October 5, 2006

"Moonlight in Vermont"

From A Man and His Music II, from December 1966, here's Francis Albert doing "Moonlight in Vermont." It was written by John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf and published in 1943. Each verse (not counting the bridge) is a haiku.
Pennies in a stream
Falling leaves a sycamore
Moonlight in Vermont

Icy finger waves
Ski trails on a mountain side
Moonlight in Vermont

Evening summer breeze
Warblings of the meadowlark
Moonlight in Vermont

Yep! 5-7-5.
This live version is better than the classic recording on the 1958 Come Fly with Me album. His vocals are jazzier (bends a couple of notes) than the album version, for one thing. Any doubters, or haters, of Sinatra, or his vocal talent, would be shut-down pretty quickly by this. The pure vocal athleticism and lung power alone is impressive.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a beautiful rendition of Moolight in Vermont. I had to listen and watch it 2 or 3 times it was so pretty There is nothing finer than Frank.

AMHM II is one of my fav live performances avaialable on CD.

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, the Man is just marvelous.

Chris said...

It is beautiful, and live! You need to check out the version on With Red Norvo Quintet: Live In Australia, 1959 (although surely if anyone has, it's you). It's very sparse, instrumentally, but the vocal is very good.

There is nobody quite like Sinatra. He's like fine wine that just gets better and better.