One of the great joys of music is meeting different
musicians and then hearing them play or sing pieces I’m not familiar with. Wikipedia says The Great American Songbook, also known as 'American Standards', is the canon of
the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz
standards from the early 20th century.”
That’s enormous territory and although I’ve been playing songs from that
genre for more than fifty years, I still come across new ones (to me). Most are fun to play and some are very moving. Such is the case with the song “I Could Have
Told You” The haunting melody was written by the great James Van Heusen,
a friend of Sinatra’s, and the melancholic lyrics were penned by
the prolific lyricist Carl Sigman.
The recording became a Frank Sinatra “signature song.” The Nelson Riddle arrangement was recorded as a single on
December 9, 1953 just days after Sinatra reportedly attempted suicide over his
broken marriage to Ava Gardner. No
wonder it is so mournful and heartfelt and supposedly he never performed it in
his endless appearances on stage. Obviously, the song conjured painful memories. It later appeared on his 1959 compilation album
Look to Your Heart and another one that
same year, made up of mostly sorrowful songs, No One Cares.
It was also recorded by Bob Dylan (surprisingly to me) so
if one likes his voice and style you can also find it on YouTube. It can’t compare to Sinatra’s smooth tonality
and phrasing.
Although I probably heard the song in my years of
listening to Sinatra, I didn’t have the sheet music or take note of it. I was “introduced” to it by a singer we came
across in our many visits to the Double Roads Tavern in Jupiter. The Jupiter Jazz Society headed up by Rich and Cherie Moore has a Jazz Jam there on Sunday nights. Rich is a very talented pianist and can play almost any style. We’re supporters of the Society and try not
to miss a performance. We learned about the Society and Double Roads from our good friend (and my bass accompanist from time to time) David
Einhorn who occasionally plays there.
So one connection leads to another in the small music world and there we
saw a performance by an upcoming interpreter of the Great American Songbook,
Lisa Remick.
A prediction: we’ll hear a lot more from her in the
future. She’s a perfectionist, the kind
of singer we really appreciate, trying to go to the heart of a song, and
singing it while conveying the emotional foundation of the lyrics and the
melody. Such is her interpretation of “I
Could Have Told You” on her CD, Close
Enough for Love.
Thus, I was captivated by that song on her CD. I found a
lead sheet for the piano and after playing it over and over again for myself, decided
to record it and upload it to YouTube trying to allow the melody to speak for
itself, with my usual disclaimer that it was recorded under less than ideal
conditions in my living room and using a digital camera. I played it just one time through and one can
follow the lyrics which are below. It’s a gem of a song.
I could have told you
She'd hurt you
She'd love you a while
Then desert you
If only you'd asked
I could have told you so
I could have saved you
Some crying
Yes, I could have told you she's lying
But you were in love
And didn't want to know
I hear her now
As I toss and turn and try to sleep
I hear her now
Making promises she'll never keep
And soon, it's over and done with
She'll find someone new to have fun with
Through all of my tears
I could have told you so
