Back in the day, American popular songs often began with a prologue. Two of my favorite songs that employ that convention were both written in the 1920's, "If You Want a Rainbow (You Must Have the Rain)" and "What'll I Do". Here are two clips; first, Annette Hanshaw performs "Rainbow", which was released, of all things, on the "Diva" label. I first heard her music only recently, after I watched Nina Paley's multicultural phantasmagoria, Sita Sings the Blues, where her music provides the soundtrack to a vivid reinterpretation of the Ramayana. Hanshaw was only in her 30's when she performed a disappearing act & quit show business. The story goes that she was just tired of it. Her song not only has a prologue--it also ends with her trademark signature "That's All". And that's just what she said to her singing career.
The second clip is Harry Nilsson, from his 70's retro album of pop standards, performing Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do". Berlin wrote everything from "White Christmas" to "God Bless America", but of all his hundreds of songs, this is my favorite. Anyone hearing this song can probably guess that its writer must have been well-acquainted with heartbreak. Irving Berlin certainly was. His first wife died from an illness she contracted on their honeymoon. (His second marriage would last 63 years.)
A cartoonist is informed, via email, that her marriage is over--and, after finding "solace in the sweet-voiced jazz stylings of Annette Hanshaw and the Ramayana" goes on to create, on her computer, a film that rivals the very best in animation. As the LA Weekly put it, "Pixar has nothing on Nina Paley's India-influenced animated musical for adults", and this homemade film is now #42 on IMDb's list of the "50 Best Musicals of All Time". SitaSings the Blues has been available for online free viewing for awhile. (It can be found on here on Roger Ebert's website. On Twitter today, he called this film "a legend of indie filmmaking.) As of today, it has a perfect score of 100% at Rotten Tomatoes. Sita Sings the Blues has to be one of the most culturally diverse works I've ever come across; it successfully mixes together 1920's jazz, the complicated love story between Sita and Rama from India's Ramayana, and a starring character who is a new incarnation of Betty Boop--lip-syncing to Annette Hanshaw's bluesy vocals. If nothing else, Sita displays the universality of pain, loss and redemption.
