CAMELOT MEDLEY
I’m a big fan of Broadway’s elite songwriting duo, Lerner & Loewe, featuring the delectable lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner and the tuneful melodies of Fredrick Loewe.
Over the period 1947-1960, they produced four Broadway musicals of note – Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1951), their masterpiece My Fair Lady (1956), and Camelot (1960) – plus the brilliant movie Gigi which in 1958 garnered more Oscars than any picture in history.
In terms of musical score, my favorite of all their collaborations is Camelot – perhaps because I recall listening to the original cast album endlessly while otherwise miserable at law school. The show’s 1960 opening coincided with JFK’s election; it was apparently the first couple’s favorite musical; and his too-brief presidency has since been immortalized as “Camelot”.
For this blog offering, I’ve borrowed from my 2011 CD, Loewe (without Lerner) – The Melodies for Solo Piano, eleven Camelot songs (of which six are contained in a single medley). My reliance on solo piano was intended to emphasize these often overlooked fine melodies of Fritz Loewe; but as I play the tunes (and as you listen to them), it’s hard to divorce the music from the magical words. I’ve sprinkled some of Lerner’s catchiest lyrics into the liner notes for this medley.
The songs, in this order, are:
Camelot
How to Handle a Woman
I Loved You Once in Silence
A “Camelot” Medley
o The Lusty Mouth of May
o C’est Moi
o What Do Simple Folk Do?
o The Simple Joys of Maidenhood
o I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight
o Follow Me
Before I Gaze at You Again
If Ever I Would Leave You
I hope you enjoy this 16-minute Camelot medley, which you can access by clicking on the play button below.
Additional information on the songs is contained in a liner notes PDF, which you can access (before, after, or while listening to the songs) by clicking on this link.