Advantages of performing in a foreign country, No.2: No one you know is there when you sing ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You’ and ‘Vincent’.

Mind you, I think I did a surprisingly good job of them.

Yes, I thought it was about time for a music update. I would have written and posted this yesterday, but the hotel’s internet connection was down. Yes, even in the Executive Lounge! Imagine!

I ended up singing ‘Vincent’ and ‘Have I Told You…’ at the start of the evening the night before last, when the audience consisted of two young women who kept handing the waiter song dedication cards asking for things like ‘The Power Of Love’, various other Celine Dion numbers, and yes, the Don McLean and Van Morrison songs above. Having noticed that ‘Vincent’ is supremely popular over here, I should have known that it was coming. So we made a fist of it… Although it didn’t last long, as I didn’t know all the words. Looking later for the lyrics online, it turns out there are an awful lot of words to ‘Vincent’, so that’s no great embarrassment.

And as for ‘Have I Told You Lately’… Well, I could remember the words to that, having heard it enough times (I’m a big Van Morrison fan). But I would never choose to sing that song because it’s about loving God, and I’m not A Believer, as The Monkees almost said. You’ve got to hand it to Van: he found God and Jesus, and consequently went on to write a smash hit song about his love for both of them, cunningly disguised as a regular love song. And most people have never noticed. Which was, presumably, the idea.

So, yes, as you can tell, I am feeling more open to doing requests for pop songs - although in future I will only attempt them if they’re remotely jazzy and/or we can do them in a jazzy way (’Vincent’ with a gentle latin feel, anyone?). I’m not going to add any of these sorts of songs to my set lists, but I will keep copies of the words on my music stand just in case anyone asks for them. A few punters, and D the pianist, have told me how popular I’ll be if I know certain songs; but it’s a fine line, as I said the other day, between keeping the crowd happy and becoming their Performing Pop Music Monkey.

Music-wise, I’m wanting the band to get tighter and slicker; we’re still faltering in certain places and over certain tunes, and as a result I feel like I’m doing too much ‘fire-fighting’, instead of just being able to relax on the gig and be confident that everything’s going to be OK. Because it’s only when you can do the latter that you can really shine, and try out new stuff musicially, and can communicate a song properly. If you’re worried about anything, anything at all, it makes all those things almost impossible.

So as a result, I’ve told the guys that I don’t want us to learn any new songs at our rehearsal this coming Saturday, but to use the time instead to fine-tune the 50 or so songs we’re already doing. On the one hand I don’t want us to get bored, and would love to add new songs - but there’s no point in adding more if we’re just going to continue to perform them in an OK, but not great, manner. You have to perfect the ones you’ve got so far before tackling more.

And as for the audiences on the past few nights… Well, Saturday’s was request-tastic; and on Monday and last night, the audience contained a living legend on the island of Penang: a glamorous, elderly jazz singer, N, who sang at the E&O Hotel every night for 28 years. Yes, every night. For 28 years. Celine Dion, eat your heart out! (But then, if you do, I suppose it will still go on, won’t it?)

N used to perform with her pianist husband, who passed away several months ago; and she was in the bar watching us with a lovely Dutch woman, C, who also used to be married to a famous jazz pianist, David Ng. My bass player friend CC told me that David Ng was phenomenal - “the Malaysian Bill Evans” - and he used to play all around the world, even working with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. David died four years ago, and C was back in Penang - where she’s returned every year - for a memorial service for him, and to scatter his ashes here. On Monday night, after the service, she and N filled in a dedication card requesting ‘Unforgettable’, in memory of their late husbands. “Because they are,” said C. It was an honour to sing it for them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 12.54pm and is filed under The actual music stuff, The people. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.