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Eydie Gorme
b.New York City borough of the Bronx on August 16, 1931


Although most of her career was conducted during the rock era, traditional pop singer Eydie Gormé carved out a place for herself in several areas of entertainment. For 20 years, from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, she consistently scored in the pop charts, with a parallel place in the Latin pop field from the 1960s on. She appeared on television and on the Broadway stage. And she was a major nightclub entertainer, headlining in Las Vegas showrooms and around the U.S. For most of her career, she worked both solo and in a duo with her husband, Steve Lawrence.

Gormé was born Edith Gormezano, the youngest of three children of Sephardic Jewish immigrant parents (her father was a tailor from Sicily, her mother was from Turkey), in the New York City borough of the Bronx on August 16, 1931. Spanish and English were spoken in her home, and she grew up fluent in both languages. She showed an interest in singing early and made her radio debut at the age of three. By the time she was in high-school, she was singing with a band led by a friend named Ken Greengrass. After graduating from high-school, she got a job as a Spanish interpreter with the Theatrical Supply Export Company and attended the City College of New York at night. Soon, however, she determined to try to become a professional singer, and Greengrass became her manager. In 1950, she was hired by bandleader Tommy Tucker and toured with his group for two months. She then spent a year with Tex Beneke's band before going solo. In 1952, she was signed to Coral Records, which released a series of singles, beginning with "That Night of Heaven." In September 1953, she became a regular on the late-night talk show Tonight!, hosted by Steve Allen, which at that time was only broadcast in New York. Already on the show was singer Steve Lawrence. On September 27, 1954, the program began broadcasting nationally on NBC. Around the same time, Lawrence and Gormé released their first single as a duo, "Make Yourself Comfortable"/"I've Gotta Crow," the latter from the Broadway musical Peter Pan.

Gormé made her first appearance at the prestigious Copacabana club in New York in February 1956. The year before, she had switched from Coral Records to ABC-Paramount, and her second release for the new company, "Too Close for Comfort" (from the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful), marked her chart debut in April 1956 and became a Top 40 hit. Its follow-up, "Mama, Teach Me to Dance," also peaked in the Top 40. In 1957, she had three more chart singles, the most successful of them being the Top 40 hit "Love Me Forever," and she placed two LPs in the Top 20: Eydie Gormé and Eydie Swings the Blues.

On December 29, 1957, Gormé married Lawrence. Steve Allen, having left Tonight!, had launched a prime-time series, and Lawrence and Gormé hosted its summer replacement, Steve Allen Presents the Steve Lawrence-Eydie Gormé Show, in July and August 1958, running from eight p.m. to nine p.m. on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, Gormé placed another three singles in the charts in 1958, the most successful of them being the Top 20 hit "You Need Hands," and she also scored another two Top 20 albums, Eydie Vamps the Roaring '20s and Eydie in Love .... Although she continued to record and do club dates, she was somewhat less active in the late 1950s as she and Lawrence started a family (their first son, David Lawrence, became a film composer) and he fulfilled his military commitment. They relaunched their career in 1960 with a series of joint club engagements and their first full-fledged duo album, We Got Us; the title song won them the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group.

Late in 1960, Gormé switched label affiliations to United Artists Records, but she never scored any hits with the company, and by 1962 she had moved to Columbia Records. Her first single, a revival of "Yes My Darling Daughter," became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in the summer of 1962, but in the U.S. she re-ignited her recording career in early 1963 with "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," written by the Brill Building songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, which reached the Top Ten and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Vocal Performance. During the rest of the year, she placed four more singles in the charts, two of them with her husband, billed simply as Steve & Eydie. Those duo records, I Want to Stay Here and I Can't Stop Talking About You (both written by another Brill Building team, Carole King and Gerry Goffin), reached the Top 40, as did Gormé's solo album Blame It on the Bossa Nova.

Like all traditional pop singers, Gormé was thrown into the shade by the British Invasion of 1964. She did manage to get some attention, however, by teaming up with the Trio Los Panchos and recording a Spanish-language album, Amor, that spent 22 weeks in the charts. She and the trio followed with More Amor in 1965. Meanwhile, she was also delving into contemporary show tunes for her singles, cutting Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim's "Do I Hear a Waltz?," Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner's "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?" (from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever), and Jerry Herman's "If He Walked Into My Life" (from Mame). The last of these gave her a Top Ten easy listening hit in 1966 and brought her her first solo Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance. In the same year, her Don't Go to Strangers LP became a Top 40 hit and her Spanish-language holiday collection Navidad Means Christmas reached the Top Ten of the Christmas chart.

