Wednesday 4 February 2009

S is for somber...

Many songs I feature in "Alphabetising" are either covers (or more often tracks that are later covered). I've been thinking of the particular cover of (Somewhere) over the Rainbow for a while though. No doubt as many others, I first heard it played when Dr Mark Greene died on TV Series ER. Choosing music to fit moments in TV shows is notoriously difficult, but I don't believe a more perfect choice has ever been made. The story of "Bruddah Iz" is also somewhat moving on its own, dying at the short age of just 38.

Without trying to get too mournful though, there is another version of the song that is just as beautiful, and with a similarly sad tale behind it. Eva Cassidy died in 1996, at a similarly young age. Her fame has come posthumously, mainly because of her version getting airplay with Terry Wogan. Notoriously, the only video of her performance is a camcorder recording from the Live at Blues Alley session. Which makes it even more incredible in many ways.

Moving away from the somber notes though, there's some totally different songs beginning with "S" - enjoy.


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