Day 5: The Reminder
“I miss the way it used to be
So short the sun’s time shining,
but the enchanted nights so long...”
Today’s Songs
The Way It Used to Be
Lex Land, 2018
Seems Like Old Times
John Jacob Loeb & Carmen Lombardo, 1945
So, that is that.
You’re confused, you don’t know exactly what happened, or why.
One moment, things were as good as they ever were.
Now, there is just nothing.
Still, even though the fall-out was rough, you still miss the good days…
Today’s Cocktail:
Greyhound
Reason:
While the bourbon/soda was the go-to drink of my Henry Higgins, this one was mine.
Many many nights were spent in both celebration as well as grief with this cocktail to keep me company.
It’s something like an old friend, but it’s also easy to make, easy to order, and easy to drink.
It’s not entirely unlike ruminating over bittersweet memories - a little sour, but goes down so easy that it’s hard to stop once you start. Old habits die hard.
Recipe:
2 oz vodka (or gin)
4 oz grapefruit juice
another straightforward one: pour your ingredients over ice in a highball or collins glass. To lighten it up, you can add simple syrup, grenadine, and/or soda water. For the true “on-theme” masochistic effect, don’t add anything to it.
In the prohibition era, the greyhound included gin - vodka wasn’t used until after World War II. Whatever you have will work. Garnish with lime, and/or make it a “salty dog” by salting the rim of the glass before filling with ice.
Mocktail variation: just add a little soda water to a glass of grapefruit juice over ice. garnish with a lime wedge, and/or salt the rim.
For your mixing and sipping soundtrack today, let Anita O’Day sing you one of my favorite-ever torch-songs…
…then let Sarah Vaughan serenade you with this very theme-appropriate, super hip Duke Ellington tune…
As Side B of the album begins, we’re just on the verge of starting to heal.
After the bitterness of a disagreement has settled, it usually transforms into a melancholy, a nostalgia for how things once were…
1
The Way It Used to Be
I miss the way,
I miss the way it used to be
So short the sun’s time shining,
but the enchanted nights so long.
How we’d play,
how we’d play like it was meant to be
Almost always falling into key
to make a lovely song
O, what magic we might have made,
had we never strayed
Such sweet sounds that still ring out,
I can’t keep them at bay
What a thing-
I must say it truly was a sight.
How could what once was so right,
go so wrong?
Oh, but still I love to say
what fun we had way back in the day!
Back when it was
the way it used to be.
Still I love to say:
what fun we had way back in the day!
Way back when, not now, but then,
dear old friend, could we try again?
Make it the way it used to be?
SONG #1
Like yesterday’s What a Shame was written in the spirit of a certain mood of song common to the repertoire of the era, The Way It Used to Be was similarly penned in imitation of a type of song that I love - what lyrically could be a ballad that is instead performed as a fun upbeat number.
Some that come to mind in this category are Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Just One of Those Things, or I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.
It can’t be helped 🤣we’re just gonna roll with ALL Nat King Cole versions of these songs today:
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore:
Just One of Those Things:
Although Nat King Cole is probably most famous in his role as a silken-voiced Crooner, his primary occupation was as bandleader and pianist for his early career, and only began to sing later. Here’s a really neat instrumental version showing him in his true element.
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter:
Further because I can’t help myself, here are some more versions of I’m Gonna Sit Right Down…
The Boswell Sisters:
possibly my favorite rendition of this song, from 1936
Bing Crosby:
Paul McCartney:
featuring Diana Krall on piano!
…me:
the original Fats Waller recording:
I hear this phenomenon talked about by some songwriters sometimes, that, occasionally, it almost feels like a song gets “downloaded.” The Way It Used to Be felt like one of those for me.
Back in 2018, I was stuck in traffic one day, and as I often do, I started improvising on some melodic idea. By the time I had been in traffic for a while, I had basically all the lyrics complete, so I sang it to my phone to review later.
By the time I got home, it was still stuck in my head, so I figured I’d better set it on paper immediately. It took mere minutes to suss out the chords, and then I had this:
2
Seems Like Old Times
Seems like old times,
having you to walk with.
Seems like old times,
having you to talk with,
And it’s still a thrill
just to have my arms around you,
still the thrill that it was
the day I found you.
Seems like old times,
dinner dates and flowers.
Just like old times,
staying up for hours.
Making dreams come true,
doing things we used to do,
seems like old times
being here with you.
SONG #2
Seems Like Old Times is a pop song from 1945 originally recorded by Guy Lombardo, with other hit versions to follow by Vaughn Monroe and Kate Smith.
As one of many, I’m sure - my introduction to this song was the tender and perfect placement of this song in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977), where it is sung at the end of the film by Diane Keaton.
My former mentor and I both loved this song, and while we were friendly, had talked many times about “how we ought to do that one,” but never got around to it before everything fell apart.
After some years of not talking, my former mentor and I had a gig together around Christmastime. During rehearsals we were cordial enough, but it still seemed awkward and tense to me, so I kept my space.
The first night of the performance, he handed me the sheet music for this song as a Christmas present.
Here’s another cool version I found from 1959, a kinda weird mashup stylistically of 50s teenage rock and roll mixed with the lush string arrangements of the adult contemporary music of the era:
And since we had Anita open it up, here’s another perfect song for today’s theme to close us out…