More Against the Days

[David Casseres]

Again iTunes is a useful research tool.  It lists many recordings of
"Frenesí," most of which are this song.  Most are straight swing
renditions, like the very nice one by Anita O'Day (the girl with no
uvula!) and the instrumentals by Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, etc.  But
then you find the versions by Chet Baker, and Gerry Mulligan, and
Benny Carter with Oscar Peterson; the tune has legs as a jazz
standard.

On 10/19/06, Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> On Oct 19, 2006, at 4:32 PM, Chris Broderick wrote:
>
> > I always thought that Pynchon was referring to the Artie Shaw
> > version, which was one of his bigger hits (not as big as Begin the
> > Beguine, but certainly very popular).  I wouldn't call it treacly,
> > but it's pretty standard big band swing stuff from Shaw.
>
> It was recorded when he was using that huge string section. Sounded
> impressive enough but he must not have had too much confidence in the
> tune itself because,  unlike say with Stardust and Begin the
> Beguine,  he only put one version of it on his 5-CD Self Portrait
> release.
>
> >
> > It was adapted from a Spanish tune by Alberto Dominguez with new
> > English lyrics (by Ray Charles [I don't think it's the same one]
> > and S.K. Russell).  Here's the lyrics to it, and to the original tune.
>
> Shaw would have nothing to do with these lyrics--disliked vocalists
> anyway.
>
> With some notable exceptions
>
>
> >
> > http://ntl.matrix.com.br/pfilho/html/lyrics/f/frenesi.txt
> >
> > As for theories, I keep fixating on the line in the English version:
> > "I knew that frenesí meant "Please love me""
> >
> > The literal translation of frenesi is "frenzy", or "madness".  Hub
> > & Sasha sure burdened their daughter with one hell of a name...
> >
> > -Chris
> >
> > Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:13:10 -0400 (EDT)
> > From: kelber at mindspring.com
> > Subject: Re: Re: More Against the Days
> > Anyone ever listened to the song Frenesi?  Or have any theories as
> > to why Pynchon used the song to name his VL character?  I've only
> > found an Edie Gorme rendition.  I think Artie Shaw has an
> > instrumental version.  Pretty treacly stuff.
> > Laura
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>