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So tonight I had an interesting conversation with my cousin about music in general and that sometimes music that you initially hated is sort of drummed into your head enough where you end up liking it (I suppose this could apply to much more than music.)
He referred to this as "brainwashing" and mentioned that he used to work with someone who played the same CD constantly and that my cousin initially hated it but wound up really liking it because he heard it so often.
So, in fun, we challenged each other - he will put together 7 songs from an artist he liked and I will put together 7 songs from Bing Crosby. In each case we will be listening to music that normally would not be in our tastes of music.
So I figured I would seek some input on what 7 songs you would suggest? I'm open to any suggestion but I'm thinking stuff from the second half of Bing's career as it is probably a bit more palatable to modern ears but again open to any suggestion. (oh but no duets!)
Some songs I am thinking about:
"Love And Understanding"
"Seasons"
"That's What Life Is All About"
"Have You Met Miss Jones"
"Blue Room"
"Mountain Greenery"
"On The Alamo" (Southern Memoir)
"Stars Fell On Alabama" (Southern Memoir)
"Alabama Bound" (Southern Memoir)
"Heartache By The Numbers" (Sings The Great Country Hits)
"Return To Paradise"
"In The Still of the Night/ I Could Have Danced All Night"
"How High The Moon/ That Old Devil Moon"
"Everything is Beautiful" (Bing n' Basie)
"Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead"
"High Hopes"
"Try A Little Tenderness (CBS and/or 10th Anniversary)
Obviously there are much better songs that I haven't listed but these all struck me as very enjoyable when I first listened to them )
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It's often difficult to separate the quality of the performance and the quality of the song in an exercise such as this. I'd be inclined to include Bing's recordings of 'Gigi', 'Thank you for a lovely evening'and 'Style' from the second half of his career.
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Well there is no way to come up with a definitive list, so I didn't even try! I chose songs that I thought had "aged" well, that I took an immediate liking to, and hopefully chose enough of an assortment to showcase Bing at different points of his career and in different styles.
I ultimately went with 13 songs:
“Pocket Full of Dreams”
"Love and Understanding"
"Seasons"
“In a Little Spanish Town” (Mosaic Box Set)
"Stars Fell On Alabama" (Southern Memoir)
“I’m An Old Cowhand”
"Alabama Bound" (Southern Memoir)
"Have You Met Miss Jones"
“Little Green Apples” (Bing ‘n Basie)
"Blue Room"
"Return To Paradise"
“Georgia On My Mind” (Southern Memoir)
"That's What Life Is All About"
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Some of my favourite Bing songs, which is no where near a complete 'like' as just about everything he recorded was good. I think he could have been given more 'loose' recordings later on as compared to the arrangements in the early 30's.
Anyway, just a very minute selection of good sounding Bing.
Down by the River; The Very Thought of You; Lovely Lady; As Time Goes By; Dancing in the Dark; Swanee River; Deep Purple; Dinah; Easy to Remember; I Wish I Were Aladdin( movie soundtrack); The Touch of Your Lips; and many more through each decade finishing with songs on the Seasons album.