Cockeyed Optimist

For no particular reason (perhaps it’s just my age), I seem to have been on a nostalgia trip recently with music. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I recall a group or a singer that I used to be fond of, and go looking for them. Some are from very olden days, some are more recent, but they all seemed to have passed out of public prominence.

Here are a few examples:

• The Swingle Singers: These were an a capella group who mimicked instruments vocally. They had a folkish tendency, which distinguishes them from another group, who were more jazz-based (next) –
• The Comedy Harmonists: An ensemble from Czechoslovakia. While we are on the subject of imitating instruments with the voice, we shouldn’t forget (next) –
• Victor Borge: Who made a comedy act out of using noises for punctuation. (Not really in the same category as these others.)
• Wendy Carlos: One of the first musicians to get really serious with synthesizers, in particular, the Moog. Remember ‘Switched-on Bach’? (Started off as Walter Carlos, then had a gender reassignment.)
• Tom Lehrer: An academic (a mathematician, I think) who became very popular for his satyrical songs, such as ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’, mainly on the college circuit, but he had a period when he was in vogue with a general audience.
• Blossom Dearie: A jazz/cabaret singer, I suppose you might call her, with an appealing ‘little girl’ voice.
• Lotte Lenya: She had her greatest fame as an interpreter of Kurt Weill’s music for Bertold Brecht’s plays, such as ‘The Threepenny Opera’. (She also starred in one of the early James Bond Films, ‘From Russia with Love’, as a KGB agent.)
• Shirley Scott: A wizard of the Hammond Organ. What a pity that this instrument seems to have been overtaken by all sorts of keyboards and synthesizers now.
• Cindi Lauper: A more recent singer than some of the others on this list, with a voice that appealed to some and appalled others. ‘Girls Just Want to have Fun’ was one of hers.
• Steeleye Span, with Maddy Prior: A very British folk group who used ‘modern’ instruments to accompany traditional songs.
• And, not to ever forget Edith Piaf: Her life has just been retold in the movie ‘La Vie en Rose’. The film finishes with her famous ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’, forcing me to stay seated until I’d dried my eyes.

I’m afraid I couldn’t give you any samples, because of copyright, but if you Google any of these names, you’re bound to come up with something interesting.

How about adding to this list; I’m sure I’m not the only one with an occasional yearning for the past.

So, which band or individual presses your nostalgia button? Don’t be shy!