It seems to me I've Heard That Song Before
It's from an old familiar score
I know it well, that melody...
Mark's centenary tributes to Dorothy Fields, lyricist of "The Way You Look Tonight", "Sunny Side Of The Street" and "Hey, Big Spender!", and Jule Styne, composer of "Time After Time", "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", have been brought together in one handsome hardback book - with a bonus finale on Cole Porter's great song and Frank Sinatra's classic recording, "I've Got You Under My Skin". It's a terrific triple bill in one lavishly illustrated volume, and now you can make it even more fun with two terrific CDs full of memorable performances of the songs Mark's writing about.
When you order our American Songbook Singalong special, you'll get Mark's book plus the albums I've Heard That Song Before and An Evening With Dorothy Fields. I've Heard That Song Before is a centenary salute to Jule Styne from London's ASV Records, specialists in the digital restoration of classic pop. This collection brings together three decades of Styne songs from Ukulele Ike doing "Sunday" in the 1920s to Sinatra's hit recording of the Oscar-winning "Three Coins In The Fountain" 30 years later. You'll hear "Time After Time", "It's Magic", "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", standards from Broadway and Hollywood, big pop hits full of wartime memories - and Styne's Christmas classic, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", in its original Number One recording by Vaughn Monroe. Sinatra, Crosby, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Glenn Miller, Doris Day, Les Paul, Dinah Shore and Gene Krupa are among the many top artists performing highlights from the first half of this phenomenally successful songwriting career.
As for our second CD, An Evening With Dorothy Fields, on the DRG label, was recorded live in the 1970s and features Miss Fields performing highlights from 40 years of hit songs with a unique group of performers including composer Cy Coleman. She also lets you in on the stories behind standards like "Sunny Side Of The Street", "I'm In The Mood For Love", "Pick Yourself Up", "Hey, Big Spender" and more. You can find excerpts from Mark's discussion of Dorothy Fields' work on Australia's Radio National here.
One book, two CDS: The first volume in a series on popular music, Mark Steyn's American Songbook is in response to the enormous demands we've had to memorialize Mark's writing on popular music between hard covers, while the albums beautifully illustrate his observations on the songs. The book can be personally autographed to you or your loved one - and, if you previously bought either our Dorothy Fields or Jule Styne booklets, we'll give you five bucks off the purchase price (or ten bucks if you bought both of them). Simply put a note to that effect when you place your credit card order.
