Whenever I go to a greasy breakfast place, I read over all the various breakfast options. I debate between sweet or savoury, chuckle at the clever names they give to their specialties, marvel at the sheer number of things that can be done with eggs.
And then, inevitably, I choose the most boring option on the menu.
Some places call it “The Classic”, some call it “The Original”, at other places it’s “The Standard”. Whatever you call it, you can always measure the quality of a breakfast joint by the quality of their classic breakfast.
Each restaurant’s classic breakfast is slightly different. Some give you two eggs, others three. Sometimes the homefries are wedges, sometimes they’re little discs . Some places cut your toast diagonally, others straight down the middle. And of course, the best places will let you substitute your ham for more bacon.
Songs like this one are the classic breakfast of the music world. Many versions, all with their own particular style. Fred Astaire, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra…pretty much everyone has had a crack at it.
Peggy Lee (real name Norma Egstrom, which sounds a bit like a breakfast dish to me) took her turn in 1941, and in my opinion, she gives her version a few ingredients not offered by anyone else.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The glockenspiel. It makes the song sound like it’s taking place in a 1940s daydream.
2. The tone of her voice. Sinatra’s cover of this song is one of the more famous versions, and it’s good, but it’s a bit too upbeat for my liking. There’s a tinge of sadness to Lee’s voice that makes the lyrics more interesting.
3. It’s not a duet. I’ve already ranted about guy-girl duets in a previous post, but for this particular song, keeping it as a solo rather than a duet really changes the meaning of the lyrics. Rather than a loving couple gazing into each other’s eyes, we get the impression that Peggy Lee is watching someone from across the room; someone who might not realize she’s in love with them.
Recommended listening activity:
Using a piece of toast to make abstract designs out of ketchup.