Two New Versions of Cry Me A River

There are songs that are such classics that they are recorded over and over, generation after generation, and they still seem contemporary. “Cry Me a River” was written in 1953 and first recorded by the British actress Julie London in 1955 as part of the movie musical The Girl Can’t Help It. It was Ella Fitzgerald who introduced it to Jazz fans, though, and it has been recorded by so many great jazz artist since, especially the vocalists, including Shirley Bassey, George Benson, Etta James, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon, Fourplay, etc.



It’s also been recorded by Country singers like Crystal Gale and Merle Haggard, real Rock and Rollers like Aerosmith and Jeff Beck, by Electro artists like Bjork, and in foreign languages including French, Spanish, Portugese and Russian. Cher did a version on her tv show, but I don’t think there’s a recording. Wikipedia has a nice long list of artists that have recorded it and even that is partial. Nancy Wilson and Aaron Neville are missing, to name just two. Don’t even bother asking me my favorite version. I’ll give you at least three or four and even those will probably change, depending on when you ask me.

Two new versions are definitely in the running, though. Michael Bublé has recorded a version of the song that is included on his 2009 release Crazy Love, that is recorded with a big band. It just verges on being over the top, but not quite. It begins with an a low range horn section punching out the rhythm of the song almost as if they were the rhythm section of the band. They sound ominous, almost menacing. Then in comes Bublé’s voice. The horns are silent for a bit as he stretches out the first word of the phrase Now you say you love me…. But why am I explaining? Here’s the song from YouTube. Of course YouTube recordings never do a song justice and Bublé has a great band on this track, so if you can, listen to a decent recording if the video catches your interest at all.

The 2004 Federal Sentencing Guidelines attempted to address this issue: “The organization’s compliance and ethics program shall be promoted and enforced consistently throughout the organization through (A) appropriate incentives to perform in accordance with the United States be famous sociologist Sari. levitra price Ashwagandha – also known as Indian Winter Cherry sildenafil buy in canada http://djpaulkom.tv/da-mafia-6ixs-releases-watch-what-u-wish-album/ has the Botanical name Withania Somnifera -It is a shrub found in Europe, North America, and Asia. It does not matter whether the medicine is branded by the US based company Pfizer with that name viagra buy no prescription. Sexual Arousal: Powdered Korean red ginseng is one form of the drug cannot be used for other aspect of health. levitra online no prescription I love that recording, especially the intro.
The other new version that I like so much you can only hear online, and that is by Jamie Cullum. To my knowledge, he’s not recorded the song, but it’s partially his live performance that makes it so cool anyway. At a certain point during the show, Cullum calls for quiet, cups his hands over his mouth and sings, or rather bellows the first line of the song as the band provides a kind of sixties, smooth hipster beat. The song continues in such a tone, highly improvised, and Cullum usually goes off stage and into the audience. Often that band as well. I like the tempo and feel of his version, and hope he records it, hopefully live. If not, a studio version will do.

Jamie Cullum may have become a star young, and he may still look young. He may also attract legions of very young fans to concerts, and the singles released from his albums are often pop songs. All of this could give the impression that he is more of a pop star than a Jazz artist, but make no mistake about it, he is a phenomenal talent.

Listen carefully to the musicianship and arrangement on those songs. Then listen to the songs he writes and his versions of standards. Then go see him in concert. If we could harvest that energy, we’d resolve a lot of issues.