I became a rabid Styx fan in the early 80's. At one point I had all the vinyl they had released, but those are long gone. I rely on greatest hits CD's or a Styx mix on Spotify. This song comes up often. I always wondered about the line about climbing aboard the starship, but not enough to research it or anything like that, LOL
One of my favourites as well. I used to think the English version was a translation of the French, but as you say it's a different song altogether.
The film "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" from 10 years or so ago got indifferent reviews but I quite liked it, and it has a great montage ending where all the loose ends are tied up, with the French version of La Mer (performed by Julio Iglesias) providing the background.
If you'll forgive the impertinence of adding to your blog, here it is:
I know that, in the eyes of some, this will destroy my credibility irrevocably as he appears to be a love-him-or-loathe-him type of performer, but as I've listened to the nostalgia radio stations over the years I have to admit that Billy Joel has grown on me. The man has quite an impressive body of work.
At one of my eye exams in the last couple of years, the optometrist told me that floaters were just pigment from the colored part of my eye that detached and are literally floating around. Completely harmless. Dark-eyed people, like me, are more "susceptible" to them. I have them all the time.
WebMD is known for scaring the pants off of people. It is kind of like knowing what is running through your doctor's head while you are going through the history of your symptoms. The difference is, the doctor filters that information better than the web site does (usually).
When I was consulting a surgeon after my cancer diagnosis, she said, "So, how much research have you done on the internet?"
When I said, "None, I thought that's why I hired you," I thought she was going to jump up and kiss me.
A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, but if it got you in to get examined by a medical professional, I guess it wasn't so bad, lol
Without going into too much detail, this 1926 song by George and Ira Gershwin fit perfectly with the mood and thematic material of "Alby's Tale" .
The song itself was written for the musical Oh Kay!, which ran for 200 performance on Broadway and also had a successful run on the London stage. The original score called for an up-tempo beat, marked scherzando (playiful) on the sheet music. However, starting in the 30s, recordings appeared wth a slower, more balladic tempo, which has since become the standard. The song has been recorded by many artists, including such luminaries at Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Sinéad O'Connor, Elton John, Nelson Riddle, and Linda Ronstadt. My personal favorite recording is by Michael Feinstein.
The story "Alby's Tale" .references the song playing in a piano bar, so the version that's appropriate for this particular blog is this interpretation for jazz piano.
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