Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin
Marcya Daneille performs 'My Funny Valentine'
Clip: Special | 6m 41sVideo has Closed Captions
Marcya performs 'My Funny Valentine,' a jazz standard.
Marcya performs 'My Funny Valentine,' a jazz standard. The song was first performed as a show tune in 1937, and performed and recorded by hundreds of musicians since then. The message of the song has to do with appreciating someone as they are.
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Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Re/Sound: Songs from Wisconsin is provided by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Focus Fund for Education, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin
Marcya Daneille performs 'My Funny Valentine'
Clip: Special | 6m 41sVideo has Closed Captions
Marcya performs 'My Funny Valentine,' a jazz standard. The song was first performed as a show tune in 1937, and performed and recorded by hundreds of musicians since then. The message of the song has to do with appreciating someone as they are.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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["My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers and Hart] - Marcya Daneille: I selected "My Funny Valentine," which is one of the most famous, I think, and easily recognized jazz standards.
It is from a show.
It's from a show, I believe, that mounted maybe in late '20s, early '30s called Babes in Arms.
In this performance of "My Funny Valentine," we have just me and a piano.
What I like about working in that format is also kind of one of the things that scares me a bit as a performer, which is that it's bare bones.
That's the beauty and the fear of performing a jazz ballad like "My Funny Valentine."
It really gives the pianist an opportunity to stretch and create.
I never know from one performance to the next what my introduction is going to be.
If you listen to the lyrics of the song, it sounds like, initially like, a lover is being thwarted or, you know, criticized for their appearance.
But it's a little deeper than that.
It's really this character saying, "In spite of the fact "that you may not be the most attractive person, you know, I have this undying love for you."
It doesn't matter what you look like.
You can still... Everyone is still worthy of love.
You know, what's a better message than that?
[gentle piano notes] ♪ My funny valentine ♪ ♪ Sweet, comic valentine ♪ ♪ You make me smile in my heart ♪ ♪ Your looks are laughable ♪ ♪ Unphotographable ♪ ♪ Yet you're my favorite work of art ♪ ♪ Is your figure less than Greek ♪ ♪ Is your mouth a little bit weak ♪ ♪ When you open it to speak ♪ ♪ Are you smart ♪ ♪ But don't change a hair for me ♪ ♪ Not if you care for me ♪ ♪ Stay, little valentine, stay ♪ ♪ Each day is Valentine's Day ♪ [gentle piano music] ♪ Is your figure less than Greek ♪ ♪ Is your mouth a little bit weak ♪ ♪ When you open it to speak ♪ ♪ Are you smart ♪ ♪ Are you smart ♪ ♪ But don't, don't change a hair for me ♪ ♪ Not, not if you care for me ♪ ♪ Stay, little valentine, stay ♪ ♪ Each day is Valentine's ♪ ♪ Each day is Valentine's ♪ ♪ Each day is Valentine's Day ♪ [gentle piano music] [ending note]
Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Re/Sound: Songs from Wisconsin is provided by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Focus Fund for Education, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.