This post is dedicated to:
-Rick, for introducing me to the dulcet tones of Elva Miller.
-Becky and Suzy, who in addition to embracing Mrs. Miller, introduced me to Tom and Cathy (not included in this musical selection).
-Chad and Jean who proved their love of true outsider music by accompanying Becky and me to a coffee shop concert of Tom and Cathy's.
-Robin who burned me a copy of the worst country music demo I've ever heard.
Here, for your listening pleasure is the only YouTube footage I could find of the incomparable Mrs. Elva Miller:
If you made it through any of that, please believe me when I tell you that that is one of her better performances.
As I was looking for the Elva video, I found out about this singer: Florence Foster Jenkins. She was a socialite from the early 20th Century who borrowed money from daddy to take singing lessons. When she later inherited all of daddy's money, she embarked on her singing career in earnest, recorded several classical arias, and even gave a concert at Carnegie Hall - too bad she was tone deaf, and had no sense of rhythm, and couldn't sustain a note long enough to make it a note. This YouTube video doesn't have live footage of her, but shows her picture as she massacres Der Hölle Rache from Die Zauberflöte by Mozart:
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2 comments:
I think my left eye just exploded. That's the worst voice I've heard since this morning on my drive to work. I don't have a stereo (that works).
Maybe the widespread use of recording technology is a good thing. If that woman had access to the recorded versions of herself she may have realized how bad she sounded.
And then, maybe not.
I'm eager to bring our computer to a cafe' where i can listen without interruption to the beautiful oscillations of Elva - this Florence gal seems like a beaut too. Thanks for the brief preview over the phone - even Miri was laughing.
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