Like most of Cole Porter’s songs, there are several versions of this one that deserve a listen.
The original, performed by Marlene Dietrich for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Stage Fright”, is pretty good, but there’s something about Dietrich’s delivery that I find a bit creepy. (To be fair, creepiness might be what they were going for, given that it was a Hitchcock film.)
I’ve always been a fan of Nina Simone, and her version of this tune is nice too, but with all respect to Nina, her rendition just doesn’t sound lazy enough.
So I’m happy to announce that Carsie Blanton’s recent recording of Porter’s classic gets everything right: it’s lazy, it’s lilting, it’s lovely.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The way she takes her time with the lyrics, especially on words like “laaaaaa-ziest”.
2. The way the brushes shuffle along quietly on the drums, like slippers along the kitchen floor on a lazy morning after a long sleep-in.
3. The way the clarinet yawns its way through the solo. The clarinet was a great choice; there’s something about the tonal quality of the clarinet that has always sounded lazy to me.
Recommended listening activity:
Cancelling something to make room for doing nothing.