17 January 2009

Great rhyme, questionable activity

I was listening to a variety of things today and came across "I'd Rather Be with You," recorded by Doris Day (formerly Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff of Cincinnati, Ohio) when she was with Les Brown and his orchestra in the early to mid-1940s.

It's a catalogue song of the many activities one might wish to do with a variety of stars (Tracy, Gable, Grable, Garson, Russell, et al.), but how, nevertheless, the singers would rather stay with each another.

For example, Doris sings:

I could fly to Sumatra
with Frankie Sinatra;
I'd rather be with you.

The male singer, whose name I can't recall right now, ends with:

If I could say what's disturbin'
to Deanna Durbin,
I'd rather be with you.

Now, I'm not sure "saying what's disturbin'" to most folk, much less Deanna Durbin, would rank as an enjoyable activity even in the abstract, but I'm fairly certain that, in these more progressive times, whispering disturbing "nothings" into anyone's ear could bring a lawsuit (or at least a restraining order)!

Don't try this at home, kids!

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