E.J.F

I'm watching A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim for the thousandth time, and I noticed something (surprised it took me this long). When Ella and Frank are singing their rendition of "Stompin' at the Savoy" they add these lyrics which start right here:

Frank: "And my eyes?"

Ella: "I love the way they shine."

Frank: "You rest, I'll grab another line."

Ella: "That's fine, that's fine."

A few things...

These lyrics are not in the actual song. Further, Ella is known to make up lyrics to established songs on the spot whenever she forgets the real ones.

It is clear that Frank was reading either cue cards or a teleprompter during this one, because he looks offstage while saying, "You rest, I'll grab another line." Ella, knowing the lyrics (of course, since she was the queen of the Savoy), gives him a look and responds in tune with, "That's fine, that's fine."

Why would he adlib, "And my eyes?" Well, we all know he is known as "Ol' Blue Eyes," but right here it feels different. It could be argued that "And my eyes?" was on the offstage cue cards, because Frank is looking towards the left right before he turns to her and says that. Could they have planned to add that in the rehearsals? I'm not sure if Sinatra looked at cue cards frequently or not (particularly for song lyrics). We know that Ella's sight was so poor by then that she literally memorized everything so she wouldn't have to read any cue cards. Her, "I love the way they shine" seems like something she only said in response to his statement because, again, it's not in the song lyrics. Furthermore, her "That's fine, that's fine" seemed like a specific, off the top response to Frank's previous statement of, "You rest. I'll grab another line."

The actual lyrics are quite romantic. They skipped several of the romantic lines that make up the song, and I'm certain this was because of the racial dynamics of the time. However, Frank adding in "And my eyes" seems flirty to me. As does her response of, "I love the way they shine." WHY WOULD YOU LOVE THE WAY THEY SHINE, ELLA? WHY? I know why, lol.

No sound and terrible quality, but !!!

"Fond as one might be of Ella and Frank, one eventually had to suggest to Monty that there were other singers. “Who?” he asked with beauteous innocence. The first few names I mentioned brought expressions of pain to his black brow. He was deeply disappointed that I could be so mistaken, so taken in by performers who weren’t artists, who were charlatans, dishonest. Irritated by that, I went straight to The Lady. “Billie Holiday,” I said. At which point, Monty raised a sigh so piteous and profound that there seemed no question but that it would shatter him, end his being. “Oh! Oh! Oh! I can’t listen to her. How can you listen to her?”

___

Nothing against Billie Holiday, but I feel just like Montgomery Clift. Who else is there to listen to? I bought June Christy's Something Cool a few weeks ago, and while it's a good album, it's not Ella. And the only counterpoint to Ella is Frank for the simple fact that he is so masculine. I could spend the rest of my life listening only to Ella and Frank, and to be clear, listening to Ella 90% of the time and listening to Frank for the other 10%. It's just nice that someone else, even if they're dead, gets me.