Gormé continued to record and to chart in 1967, but with diminishing results. Her solo album, Softly, as I Leave You, reached the Top 100, which charted better than her duo album with Lawrence, Together on Broadway, did, and by the end of the year Columbia had issued Eydie Gormé's Greatest Hits, a sign that the label felt her biggest success was behind her. Meanwhile, she and Lawrence had ambitious plans. They had arranged to co-star in a Broadway musical, Golden Rainbow, an adaptation of the Arnold Schulman play A Hole in the Head that had also served as the basis for the Frank Sinatra movie of that title, but with a new song score written by Walter Marks. In anticipation of the show's opening, the Columbia subsidiary released Gormé's recording of "How Could I Be So Wrong," one of her songs from the show, and it reached the Easy Listening charts in December 1967. Golden Rainbow opened on February 4, 1968, and was a success, playing 385 performances before closing on January 12, 1969. Meanwhile, Gormé and Lawrence continued to record for Columbia and Calendar, but during 1968, they moved operations to RCA Victor Records. The new label initially scored with their duo LPs What It Was, Was Love (a concept album composed by Gordon Jenkins), and Real True Lovin' in 1969, but in the fall Gormé's solo single "Tonight I'll Say a Prayer" got into the charts, followed by an LP of the same name released in February 1970.

By the early 1970s, traditional pop singers were having trouble maintaining their berths with the major labels. Gormé and Lawrence continued to record for RCA Victor into 1971, scoring several Easy Listening chart entries, then switched to MGM Records, which tried to make a last stand for traditional pop with performers like them and Tony Bennett. There was a Gormé solo album, It Was a Good Time, in 1971, and a duo album, The World of Steve & Eydie, in 1972, that produced a final pop singles chart entry, "We Can Make It Together," featuring the Osmonds; this was followed by a few singles in 1973. After that, Gormé was no longer a factor in the pop charts. Fortunately, she and Lawrence had built up a steady following for club and television appearances. In 1975, they had a TV special, Our Love Is Here to Stay, that was their tribute to George Gershwin. It spawned an LP and won an Emmy Award. Gormé, meanwhile, turned to the Latin market. She was nominated for a 1976 Grammy for Best Latin Recording for her album La Gormé on Gala Records, and again in 1977 for Muy Amigos Close Friends, an album she recorded with Danny Rivera. There were also occasional English-language recordings. In September 1976, she returned to the Easy Listening chart with her version of "What I Did for Love" from the Broadway musical A Chorus Line on United Artists Records. The success of the Gershwin program led to other composer tribute albums, and the 1978 special Steve and Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin won seven Emmys, including one for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program (Special or Series) that went to Gormé and Lawrence as performers, along with the producers and executive producers.

Gormé and Lawrence made only occasional ventures into recording in the late '70s and '80s. Recording as "Parker & Penny," they placed a single, "Hallelujah," in the Adult Contemporary chart in 1979. In 1989, they launched their own GL Music label with the duo album Alone Together. (Eventually, GL began to reissue their old albums on CD, available at www.steveandeydie.com.) But they did turn-away business in Las Vegas and such A-list venues as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. In 1990-91, they appeared with Frank Sinatra on his "Diamond Jubilee" tour commemorating his 75th birthday, and they were on Sinatra's Duets II album in 1994. The duo got in on the lounge craze of the mid-'90s, recording their version of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" for the 1997 Hollywood Records collection Lounge-A-Palooza. They continued to appear in Las Vegas into the new century, closing the Circus Maximus showroom of Caesar's Palace in September 2000 to conclude ten years of performances there. They did not perform again in Las Vegas until the spring of 2004, when they opened in the Wayne Newton Theater of the Stardust Hotel on April 29. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/gorme_eydie/bio.jhtml

Too Close For Comfort
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Block, Larry Holofcener and George Weiss

Be Wise,be smart, behave my heart,
Don't upset your cart
When she's (he's) so close.
Be soft, be sweet, but be discreet,
Don't go off your beat ,
She's (he's) too close for comfort,
Too close, too close for comfort,
Please not again.
Too close, too close to know just
When to say "when"
Be firm, be fair, be sure,
Beware, on your guard, take care
While there's such temptation.
One thing leads to another,
Too late to run for cover,
She's (he's) Too close for comfort now.

