Born May 3, 1903; died October 14, 1977. Crosby, not quite single-handedly, invented modern pop singing; he was one of the very first to use the microphone as an instrument, and could he ever play it! I celebrated the day by playing some favorite cuts from The Best of Bing Crosby CD (MCA MCAD-11942) in my car, notably the Oscar-winning "Swingin' on a Star" from Going My Way, and "Don't Fence Me In" with The Andrews Sisters. The latter is one of my favorite Cole Porter songs, although Porter himself was less than fond of it, perhaps because the lyrics were adapted from a poem by highway engineer Robert Fletcher (that Porter bought from him for $250.00). Legend has it that Crosby hadn't even looked at the song before he stepped into the recording studio, but however it went down, the cut is sublime, and the Porter/Fletcher lines crystallize a certain American attitude so perfectly, they give me goosebumps:
I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in
Breakfast is being served
3 years ago
