Jewish Stereo Types

Or to put it another way, I am chasing a deadline and don't have time to write a new blog post, but it is Valentine's Day and I already posted a very good Valentine song four years ago , so I'm going to cut-and-paste, with a few tweaks here and there (because it is impossible not to find a few things to tweak when you reread your own work). So here is my Special Repeat Post about "My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers and Hart, here sung by the great Ella Fitzgerald: Video posted by YouTube for the subject Ella Fitzgerald You'll note that I chose to use a version sung by a woman, even though the Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker covers are probably the most well-known. That's because the song was written for the Broadway musical Babes in Arms , in which it was sung by a girl about her new boyfriend, a young man named Valentine. The lyrics, it seems to me, make a lot more sense when you consider that they are describing a boy, and one whom the singer considers hop...

Okay, not really, not for most of us. But today is Valentine's Day! So here's "My Funny Valentine," by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, sung by Judy Blazer: Video posted by New World Records You'll note that I chose to use a version sung by a woman, even though the Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker covers are probably the most well-known. That's because the song was written for the Broadway musical Babes in Arms , in which it was sung by a young woman about her new boyfriend, a young man named--wait for it--Valentine. The lyrics, it seems to me, make a lot more sense when you consider that they are describing a boy, and one whom the singer considers hopelessly naive and idealistic--a dope, to her way of thinking. Not that it's not a lovely, romantic song on its own because it is, ruefully expressing the impossibility of explaining even to yourself why people love who they love. *** As suggested above, Babes in Arms was written by the songwriting and Bro...