The Very Thought of You
Posted in Popular Song on Jan 12th, 2009 2 Comments »
This is Ray Noble’s classic, and deceptively simple, arrangement of his own tune, recorded on 21 April 1934. The melody is played three times. First played successively by the piano, answered by strings, then by the saxophone, answered by the piano, then muted horns followed by the saxophone once more. The second time it is sung - perfectly - by Al Bowlly. In the thirties he was the nearest to equal Bing Crosby in singing ballads, and in some songs, like this one, was without equal. He sings the song straight, but he gives slight additional emphasis to some words ‘thought’, ‘very’, and is just shy of the beat, which adds to the aching quality of the vocal. The third time it is played by the whole band, a heart tugging mini crescendo, followed by a little violin interlude at the end, vocal again for the last four bars, over piano, and out.
It is incomparable.
