They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

I can't decide if this song is xenophobic, banana republic ignorant, or just plain fun.  I expect I would have to sing it loudly throughout Sao Paulo to gauge the reception among those who actually count.  But for most of the town trustee forum, whenever the candidates said something blatantly self-evident ("the comp plan must involve public input" or "Estes needs a year-round economy" or "the police chief is against pot shops"), I found myself humming this song.  The Andrews Sisters covered it, Rosemary Clooney, various big bands, even the Muppets, but sorry to be unimaginative or misogynistic (or both), but nobody did it better than Ol' Blue Eyes.  I don't know if Frankie's Jersey accent flavors the word "percolator" added in a later lyric, or if this was just an orchestra leader approved affect, but there was a time when his phrasing was preternaturally perfect, not pay in advance lazy.  This is the original from 1946.  They are less tinny orchestrations, but none so authentic:

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Hostiles

Johanna writes

Okay so I'll say it