Good morning, Bob. Thanks for that bio of Eydie.

My very good friend from Virginia really liked her song, "I'll Take Romance", but I cannot find the lyrics in our archives.

As a matter of record, folks, I cannot find much that I would like to find. What is it about Google that has succumbed to the advertisement game?

Ah, well. I'll keep trying, I guess.

Ann Blyth


Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York) is an American actress and singer, most often cast in Hollywood musicals, but who also succeeded in the dramatic roles she was given.

Blyth began her acting career as Anne Blyth, changing the spelling of her name at the beginning of her film career. Her first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (from 1941 until 1942). She was signed to a contract with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block (1944). In musical films such as Babes on Swing Steet and Bowery to Broadway (both 1944), she played the part of the sweet, and demure teenager. Her next film, on loan to Warner Brothers cast her against type, as the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945). Her dramatic portrayal of the spiteful Veda Pierce won her outstanding reviews, and she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Blyth injured her back after this film, and was not able to capitalize on its success completely although she was still able to make a few films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest (a 1948 prequel to The Little Foxes), and achieved success playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948). Her other films include : Our Very Own (1950), The Great Caruso (1951), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), Kismet (1957), The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and The Helen Morgan Story.

Blyth married Dr. James McNulty in 1953 and had five children.

From the 1960s she worked in musical theater, summer stock and television. She also became the spokesperson for "Hostess Cupcakes". Her most recent television appearances have been in episodes of Quincy (1983) and Murder, She Wrote (1985).

Ann Blyth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard.

Trivia

* Blyth raised eyebrows in 1954 at the Academy Awards show when she sang Doris Day's song Secret Love from Calamity Jane while seven months pregnant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Blyth

Secret Love

- written by Sammy Fain and Paul-Francis Webster



Once I had a secret love
That lived within the heart of me
All too soon my secret love
Became impatient to be free

So I told a friendly star
The way that dreamers often do
Just how wonderful you are
And why I am so in love with you

Now I shout it from the highest hills
Even told the golden daffodils

At last my hearts an open door
And my secret loves no secret anymore

Well, Bob, I am surprised that edgar has not commented on Ann, but I'm amazed to discover that she sang "My Secret Love".

Which leads, listeners, to this quiet time song:


- My Silent Love Lyrics

I reach for you like I'd reach for a star,
Worshipping you from afar, living with my silent love;
I'm like a flame dying out in the rain,
Only the ashes remain, smouldering like my silent love;
How I long to tell all the things I have planned,
Still it's wrong to tell, you would not understand,
You'll go along never dreaming I care,
Loving somebody somewhere, leaving me my silent love.

I'll Take Romance
Words & Music by Oscar Hammerstein II & Ben Oakland
Recorded by Susannah McCorkle, 1992


D Bm7 Em7 A7
I'll take ro - mance,

D F#m Bm G
While my heart is young and eager to fly,

E7 B7 Em7 A7 D
I'll give my heart a try -- I'll take ro - mance.


D Bm7 Em7 A7
I'll take ro - mance,

D F#m Bm G
While my arms are strong and eager for you,

E7 B7 Em7 A7 D
I'll give my arms their cue -- I'll take ro - mance.



Bridge:

D7 Cm7 F7 Bb Gm
So when you want me, call me,

Cm7 F7 Bb Gm
In the hush of the eve - ning;

Am7 Gdim G+7 G6 DM7 B7
When you call me in the hush of the

Em7 A7
Evening I'll rush to my


D Bm7 Em7 A7
First real ro - mance,

D F#m Bm G
While my heart is young and eager and gay,

E7 B7 Em7 A7 D
I'll give my heart away -- I'll take ro - mance.

I had a childhood infatuation with Ann Blythe, which is why her name came up when I looked for a writer's name for myself. And, Edgar just added that ring to it when I put them togather. Since then, I've reverted to writing under my full real name.
I first began noticing Ann when I got a picture of her on a card out of a bag of Mother's brand cookies. I eventually had over a dozen such cards.

Ah, Bob. Thanks to you for that. I think it was Edye's phrasing that my friend liked so much, and there's another major to minor song.

An interesting item from the world of science and psychology:



Now for Some Real Monkey Business By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Mon Aug 15, 7:02 PM ET



MONDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- In recent studies, scientists tracked the behaviors of shoppers and investors as they spent money snapping up things on sale or investing in low-risk transactions.


