Jeremy Irons Sings Noel Coward
Oct. 18th, 2010 02:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darthfarSo I'll come clean and confess it: I'm a fan of Noel Coward's songs. Have been since I caught Mad Dogs and Englishmen at the end of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (which, incidentally, was the only part of the film that I found interesting at all); anyone visiting me during study hour in college would've heard my Legends of the 20th Century 01: Noel Coward CD playing over and over and over ad nauseam. (Unless of course it was the Pet Shop Boys -- which gives you a pretty good idea of the sort of stuff I listen to). It's almost impossible to get sick of Coward's wit - it's almost like PG Wodehouse set to music - and the songs still make me snicker in spite of the fact that I've just about worn a hole in the CD.
A few years ago I caught a rerun of the 1999 BBC Proms featuring Jeremy Irons - singing Noel Coward songs. I've just found them again, and thought I'd share the videos because Jeremy Irons, while obviously not camp, has a coarser, more nasal timbre to his voice, and has trouble with the high notes, nevertheless manages to more than do Coward justice in his own rough(er) way:
The arrangement for Mad Dogs and Englishmen is hilarious, and sent me into an apoplectic fit of laughter at one point. You'll know it when you hear it.
While the songs Irons picked are among my top Coward favourites, I can't help but wish that 20th Century Blues could've been replaced by The Stately Homes of England... but that would've made it one comic song too many. I would've killed to hear Jeremy Irons sing it, though.
The build-up of frustration and hostility! That last verse!!! It wasn't in my CD; god, I wish it was. (Damn the public sensibilities of the time). The song was awesome enough with Noel Coward singing it, but Jeremy Iron's inflections and body language are *gold*.
A few years ago I caught a rerun of the 1999 BBC Proms featuring Jeremy Irons - singing Noel Coward songs. I've just found them again, and thought I'd share the videos because Jeremy Irons, while obviously not camp, has a coarser, more nasal timbre to his voice, and has trouble with the high notes, nevertheless manages to more than do Coward justice in his own rough(er) way:
The arrangement for Mad Dogs and Englishmen is hilarious, and sent me into an apoplectic fit of laughter at one point. You'll know it when you hear it.
While the songs Irons picked are among my top Coward favourites, I can't help but wish that 20th Century Blues could've been replaced by The Stately Homes of England... but that would've made it one comic song too many. I would've killed to hear Jeremy Irons sing it, though.
The build-up of frustration and hostility! That last verse!!! It wasn't in my CD; god, I wish it was. (Damn the public sensibilities of the time). The song was awesome enough with Noel Coward singing it, but Jeremy Iron's inflections and body language are *gold*.
