Sunday, February 3, 2013

Birthday Girl: Infinite Joy


Today marks the 113th anniversary of a singularly good thing: the birth of Miss Mabel Mercer, the Queen of Cabaret.  I rarely run sound-only videos, but the combination of this roguish snap and her just about perfect go at Cole Porter's "Experiment" seems a lovely way to mark the day.  The lyric is one of those deceptively simple things that Porter makes seem so easy, while Miss Mercer turns into it as good a credo to live by as any I can think of:

Be curious, though interfering friends may frown;
Get furious at each attempt to hold you down.
If this advice you only employ
The future can offer you infinite joy
And merriment. Experiment -
And you'll see.

Mabel Mercer, did for 84 years.  I was lucky enough to hear her once, and in some ways things never again were the same.  For which I am eternally grateful...

3 comments:

  1. I do like Mabel Mercer and have a number of her albums, but somehow I can never get past her theatrical diction, particularly those trilled "r's". But I suppose that's a big part of charm...

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  2. I suppose she is rather an acquired taste - but I must say it's one I'm awfully glad I've acquired. Maybe it helps to have seen her in person?

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