Sing Along With Eugene
Aside from the likelihood of nude scenes with Mary Pickford and Oliver Wendell Holmes, what I especially enjoy about “Boardwalk Empire” is the authentic music of the early 1920s. If Miss Pickford and Justice Holmes needed something to set the mood, the songs of the young Jerome Kern would do admirably. Last week’s episode was particularly melodious. In fact, I have become literally monotonous, continually singing “They Didn’t Believe Me.” If you don’t care to hear me in the shower, go to YouTube which offers dozens of versions of the Kern classic.
The earliest rendition is by Warren Harding (of course, the libido-in-chief does make an appearance on Boardwalk Empire). In his case, “They Didn’t Believe Me” was about his congressional testimony on the Teapot Dome Scandal.
For the series’ Lesbian interlewd the musical accompaniment was the aria “I Dreamt That I Dwelt in Marble Halls”. The hit single from the British opera The Bohemian Girl, “Marble Halls” was one of the first songs my mother remembered playing on that sensational new invention, the radio. (Being underage in the 1920s, my mother’s character will not be doing nude scenes on Boardwalk Empire. She might have been available for The Pacific but no one asked her.) Yes, YouTube offers a number of versions of the aria.
Enya makes it sound like a Druid incantation. Of course, she does that to every song. Sometimes, however, her monotony might seem appropriate. The YouTube listings also offered her song “Boadicea”. Well, the only Boadicea I know was a first century British queen who led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Romans. I certainly had to hear Enya’s ballad of that. You might say that I am still waiting. The song had no words; it was just Enya humming. And I can’t say that her dum-de-dums were remotely evocative of ancient Rome or Britain. She just as easily could have entitled the song “Wendell Wilkie.” Dum-de-dum.
Allow me to offer this musical tribute to Boadicea. I may have borrowed the tune from Richard Rodgers. (If Boardwalk Empire lasts another three years, we’ll be hearing his music too.) In any case, here is as much of the song as I dared to compose.
Go Home Roma! We’ll wage war to rid you from our shore. Then for extra fun, we’ll sack London. Scourge and purge all trace of Latin race….
I trust you’re applauding.
“Wendell Wilkie”
Any phrase using that name will ALWAYS be funny.