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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/6

I’m stuck in the apartment today due to rain. An inch per hour is expected at times. Tomorrow doesn’t look much better. To prevent climbing the walls, I’ve started reading JT LeRoy’s The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Pretty grim so far. I hate any cruelty to children, even in fiction.
I also decided it was time to learn a new song on the guitar. It’s been about two years since I learned Smokey Robinson’s Shop Around, one of about 80 I play. These days I’m so anxious to go out and sell books that my musicianship gets short shift. Although it was never good, it has deteriorated the past few years. One good thing, my hip has healed to the point where I can assume my most comfortable playing position, right leg crossed over left, back straight. I'm even able to hustle across the street without feeling my bones are about to separate. It was about this time last year that it began to hurt.
I chose to learn Sway, composed in 1953 by Pablo Beltran Ruiz. Dean Martin did a version a year later that rose to #16. The superb English lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel, who had several huge hits: Canadian Sunset, Andy Williams’ first #1; the English lyrics to Antonio Carlos Joabim’s jazz standard The Girl from Ipanema; and Roberta Flack’s smash hit Killing Me Softly with His Song.  He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Like many Latin songs, Sway is in A minor. It’s Spanish title is “Quien Sera?” The chords are not hard, but there are many quick changes. I really enjoy the Pussycat Dolls version (2004). Nicole Scherzinger’s sultry vocal is spot on. The imagery is beautiful. The rhythm is dreamy and romantic. Doesn’t everyone fantasize about such connection?
Thanks to www.guitarguy.com - which has provided the chords and lyrics to several of the standards I’ve learned. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t include Cole Porter’s You’re the Top, which I would like to do in the style of Stacy Kent’s bouncy, jazzy version, although I doubt I’d be able to handle the no doubt sophisticated chords at the required speed.
Read Vic’s stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

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