And when these same consumers noticed that one shopper was getting a special deal, they reacted in a very human way: by flinging their money back in the seller's face in a righteous show of anger.


But these study subjects weren't human -- they were a troop of capuchin monkeys, native to the jungles of South America.


Scientists say the capuchins' "animal behavioral economics" are bringing new insights to everything from the stock market to the tit-for-tat reciprocity of daily human life.


"You can't explain everything that happens in economics by market forces -- you have to look at the human animal. And as soon as you look at the human animal, you notice that we have a lot in common with other animals, too," said Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center.


Until fairly recently, economists believed the marketplace worked on a simple principle: everyone was out to maximize their own personal gain. But that theory doesn't quite fit with reality, according to Yale University primate researcher and professor of psychology Laurie Santos.


"For example, there's the curious problem of why humans don't put as much money into stocks as they do into bonds," she said. Over the long-term, stocks always outperform bonds, even though short-term dips in an individual stock's value are common. With stocks "you're more likely to look in your portfolio and say 'Oh, I lost $1,000 this month' -- even though you still make more money over the course of a year than you would with bonds," Santos said.


So why don't humans make the rational choice and play the stock market more?


The answer lies in the "reference point" -- an irrational habit that humans have of gauging economic performance against what happened yesterday or last month, or by the type of success or failure a neighbor might be having. Many economists have suggested that this illogical tendency is simply a product of human society, easily changed.

Monkeys and money? Ain't nothing safe, folks.

T. E. Lawrence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Thomas Edward Lawrence (August 16, 1888 - May 19, 1935), also known as Lawrence of Arabia, and (apparently, among his Arab allies) Aurens or Al-Aurens, became famous for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918. His very public image was in some part the result of U.S. traveller and journalist Lowell Thomas's sensationalised reportage of the Revolt, as well as Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Many Arabs consider him a folk hero for promoting their cause for freedom from both Ottoman and European rule; likewise, many Britons count him among their country's greatest war heroes.


Early years

Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Caernarfonshire, North Wales, of mixed English and Irish ancestry. His father, Thomas Chapman, was a prominent member of the Irish aristocracy who had escaped a tyrannical wife to live with his daughters' governess, with whom he had five sons. Lawrence was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, from where he graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a highly-acclaimed thesis entitled The influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the end of the 12th century.

On leaving university he commenced postgraduate research in mediaeval pottery, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist in the Middle East. In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos) where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish near to Jerablus in the northern part of Syria, where he worked under D.G. Hogarth and R. Campbell-Thompson. It was while he was excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites that he met Gertrude Bell, who had an influence on him for much of his time in the Middle East.

In the late summer of 1911 he returned to England for a brief sojourn and, by November, he was back en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish. Prior to returning to work he worked briefly with William Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt. At Carchemish he was to work with Leonard Woolley. He continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of World War I. His extensive travels through Arabia, his excursions, often on foot, living with the Arabs, wearing their clothes, learning their culture, language and local dialects, were to prove invaluable during the conflict.

In January 1914 Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Sinai peninsula. At this time Lawrence visited Aqaba and Petra. From March to May, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, on advice from S.F. Newcombe, Lawrence did not enlist immediately, but held back until October.


The Arab Revolt


Once enlisted he was posted to Cairo, where he worked for British Military Intelligence. Lawrence's intimate knowledge of the Arab people made him the ideal liaison between British and Arab forces and in October 1916 he was sent into the desert to report on the Arab nationalist movements. During the war, he fought with Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Feisal, a son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence's major contribution to World War I was convincing Arab leaders to coordinate their revolt to aid British interests. He persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of Medina, thus forcing the Turks to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then able to direct most of their attention to the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage. In 1917 Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the strategically-located port city of Aqaba. On July 6, after a daring overland attack, Aqaba fell to Arab forces. In November he was recognised at Dera'a while reconnoitring the area in Arab dress and was apparently sexually assaulted by the (male) Turkish garrison before he was able to escape (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2003). Some 12 months later, Lawrence was involved in the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war.

As he did before the war, during the time he spent with the Arab irregulars, Lawrence adopted many local customs and traditions as his own, and soon became a close friend of Prince Feisal. He especially became known for wearing white Arabian garb (given to him by Prince Feisal, originally wedding robes given to Feisal as a hint) and riding camels and horses in the desert. During the closing years of the war he sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, to mixed success.

