, methinks. The Music Man is known for its Iowa setting, and it generally seems to be viewed as safe Americana. But it makes a lot of interesting choices, and those include its music numbers. This one, “Lida Rose and Will I Ever Tell You”, blends two different songs together, sung by entirely different characters, who aren’t even in the same place. How does that work? It starts as our hero, con man Professor Harold Hill, is returning to his hotel room where he is met by the local school board, fourDown the rabbit hole….

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Well, I don’t know how often I do this. It’s not very often. Probably the last time was something like Ravel’s Bolero. I’m about to share something I don’t like at all. See, there’s this thing that’s been going around social media of late, particularly Tiktok, where you share what the Number One song was when you were born. I looked mine up…and my shoulders sagged. My stomach fell. My heart sank. I had never heard this before, so I had to go listen to it, hoping against hope that maybe it’s not terrible. Oh, it is. Look, I have noDown the rabbit hole….

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I just finished a remarkable novel the other night, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Oscar Hijuelos. The book is a slow burn of a novel about the life of a man (told as a series of memories as he looks back on his life during his last hours, in a seedy hotel in New York City) who, along with his brother, was once a major figure in Cuban music (particularly Mambo music) in the 1950s. Cesar Castillo remembers his childhood with his brother, Nestor, in Cuba, and he remembers the loves they had there before they came to NewDown the rabbit hole….

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(Normally I try to wait longer than just under four months before I do a re-post of something I’ve already written here, but Chuck Mangione has died, and I like what I wrote about him and this song back in March, so here it is again. I’m listening to it anew as I write this. Thanks for the music, Mr. Mangione!) So for Tuesday Tones the other day, I went to feature a piece of music that I know I’ve featured here before but I couldn’t remember how long it’s been, so I looked it up. I featured it lessDown the rabbit hole….

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This lovely film music cue has been on my mind the last few days because for some reason, the YouTube algorithm served up a clip from The Karate Kid Part II, and because I like that movie (it’s not as good as the first one, but it’s still quite watchable and it’s gorgeously filmed), the YouTube algorithm proceeded to give me more of it to watch. So here’s a wonderful cue that’s from a scene toward the end, just before the movie’s climactic action starts to unfold. Daniel is set to leave Okinawa and return home, but before he does, heDown the rabbit hole….

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If not for Monty Norman and John Barry’s work on the James Bond Theme, the most famous theme for an action-packed spy series would almost certainly be Lalo Schifrin’s theme to Mission: Impossible. Schifrin passed away today at the age of 93. He was one of the bigger names in film music, and he had a long and distinguished career composing for film. His voice will endure, though. It absolutely will endure. Here is Mr. Schifrin himself, leading a performance of what might be his most famous work. I honestly had no idea he was this good a pianist! ShareDown the rabbit hole….

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Given how highly I value this song, I’m surprised to see that I haven’t featured it much in this space. It’s a song about homesickness, written by Scottish master Dougie MacLean, and it’s one of his biggest hits and signature songs. Here it’s performed beautifully by Voces8. And by comparison, because why not, here’s Mr. MacLean himself, performing the original. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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In amongst my various reading activities, I have a couple of longer reading projects going on. One is a complete re-read of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books, and the other is a partial re-read, coupled with first-time reads, of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books. I call the Fleming a partial re-read because going into this project, I had only actually read about half of his Bond material, up to (and including) Dr. No. Now I am onto books I haven’t read, and the one I’m reading now is For Your Eyes Only, which is not a novel at all but a collection ofDown the rabbit hole….