Monday 4/29/24
I've been listening to Judy Garland outtakes. She's the best. Just so much talent. Which is one thing. But she obviously worked her ass off to develop it.
Two of these outtakes were from the session for "Over the Rainbow." She gets about forty seconds into it, and coughs, aborting the take. The producer is like, "Do it faster." There's virtually no pause at all between this take and the next, and what she sings--it's a complete take this time--is jaw-dropping. Honestly, you hear this and you think, "I've never heard anyone sing better than this."
The first bridge of that song is so hard to sing. If you look at those words on the page, they don't really scan. It's a mouthful that the singer has to find a way to negotiate and have it all come out smoothly, even gently, with this building lilt. It's tough to make a lilt build.
Yes, you're singing the lyric, without scatting or anything, but there's a real amount of improvisation involved in this bridge, when you get down to it. The singer has to make certain choices. Every one that Garland makes is impeccable.
She gets to the end of the song, and the producer says words to the effect--again, with no pause--that she should do it again. Oh. Just do that again. And she's like, sure, no problem.
I'm actually looking for two key Judy Garland sets and am going to see if my friend Howard can help me find them.
The bridge I was talking about starts at :38. Damn that's beautiful.