The moment a song is born, the world is different. It’s now a part of our lives. We sing it in the shower. We dance to it at our wedding. We get pumped with it. We break up to it. We memorize it. We try to forget it. We rediscover it. This month, I’m joining Arron Wright’s Twitter music challenge: ##Popiversary2. Because why the hell not. Songs deserve their own anniversaries, too.
Year: 1958
In 1958, Ella recorded her famous Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irvin Berlin Song Book. The album pays homage to a legend whose songs make up a large part of the Great American Songbook. The album is also a mindblowing review of a voice like no other. Ella simply did things with her voice that nobody else could do – or even thought to do. Her vocals lived at a complex crossroads web of jazz, scat and experimentation.
Released as a bonus track on reissues of the album, “Blue Skies” showcases multiple facets of Ella’s vocals. There’s the silky, velvety smooth side. And then there’s the playful, scat-infused side that’s the antithesis of its counterpart. There are times, in fact, where Ella’s voice resembles an instrument, transcending the boundaries of traditional singing. It’s clear as the blue sky: Berlin may have written the song, but Ella owns it through and through.
“Blue days, All of them gone. Nothing but blue skies From now on.”