Least we forget the beautiful ballads...this is the inimitable Jerry Vale singing the main theme from "Roman Holiday" from the early '60's, Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette.
Beautiful...voice, words, melody, what more can we ask?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBRDVaKGOi4&feature=related
But then, there's a great story about why this song means as much as it does to me personally.
My ex wife an I used to vaction in St. Augustine, FL.
It's a little town, (claimed to be the oldest in North America)--has an historic fort, little shops, a walking area down town, locally owned restaurants...just beautiful.
A restaurant there named Raintree offers remarkable food, and back in those days, the mid late '80's a young, talented guy named Gary, played 4/5 different guitars, classical, jazz, and sang ballads--and, was teaching at Jacksonville College--And he was married, yet one night...
We'd have a wonderful dinner then go to the bar area and listen to him do his work.
One night we were in the bar when a group of 5 came in, men and women paired, except for one girl, the 'odd man out'.
Seeing them come in, Gary left his place up front and came back and sat with the group, but right next to the odd man out young girl.
He began singing Al Di La...looking at her, she at him...and it was captivating. They were obviously so in love...and he couldn't take his eyes off her. After a few measures of singing to her, the bar became completely silent, errily so--you could hear his breathing between words...her eyes started to swell with tears, his also, as well as virtually everyone in the bar area...what was happening was the kind of magic that one might see once in a lifetime.
He sang in perfect (what do I know) Italian...switching to English as the song is bi lingual.
I'll never forget that night--or the song, or the look on their faces. Al Di La, beautiful.
Good listening,
Larry
Beautiful...voice, words, melody, what more can we ask?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBRDVaKGOi4&feature=related
But then, there's a great story about why this song means as much as it does to me personally.
My ex wife an I used to vaction in St. Augustine, FL.
It's a little town, (claimed to be the oldest in North America)--has an historic fort, little shops, a walking area down town, locally owned restaurants...just beautiful.
A restaurant there named Raintree offers remarkable food, and back in those days, the mid late '80's a young, talented guy named Gary, played 4/5 different guitars, classical, jazz, and sang ballads--and, was teaching at Jacksonville College--And he was married, yet one night...
We'd have a wonderful dinner then go to the bar area and listen to him do his work.
One night we were in the bar when a group of 5 came in, men and women paired, except for one girl, the 'odd man out'.
Seeing them come in, Gary left his place up front and came back and sat with the group, but right next to the odd man out young girl.
He began singing Al Di La...looking at her, she at him...and it was captivating. They were obviously so in love...and he couldn't take his eyes off her. After a few measures of singing to her, the bar became completely silent, errily so--you could hear his breathing between words...her eyes started to swell with tears, his also, as well as virtually everyone in the bar area...what was happening was the kind of magic that one might see once in a lifetime.
He sang in perfect (what do I know) Italian...switching to English as the song is bi lingual.
I'll never forget that night--or the song, or the look on their faces. Al Di La, beautiful.
Good listening,
Larry