“The Carioca” is a 1933 popular song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn, as well as being the name of the dance, it was choreographed for the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio. The word “Carioca” refers to inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro. The number was sung in […]
River Flows in You
Since it was featured in the Twilight saga, ‘River Flows in You’ has morphed into the ‘Clair de lune’ of the 21st century. Yiruma, whose real name is Lee Ru-ma, is a South Korean-British composer and pianist. Born in 1978, he started playing piano at the age of five, and moved to London when he […]
Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong “Spike” Jones was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early […]
“Belle Nuit, ô Nuit D’Amour”
“Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” (“Beautiful Night, Oh Night of Love” often referred to as the “Barcarolle“) is a piece from The Tales of Hoffmann (1881), Jacques Offenbach’s final opera. A duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, it is considered the most famous barcarolle ever written and described in the Grove Book of Operas as “one […]
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is a song written by American composer Cole Porter in 1936. It was introduced that year in the Eleanor Powell musical film Born to Dance in which it was performed by Virginia Bruce. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year but lost out […]
To Zanarkland
“To Zanarkand” is the main theme of Final Fantasy X, composed and arranged by Nobuo Uematsu who got the idea of the tune for the opening theme from a flautist he consulted for help. He requested the tune to be used in Final Fantasy X and coaxed the team in using it for certain event […]
“I Wanna Be Loved by You”
“I Wanna Be Loved by You” is a song written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, for the 1928 musical Good Boy. It was first performed by Helen Kane in September 1928, who was the inspiration behind the cartoon Betty Boop. Kane who became known as the ‘Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl’ because […]
Ron Goodwin
Ron Goodwin was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. Goodwin was born in Plymouth and learned to play the piano by the age of five and whilst at grammar school, he learnt to play the trumpet and performed regularly in the school band. In 1943, after a brief spell as an […]
Autumn Leaves
“Autumn Leaves” is a popular song based on a French song “Les Feuilles mortes” (“The Dead Leaves”) composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945. The original lyrics were written by Jacques Prevert in French, and the English lyrics were by Johnny Mercer. “Autumn Leaves” has become a jazz standard and it is one of the most […]
William Orbit
William Mark Wainwright known professionally as William Orbit, is an English musician and record producer. In 1980, Orbit teamed up with electronic musician Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert to form the electronic/synth group Torch Song. They initially self-released recordings in an audio cassette series, generated from their home-built studio in a squatted anarchist centre, the […]