RIP - Patti Page

[mandolinlee]

Heard on the morning news of the passing of Patti Page. She made "The Tennessee Waltz" popular. She performed for 71 years.

"Tennessee Waltz" is one of my favorites to play on mandolin.

Lee

[almeriastrings]

Yes... and believe it or not, "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" was the very first record I ever owned....

[journeybear]

Sad to hear this. She was a major star in her day, and had one of the longest careers in popular music history. On a lighter note, tonight is the season debut of my cajun-country-bluegrass band, and I will make sure we do "The Tennessee Waltz" in her honor.

[Bill Baldridge]

A girl from my home town that made it big. R.I.P.

[Mike Romkey]

Rip.

[Mandolin Mick]

How much is that doggy in the window? ...

[houseworker]

[barney 59]

----and that's all there is---RIP Patti Page

[Jim Ferguson]

Man 'o man........what a voice! RIP......

[Jim Ferguson]

Instrumental of Tennessee Waltz on a sweet Loar with Chris Thile.....would love to have heard Patti Page sing with Thile playing this Loar....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uf9A5RF96kg

[Steve Davis]

How much is that doggy in the window? ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AkLE4X-bbU

[Bernie Daniel]

Sad. I saw Patti Page (the Sing'n Rage) I think it was about 1949 or 50 in Fargo, ND. I think my parents were her biggest fans -- she sang at a show produced by WDAY the local NBC radio station -- we got to meet her afterward because my aunt -- mom's little sister -- had her own show on that same radio station (she was also a singer). I was pretty young but still remember it well -- she was an awesome performer and the nicest person you'd even want to meet. RIP.

[journeybear]

Managed to work "Tennessee Waltz" into the show tonight. After a couple slow, sad country songs - no better way to bring the house all the way down. It came out pretty well, if keyed a bit low - more Tennessee Ernie Ford than Patti Page - and now it looks like I'm stuck with it, added to my repertoire. Fine with it, actually - it's a true classic, just like Ms Page. She will live on.

[Mandolin Mick]

I really hate to say this ... but, when you listen to Patti Page and Andy Williams, who we've recently lost, you realize what good music is and what a loss their talent really is. I've been adding some of their tunes to my repetoire on mandolin and guitar. The melodys are so strong and the chord progressions so unique that they're instantly recognizable. So sad that most of today's so-called "music" is exactly the opposite.

[journeybear]

There is indeed truth in what you say. But we should all keep in mind that the history of popular music (at least in the 20th century) may be viewed as a succession of styles supplanting the previously popular one. It's a simplistic and not 100% accurate theory, but it has been proposed many times with much evidence. Sometimes the next step was so different from the previous one it was called a revolution. Even though I have no desire to disparage the recently deceased, the treacly trifles that were so prevalent in the early 1950s, performed by the very people you mention and many others of similar ilk, were exactly what the rockabilly cats were rebelling against. As Jerry Lee Lewis said, "Don't give me none of that 'How High The Moon' spo-dee-o!" The record companies countered with teen idols, sort of watered-down versions of Elvis, and it is from this cultural nadir that The Beatles sprang, and all that followed.

Naturally, the record companies again tried to co-opt this movement, promoting cutesie-poo acts like Herman's Hermits and even fabricating one of the biggest acts of the era, The Monkees. That model proved so successful that it has been replicated again and again. I don't think we'll ever get away from stuff like that, as it is the triumph of canny marketing schemes over anything resembling talent. Since the bottom line is the deciding factor where sales and airplay are concerned, we are bound to be stuck with NKOTB, BSB, Spice Girls, and their current progeny, One Direction, Justin Bieber, the now-nearly-forgotten Jonas Brothers, and who knows what else is out there. (Some might lump Taylor Swift in with them, but she not only used her own smart marketing skills to work the system and start and promote her career, she actually is a pretty good writer - and believe it or not, had to shop around before getting signed.) The market for these acts seems to be teenage and pre-teen girls, with spending money and easily manipulated minds (not sure what similarly aged boys spend their entertainment money on - video games?) - at least that is what I, with my cynical, jaded viewpoint, perceive to be the case. There is an endless supply of these; they just keep making more. And the industry finds ways to provide more product for them to buy. The numbers involved are staggering, and command the attention of the majority of those in the industry and also those who want in, so they can get their own piece of the pie. This does lead to other styles and genres being marginalized, and people with tastes not satisfied by such drivel left to wander aimlesly through the desert. Fortunately, there are alternative media choices, which enable finding worthwhile music to enjoy, but if you want the ease of turning on the radio while driving in your car ... good luck! You are bound to have your ears assulted by some kid crying "Baby, baby - Oh!" for a long, long time, if not forever. The odds are in their favor.

Since I am most attracted to songs with solid musical and lyrical content, songs that are the product of well-considered effort on the part of their creators to make something meaningful with their music, I find it pretty scary to think there was a time when "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" could be written, recorded, promoted, and played, so much so that it become the monster hit it was. That was the style back then, and it was the triumph of form over content, of melody over lyrics; while songs like that are catchy, memorable, and hummable, they are really mind-numbing. Thank goodness and the rockabilly cats times have changed. As much as I myself like to hearken back to a day when the music one happened to hear was worth listening to, those days aren't my target dates, and artists like those aren't what I would seek out. I will gladly take "Tennessee Waltz" over "Doggie" every chance I am given the choice, and when I remember Patti Page, that's what I remember. I will agree with you about this, though: It is awfully nice to listen to someone who has a pleasant voice, who can really sing, without any technological trickery. That is something Patti and Andy had, in spades, over so much of what is being produced now. And I am looking forward to the next revolution. I believe it is overdue.

[Mandolin Mick]

Steve,
What you said at the end is what I was getting at. But, I agree with most of what you said.

[journeybear]

Yes, I did take a rather roundabout route to end up at about the same place. That's how I roll, sometimes ...

I admit to being a product of my times, regardless of my druthers, and am grateful I caught just the tail end of the vapidity I railed against. And so glad to come of age during the mid-60s, very heady times for music. I don't really long for a return to those times, nor advocate living in the past, but I would like to see more of that sort of innovation, attentiveness, and aspiration to something meaningful in song creaztion and production, incorporated into whatever is current. I tune in to musical performances on talks shows and such trying to keep up-to-date and hoping to find someone doing the kind of music I like. Every now and then I am pleasantly surprised. Most of the time I find myself sifting through variations on mediocre, in which this or that little aspect sparks my interest. I haven't been really knocked out by very much I've encountered this way in a while. Somehow Brandi Carlile springs to mind, as her song "The Story" and the album of the same name moved me unexpectedly. But that was 2007, for crying out loud! I admit to liking Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, though I'm not really sure why. It's really been the more obscure artists that pique my interest: Amy Rigby, East River String Band, Sara Hickman, even Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams, who have slipped into obscurity to some extent. I just took a spin through the last half year of TV appearances, and didn't see much to inspire me. I can't recall offhand the last CD I bought. (I could check my eBay purchases, but that would lessen that statement's dramatic impact. ) It is grim out there.