"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody (Home Recording)" Single Release

https://share.amuse.io/track/victor-v-gurbo-a-pretty-girl-is-like-a-melody-home-recording

This version of Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody” was created for WNYC’s Public Song Project in March of 2023.  The original song was published in 1919, and became the theme song of the “Ziegfeld Follies,” a theatrical revue which ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931.  In addition to being considered part of the Great American Songbook, “A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody” recently entered the public domain.  When interpreting older songs, I try to find the darker side of these often up-tempo major key classics; often a love song is just a brush stroke away from being transformed into something menacing.   My version of this song is presented in a minor key, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Mark Caserta on both bass and resonator guitar, and country singer Kathryn Lewis on accompanying vocals.  To harken to the original recording quality of the source material, this song was recorded using repurposed antique radios purchased from Redeemer Electric Labs.  Nadeem Gibran Salaam, founder of the boutique Brooklyn company, painstakingly converts forgotten and broken radios into both amplifiers and microphones - which became a centerpiece in the tone of this recording.  The song was selected by Paul Cavalconte, host of WNYC’s New Standards, to be featured on his show as part of the project.  We hope that you too enjoy our interpretation of this classic.