Music Monday 08 - Old Man Music

For years I told my youth pastor that he was old. I affectionately called him old man and I still do to this day. However, recently I began having the unnerving experience of our high school students calling me old. When I was calling my youth pastor old he was 40; he was an old man. I’m not even 30 yet so I can’t be an old man, can I? Looking at some of my recent musical purchases, I just might be.

The last two albums I purchased were Your Songs by Harry Connick, Jr. and Crazy Love by Michael Bublé. Look at all these crazy kids nowadays with their Lady GaGas and their Miley Cyruses and their Black Eyed Peas and here I am, listening to old-fashioned crooners singing standards like “Cry Me a River,” “Mona Lisa,” and “Some Enchanted Evening.” Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong era, musically speaking. I’d never want to give up the Internet, HD TV and Twitter, but I wouldn’t mind experiencing the music of a different time. I would have loved to get dressed up in a suit and go to a show in Vegas with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. I also would have loved to sit in a smoky club and listen to Chet Baker or Louis Armstrong blow on their trumpets and play some jazz.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of modern music. It’s amazing to hear what artists can do these days with electronic production and digital effects. Explosions in the Sky is an amazing band and all they play is electronic, instrumental music. And on Muse’s latest album, they combine their brand of rock with original classical compositions. I like new music, but there is something comfortable about picking up a CD of standards and immediately knowing most of the songs. The key for artists like Frank, Dean, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Bublé is in the arrangements, trying to come up with an arrangement that makes an old song sound fresh and new. I enjoy the experience of hearing a new arrangement; I enjoy hearing a song I know by heart, but in a brand new way. It’s not often that an old song affords a new listening experience, but that’s exactly what happens when talented singers tackle classic standards.

I’m not an old man, regardless of what my musical tastes say about me. When it comes down to it, some things aren’t old, they’re just classic. No one would say that a fully restored 1966 Mustang is old; it’s a classic. The same can be said for classic standards, whether they’re played with a subdued jazz trio or the fullness of a big band. Long after “Poker Face” has been forgotten, people will still be coming up with new arrangements for songs like “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “I’ve Got the World on a String.” And if finding comfort in that reality makes me old, then I’d better head to Denny’s to get my senior discount.

What standard and whose arrangement is your favorite?