Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 4 Sep 1992 16:30:50 CDT
Comments:     Resent-From: The Little Inquisitor <U33963@UICVM>
Comments:     Originally-From: The Little Inquisitor <U33963@UICVM>
From:         The Little Inquisitor <U33963@UICVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Partial confessions of hidden musical loves

It was late when I wrote this and appears not to have gone thru. I'm a klutz, w
hat can I say. Sorry if it's duplicated.  RB
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Sonia had rightly reminded me that I hadn't come clean (Inquisitors seldom do),
 so here it goes --in some of chronological order like the historian I was inad
equately trained to be:

1) Spanish __zarzuelas__. Spain's answer to Gilbert and Sullivan? These very li
ght operetta-like musicals invariably involve aristocratic military officers, m
istaken identities, and much horsing around on the stage.  Everything is alrigh
t at work's end. Massive choruses. Campy to the max.

2) Xavier Cugat's rumbas ("Lady in Red." Oustanding. Get your feet a movin'. An
yone remember Charo?

3) __Boleros__. (The Caribbean's counterpart to U.S. C & W, as well as South
American tangos, at least IMHO.) Just crazy about these weepy, soggy songs of l
onging, love and loss. Usually sung in trios or quartets. __Los Panchos__ come
to mind as one of my childhood faves. A good bolero late at night in a humid ro
om will make you want to do the most wonderful things.

4) __Cha-cha-chas__. (Especially those of Perez Prado, and even more so those w
ith such marvelous lyrics as "The Martians have already arrived, and they came
dancing the cha-cha-cha!"

5) Songs of the Read Army Chorus (Pure, praetorian, powerful proletarianism.)
Subcategory: Revolutionary groups with strong political messages and lousy musi
c. Sheer joy.)

6) __Pasodobles__. (Brass band tunes frequently associated with bullfighting. E
xcellent for weddings and town dances in the main squares. These songs have it
all: sun, sand, religion, honor, virility, devotion, faith, love and death.
Connoisseurs of this genre will immediately recognize __El Relicario__ and --La
 Macarena__ as timeless classics.  No relation to Bizet's Carmen, mind you, tho
ugh I came to like the latter after drooling over Laura del Sol's voluptuous fr
ont porch in the movie by the same name.)

7) Strauss waltzes.  (The master of the genre. Need I say more. They're great i
n films; always making you feel that you should have been born into the aristoc
racy and high European society. And everyone dances them so effortlessly. This
is better than schmaltz -- or is that possible?

8) 50s-60s film soundtracks (North, Herrmann, Morricone, and (egad) Mancini).
 [Pause: I'm feeling more exposed by the line.]

9) Theme from Shaft (Isaac Hayes): "I'm a bad motha -- shut yermouth!" Can this
 be topped?

10) "Beyond the Sea." (Both Charles Trenet's and Bobby Darin's versions. Pure b
liss.
Well, perhaps we'll get past the early 1970s some other time. OK, Sonia, does t
hat give you enough to work with?

Hope to have something to say about some of the truly riveting admissions made
to the confessional.  I declare it a huge success.

Renato
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