The Late Night Music Splurge

Just had six of the “Super 8” over for dinner, wine, and good conversation, the kind of get-togethers we used to have all summer long last year (to find out who the Super 8 are, you will have to read another blog entry).

And now that I’ve said good-bye to the last of them, I am at my computer doing my wind-down dance. You know, the one where you check all six of your existing email accounts, your multiple Evites for any new responses, your MySpace account, and your calendar…before you open your iTunes to see what late night music you would splurge and download with a simple click or two because you’re too tired to realize that---$30 later---you might possibly have downloaded 10 versions of an old Jazz standard that you vaguely remembered hearing in the background in some commercial on the television that has been on the whole time for noise’s sake while you do your wind-down dance.

Okay, perhaps not everyone has the same routine as I do. And I definitely don’t download music every night. But around 1 a.m., when I am about to turn in for the evening, that has become the time when I am my most ravenous and least discriminatory at downloading music.

By the way, let’s set the record straight: I no longer mooch music from obscure German sites for free; I am legitimate now and I pay. I wasn’t scared into doing this; just thought I’d try and be a citizen at something.

But this is where I am right now. I happened to hear “What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life” (by Michel Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman), and I’ve since downloaded multiple versions of it by Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Mathis, etc. With all due respect to the song, of course. It’s beautiful and heartfelt. The lyrics are classic, very jazzy. The music is sad, almost bluesy. But 10-some-odd versions of it? Granted, since starting this blog, I’ve also downloaded JT’s new song about bringing “sexy” back, a fun and catchy tune charged with quite a different kind of energy….

So, back to my jazz standard. For my part, I will force myself to listen to these multiple versions nonstop for the next week or so in my car on my way in to work, when I can while at work, and on my way home from work. At least then will I feel partly justified for having downloaded these 12 or so versions.

Lyrics below.

What are you doing the rest of your life?
Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman

What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and South and East and West of your life
I have only one request of your life
That you spend it all with me

All the seasons and the times of your days
All the nickels and the dimes of your days
Let the reasons and the rhymes of your days
All begin and end with me

I want to see your face in every kind of light
In the fields of dawn and the forests of the night
And when you stand before the candles on a cake
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make

Those tomorrows waiting deep in your eyes
In the world of love that you keep in your eyes
I'll awaken what's asleep in your eyes
It may take a kiss or two

Through all of my life
Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall of my life
All I ever will recall of my life
Is all of my life with you