one more thought re: Valentine

At this time of year it is no surprise that I am reminded of one of my favorite songs of all time, "My Funny Valentine," the Rogers and Hart standard composed in 1937.

It's a simple, short song but there's so much material there to work with, and I'm not surprised that so many recording artists (over 600) have interpreted it. With the advent of iTunes, I've been able to gather nearly a hundred different versions of "My Funny Valentine," each of which thrills and touches me in a unique way.

  I don't have the blog-fu necessary to post individual sound clips of my favorites, but you can find many of them at iTunes. Be sure to check out Dinah Shore, Elvis Costello, Anita O'Day (perhaps my favorite version, on the album pictured at left -- GREAT album!), Chet Baker, Linda Rondstadt, Bobby Darin, Jerry Garcia, Dianne Reeves, Chaka Khan, and of course Mr Sinatra. And if you've got a couple minutes to spare at YouTube, here is Chaka Khan performing a particularly nice jazzy version, and here is a rather creepy version by Jon Bon Jovi (it just does to show you the incredible range of what can be done with this simple little song!).