Postwar years


Immediately after the war Lawrence worked for the British Foreign Office, attending the Versailles Paris Peace Conference, 1919 between January and May as a member of Feisal's delegation. Through most of 1921 he served as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office.

Starting in 1922 he attempted to achieve anonymity, joining the Royal Air Force under the name "Ross". His cover was soon blown, however, and he was forced out of the RAF, changed his name to "Shaw", and in 1923 joined the Royal Tank Corps. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which petitions finally bore fruit in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity resulted in his assignment to a remote base in British India in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928, forced to return to the UK after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities. He continued serving in the RAF, specializing in high-speed boats and professing happiness, and it was with considerable regret that he left the service at the end of his enlistment in March 1935. A few weeks later he was killed in a Brough Superior motorcycle accident in Dorset, at the age of 46.


Lawrence the author

Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life. A large proportion of his writing was epistolary and he often sent several letters a day. There are several large collections of his letters in print, some of which remain unfortunately expurgated by over-protective editors. His correspondents included many notable figures of the time, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, and E.M. Forster.

Lawrence translated Homer's Odyssey and The Forest Giant, an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Working from a notebook kept while enlisted, Lawrence wrote of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the RAF. The book, with its sparse and sharp prose, is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously.


Claims of homosexuality

Certain passages in Lawrence's writing, supplemented by reports from a military colleague whom Lawrence hired to give him beatings, make it clear that he had unconventional sexual tastes, notably masochism. While his writings include one notably homoerotic passage (see "Quotations" below), the details of his sexual orientation and experience remain unknown.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is dedicated to "S.A.", with a poem which begins:

"I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When I came."

(Some editions of Seven Pillars give the last line of this stanza as "When we came"; the 1922 Oxford text, however, has "When I came".)

On the subject of the war, Lawrence said: "I liked a particular Arab, and thought that freedom for the race would be an acceptable present."

The identity of "S.A." remains unclear; it has been argued that these initials identify a man, a woman, a nation, or some combination of the above. One specific claim is that S.A. is "Sheikh Ahmed", also called Dahoum, a young Arab who worked with Lawrence at a pre-war archaeological dig, with whom Lawrence is said to have had a close relationship, and who apparently died of typhus in 1918. However, others maintain that Dahoum was merely an extremely close friend of the mold common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which often involved (non-sexual) physical contact. Lawrence himself, perhaps dissembling, maintained that "S.A." was a composite character.

WOW, Bob. That's another secret uncovered about T.E. Lawrence. (oh, dear. I recall having confused him with D.H. Lawrence).

Well, folks, in looking at the lives of celebs, we never know what's real and what's surmised, do we?

I liked Edie Gorme

Nice clear voice, lively style.

Doris Day, from that era, was a magnificent singer too.

Well, listeners, here's our McTag with an observation about two vocalists. Hey, Brit, how are things in Manchester?

Always good to see you in our studios, my friend.

Hey buddy do you know the name of that song?

The Little Red School House

Sometimes I think I was a little fool
Back in those days when I used to go to school.
Now when I was a kid, gee, how I hated
The little place where I was educated.
Even though I didn't know it then
I wish that I was back again

In the Little Red School House
with my book and slate.
In the Little Red School House
We were always late.

Oh, now what I would give to be a scholar
In those days of yore.
How I'd stand right up there and hollar,
"Two and two is four!"

When we shoulda been learnin'
About the golden rule,
Our little hearts were yearnin'
For the swimmin' pool.

Now we could hardly wait for the four o'clock bell.
The moment that it rang we would run like......mad!
Oh gee, I wanna be-e-e in the Little Red School House.

Ten o'clock spelling lesson just begun.
Johnny throws an inkball just for fun.
Hits the teacher's ear with an awful splat!
Teacher turns around and says "Who did that?"

Johnny's told to stand with his face to the wall.
He says "Oh I don' wanna" and he starts to bawl.
If I stood up there I'd take an awful chance:
I got a great big tear in the seat of my pants!

Teacher sends you home to wash yer face, and then
You say, "Oh what's the use, it jus' gets dirty again?"
Oh gee, I wanna be-e-e in the Little Red School House.

