Friday, September 25, 2009

What I'm Listening To #63

Vera Lynn is a super star of popular music in England from the 1940's & 50's. This discovery, nearly brings chills to me as I listen to her interpretations of British and international standards of the war and post war years. Her voice is simple and plain, and by those virtues alone, amazing. She sings with a restrained trill that seems to embody the entire era. You are with her intimately in every song, be it in a classy jazz joint or a World War II Cantina filled with young men and women on the eve of their deployment, desperate for one last night of joy and innocence.

Combine this with my recent completion of Jane Goodall's book, "Reason for Hope" in which she recounts her own childhood during this time, and my experience of the conversation with the Holocaust survivor at the National Holocaust museum in D.C. It's practically the perfect storm of connectivity of ideas.

I bought this CD on line from a seller in the United Kingdom. It arrived within a week. And I'm utterly enchanted by it.

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