Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Words and Music

I’m watching the contestants perform on American Idol and I’m wondering, whatever happened to the melody and lyrics of a song.

What I’m hearing is a lot of yay yay yay’s and over-singing of lyrics plus a lot of Mick Jagger-like twitching and storming around the stage. And I’m thinking that there was a time when the melody and words of a song were not only sufficient, but beautiful… Like Stardust….. “In the still of the night, once again I hold you tight…” written by Hoagy Carmichael 82 years ago and remains to this day as one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. I’m thinking that no song popular today will ever match its longevity or that of many other songs of the big band era.

Sentimental Journey…..who can forget Doris Day’s lovely rendition of this oldie that has lasted through the years and is a favorite in sing-a-longs or gatherings around the piano when family or friends get together. Doris was what was called a “girl singer” in the day of the big bands.

At that time, girl soloists sat on a chair beside the orchestra and waited for their cue to walk to the microphone and sing their solo. Their vocals were what won audiences over and many times made the big bands even more popular. Dressed in lovely evening dresses, they sang without the frenetic gestures that singers of today think is necessary to accompany a song. Nor were they into the grunge look that is so common in today’s culture.

Another girl singer of that period was Rosemary Clooney (Hey There, Hello Young Lovers, Come on A My House, Tenderly, the list is endless). She was often spoken of in the same breath with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, a pretty good company to be in.

Rosemary was born in Maysville, Ky. and went on to become one of the country’s top vocalists during her long career. In 1995 she won the ASCAP Pied Piper award. The inscription on the award sums up her career with — “Rosemary Clooney: An American treasure and one of the best friends a song ever had.” Kentuckians should be proud of Ms. Clooney and the way she personified what a good vocalist should sound like.

I have 20/20 hindsight when it comes to music of the forties and fifties. I can still remember the standards of that era, plus the vocalists and orchestra’s that made them popular. But I have trouble recalling even one song performed on American Idol only four days ago. Sorry, but they all sounded the same to me.

So, like a lemming, I will go along with the popular mania and tune in to Idol again next week. Maybe they’ll sing something from a Barry Manilow album that I can hum along with.

Peach slices bake in a sour cream custard in this old-fashioned crumb-topped pie.

Old-Fashioned Peach Cream Pie

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sliced peaches

1 unbaked pie crust

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Whisk together the 3/4 cup sugar, the 2 tablespoons flour, and salt. Beat in the sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the sliced peaches. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking until the filling is set, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven.

Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Whisk together the 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix in the butter with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the pie.

Return the pie to the preheated oven and bake until topping is golden, about 10 minutes. Let pie cool slightly before slicing.