MEST LYRICS

"I Melt With You"

Moving forward using all my breath
Making love to you was never second best
I saw the world crashing all around your face
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace

I'll stop the world and melt with you
You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time
And there's nothing you and I won't do
I'll stop the world and melt with you

(We should know better) Dream of better lives the kind which never hate
(We should see) Trapped in a state of imaginary grace
(We should know better) I made a pilgrimage to save this human's race
(We should see) Never comprehending a race that's long gone by

(Let's stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you
(Let's stop the world) You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time
And there's nothing you and I won't do
(Let's stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you

The future's open wide

I'll stop the world and melt with you
(I'll stop the world) You've seen some changes and it's getting better all the time
And there's nothing you and I won't do
(I'll stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you

The future's open wide

hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm

I'll stop the world and melt with you
(I'll stop the world) You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time
And there's nothing you and I won't do
(I'll stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you

I'll stop the world and melt with you (I'll stop the world and melt with you)
I'll stop the world and melt with you (I'll stop the world and melt with you)

Good day to all.

Rex: The name of the song is "There But For Fortune" . And I love the Baez version.

And the August 16 birthdays are:

1596 - Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)
1645 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (d. 1696)
1650 - Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist (d. 1718)
1682 - Louis, Duke of Burgundy, heir to the throne of France (d. 1712)
1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1921)
1860 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (d. 1887)
1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American coach (d. 1965)
1868 - Bernarr McFadden, publisher
1884 - Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born editor and publisher (d. 1967)
1888 - T. E. Lawrence, English writer and soldier (d. 1935)
1888 - Armand J. Piron, American musician (d. 1943)
1892 - Otto Messmer, cartoonist (d. 1983)
1894 - George Meany, American labor union leader (d. 1980)
1895 - Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist (d. 1981)
1895 - Liane Haid, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
1902 - Georgette Heyer, English novelist (d. 1975)
1911 - E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)
1913 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1992)
1920 - Charles Bukowski, American poet (d. 1994)
1924 - Fess Parker, American actor
1928 - Ann Blyth, American actress
1929 - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
1930 - Robert Culp, American actor
1930 - Frank Gifford, American football player and announcer
1931 - Eydie Gorme, American singer
1933 - Julie Newmar, actress
1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director
1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, American actress
1946 - Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdish politician
1950 - Hasely Crawford, Trinidad and Tobago athlete
1952 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
1953 - Kathie Lee Gifford, French-born singer and actress
1954 - James Cameron, Canadian film director
1958 - Angela Bassett, American actress
1958 - Madonna, American singer and actress
1960 - Timothy Hutton, American actor
1963 - Fernando Ponassi-Boutureira, Argentine-Italian architect
1967 - Pamela Smart, American murderer
1967 - Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish-born television personality
1968 - Mateja Svet, Slovenian alpine skier
1974 - Robin Hull, Finnish snooker player
1974 - Krisztina Egerszegi, Hungarian swimmer
1980 - Robert Hardy, English bassist (Franz Ferdinand)
1980 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
1981 - Taylor Rain, American actress
1987 - Kyal Marsh, Australian actor

For Edgar:

Rex, welcome back. All this time I have been referring to you as RexReed. My word. dj must have thought Letty had gone over the hill. <smile>

Back later, as I have stuff to do.

Rex (Eric) the Red

And there's our Raggedy with her celeb updates. Thanks, gal.

Folks, did any of you know that Kathy Lee Gifford was French born? That was quite a surprise. It seems to me that I recall her having a not-so-great voice.

Rex, That little Red School House is so neat. Good grief, what a wonderful treat the one room school must have been. My mom taught in a little red school house as did her Mom, and my sister bought that very school house from the county.

School Days:

School days, school days,
Dear old golden rule day,
Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,
Taught to the tune of a hickory stick.

You were my bashful barefoot beau,
I was your queen in calico,
You wrote on my slate,
I love you, Jo.
When we were a couple of kids.

Now how's that for a memory.

Our charming host Letty asked me some time ago about details re Steve's visit here.

I din't forget it - but had to wait until the photos were printed (I photograph still in the old traditional way :wink: ).

So, here on this programme, for the first time and exclusively (especially since photographing is forbidden there!):

from the treasury of the Aix-la-Chapelle Cathedral:

the sword and horn of Charlemagne




the relict bust of Charlemagne

The horn really is from Charlemagne's time.

The sword is from about 1050 and was used until 14th century as the crowning sword for the French (sic!) kings.

The bust is from 14th century and mirrors how Charlemagne was viewed in those days.
The crown is the original one of emperor Lothor, given by him to the cathedral.
Inside the bust are cranial bones "of a male Franconian person from about 800".

[Photos taken with a Nikon F 80/Sigma 2.8 28-70/Fujicolour 800 ASA]