I've Got Beginner's Luck

Reviewed by mojo

Okay, more True Confessions. This is a frothy nothing of a song, yet it holds a tiny little place in my heart, and hence if I were to be brutally honest with you, I have to admit that I like it. Why is this, Mojo? Why do you so brutally diss "Misty", but then THIS song, which NO ONE except Gershwin freaks has EVER HEARD OF, gets the "Mojo Sorta Likes It" treatment? All the "Misty" fans are congregating in Room 43 to plan their attack while Mojo attempts to stammer her way through THIS one.

Yeah, okay, so my primary reason for not liking "Misty"--Jazz Standard though it is--is just that it reminds me of someone I don't particularly care to remember, since, while I was always very nice and polite to them, I gotta say I didn't really like them all that much. One of those people that the public school system forces you to associate with through class assignments and/or alphabetical order, and it's not like you wish them ill, but they're not your fondest schoolgirl memory.

Whereas THIS song reminds me--and I say this knowing full well that, if word gets out, Mojo is in store for a very great deal of cruel, cruel teasing--of my Favorite Husband. There. I said it. There's a bucket in the corner should you wish to throw up. For those with stronger stomachs, I will point out that, okay, my Favorite Husband has brown eyes, not blue, but other than that it's a dead ringer.

Plus, c'mon, this is just a happy song. You can just see Fred Astaire strolling along singing this, can't you? Especially this arrangement. Ella always wanted to be a dancer, and you can just hear her dancing and smiling as she sings. It's a happy song. And there's nothing wrong with happy songs, now is there? Granted, Mojo actually likes to read stuff like Homer and Hamlet, over and over again, but that doesn't mean she doesn't also appreciate "The House on Pooh Corner" or "Mary Poppins". (Gadzooks, I love that movie! Mary Poppins, I mean. I don't care all that much about the book, but I think ithe movie is one of the GREATEST MOVIES EVER. But I also like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, so there you have it. Have what? Um, ya got me. Something, I'm sure.)

So anyway, we have this happy song, sung by happy Ella. All is right in the world! Unless, of course, things are NOT going all that well for you, in which case you could very well be in that dark spot where such happy songs seem to MOCK you. That's not such a good place to be. If that's the case, it's perfectly okay if you skip this one. You can always come back to it....

(I've Got) Beginner's Luck (1959)

Disc Number: 
George Gershwin
Ira Gershwin

From Wikipedia:


"(I've Got) Beginner's Luck" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the 1937 film Shall We Dance, it was introduced by Fred Astaire.

  Notable recordings