In an otherwise underwhelming Oscars ceremony, the stand-out moment came from a most unexpected source. Not being a fan of Lady Gaga, I was quite stunned by her performance of a medley from The Sound of Music, in honour of the film’s 50th anniversary.
I have never heard Lady Gaga sing like that before. It was just like listening to er … Julie Andrews. Seeing her warbling away to the title song plus My Favourite Things, Edelweiss and Climb Every Mountain was a mind-blower. I mean, Lady Gaga of all people singing Edelweiss — you’ve got to be kidding!
It was the equivalent of hearing Mick Jagger performing a medley of sacred hymns, or Bob Dylan taking the male vocal lead in Barber of Seville.
Seeing it is the Year of the Goat, I was relieved Lady Gaga resisted the temptation of attempting a rendition of The Lonely Goatherd.
That song involves yodelling, which admittedly might have been pushing things a bit, even for Lady Gaga.
The only thing that spoiled her performance were those hideous tattoos on her arms.
The sounds of ’65
I should point out here that I was also never a fan of The Sound of Music. It was basically music for mums and dads — my parents loved it, which was good enough reason for me not to like it.
The film version came out in 1965, which happened to be a year in which pop music exploded with some of the best sounds ever and The Sound of Music didn’t have a hope amongst us teenagers.
For the curious, among the songs that came out that year were Satisfaction (Rolling Stones), I Got You Babe (Sonny & Cher), California Dreamin’ (Mamas & Papas), My Generation (The Who), Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan), In My Life (Beatles), Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel), California Girls (Beach Boys), Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (Animals) and Mr Tambourine Man (Byrds/Dylan). And that’s just a sample.
Going Gaga in Bangkok
You may recall that when Lady Gaga came to Bangkok in June 2012, she caused bit of a stir by suggesting in a tweet she might buy a fake Rolex while in town.
The very thought!
This prompted cries of indignation from those upstanding members of the local populace who have never, ever bought anything fake in Bangkok and found her comments insulting.
Those with a slightly more realistic view of life in the Big Mango pointed out that in addition to watches, she wouldn’t have to look very hard to also find plenty of fake Lady Gaga CDs.
The show must go on
Another diva in the news last week was Madonna who, dressed in an elaborate matador outfit with a cape, took a nasty tumble backwards down some stairs while performing at the Brit Awards in London. Cynics might argue that Madonna is never shy of grabbing the limelight and it was just a publicity stunt.
But looking at the video, I don’t think so. You would have to be a raving idiot to deliberately fall backwards down steep stairs. And she landed on her back with quite a thump. It looked quite painful, but like a true professional she picked herself up and didn’t miss a beat.
The mishap was put down to a “wardrobe malfunction", and one suspects the wardrobe people and maybe the back-up dancers got quite an earful once they were off-stage. One thing the incident does prove is that, at the age of 56, Madonna is still in good shape.
If that had happened to me I would now be in a Bangkok hospital on life support, or at the very least undergoing a hip replacement. Admittedly the prospect of Crutch being on a stage dressed as a matador is somewhat remote.
Stage fright
I must confess to falling off a stage in front of an audience in Bangkok about 15 years ago. I was a guest at a rugby dinner and was asked to present the trophy for a game played earlier. I was sitting at the VIP table on the stage with the organisers and duly stood up to do the honours. What I didn’t realise was that the stage was only a temporary structure and behind the curtains was nothing but empty space.
I took a step backwards and promptly disappeared with a loud crash, provoking stifled guffaws from the audience who knew they shouldn’t laugh, but just couldn’t help it. Fortunately I wasn’t holding the trophy, so the only thing that suffered a dent was my pride.
The runaway choo-choo
Last week’s item about the Children’s Favourites programme on BBC Radio back in the 1950s-60s stirred considerable memories amongst the more wrinkly readers. One gentleman particularly related to the Three Billy Goats Gruff song.
Childhood visits to his uncle’s creepy house near a swamp (a la Shrek) involved going over a scary humpback bridge, and matters were not helped by an older sister warning him “watch out for the trolls, they will eat you up!”
Another favourite amongst readers was The Runaway Train. The song brought images of an old steam train hurtling down the tracks out of control, whistle frantically blowing. The song ends up, “The runaway train went over the hill/and the last we heard she was going still." It might just have made it to Nakhon Nowhere by now.
Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.com.