I first put this little number up on July 4, seven years ago. I still think it would make a nifty anthem, and today I kind of feel as if I need a dose of its solid, splendidly kitschy Klezmerische good cheer.
Whatever happens in the next day or so (and while I'm hopeful, I'm also very, very nervous), it's good to remember that there really are 100,000,000 million others like me - not exactly alike, at all, but people nontheless who genuinely want the best, who remember the better ideals of our so-often divided, conflicted, and frequently ridiculous experiment in (the best definition of the Life Well Lived, still, no matter how abused the poor phrase is) "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
If things go badly tomorrow, well, I'll post "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" and start to think about what happens next. But I refuse, for now, to believe that the country that gave us Alice Faye could go so wrong. Wish us luck, world. We'll all need it.
If I had more free time, I would devote it to making this little ditty the new anthem. Forget "America the Beautiful" or that godforsaken old drinking tune we have to put up with now - I want a national song that requires an accordion solo, a coloratura obbligato, and the appearance of no fewer than three vaudeville acts.
Whatever happens in the next day or so (and while I'm hopeful, I'm also very, very nervous), it's good to remember that there really are 100,000,000 million others like me - not exactly alike, at all, but people nontheless who genuinely want the best, who remember the better ideals of our so-often divided, conflicted, and frequently ridiculous experiment in (the best definition of the Life Well Lived, still, no matter how abused the poor phrase is) "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
If things go badly tomorrow, well, I'll post "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" and start to think about what happens next. But I refuse, for now, to believe that the country that gave us Alice Faye could go so wrong. Wish us luck, world. We'll all need it.
If I had more free time, I would devote it to making this little ditty the new anthem. Forget "America the Beautiful" or that godforsaken old drinking tune we have to put up with now - I want a national song that requires an accordion solo, a coloratura obbligato, and the appearance of no fewer than three vaudeville acts.
I think Alice is fabulous, but that's hardly news; John Payne is dreamy as always, but he really isn't even trying to act like he's playing the piano. Fox as usual plays it a little on the cheap side, but I'm terribly fond of the bugling ladies. All in all, despite being a blatant Irving Berlin knockoff, it's a winner.
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