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"Mad About The Boy"
Dinah Washington
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"This record stands high on many people鈥檚 list of favourite performances, yet it鈥檚 quite an oddity - a gay anthem in very British disguise, sung in a peppery, semi-spoken style by one of the great black American divas. Coward himself wrote at least four full refrains for this song, including the lines 鈥淚 know that quite sincerely/Housman really/Wrote The Shropshire Lad about the boy鈥, but only the lines sung by Dinah Washington are well-known today. After a trombone introduction by Billy Byers which recalls the sound of Billie Holiday鈥檚 late album Lady in Satin, Dinah attacks the song with her most cutting tone, making the whole record a memorable sweet-and-sour experience. If you鈥檙e looking for strict realism, there are moments where singer and words don鈥檛 match --- when she sings 鈥渢races of the cad about the boy鈥, you do wonder if the word 鈥渃ad鈥 ever otherwise crossed her lips (鈥淵ou鈥檙e a cad, sir!鈥) But she betrays no unease about it, and other lines with quite a literary flavour (鈥渢his odd diversity of misery and joy鈥) come off quite well." |
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Russell Davies
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