One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded: “Nessun Dorma” by Aretha Franklin!!!

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

It will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

My radio show, “Prime Time Theme Attic,”  is on Monday nights 8PM-10PM ET but is on hiatus because of the pandemic.

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey…at least sometimes!

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Today is March 13 or 3/13 which translates to Detroit Day, since (313) is the area code for the city.

National Geographic will be premiering an eight part series, “Genius: Aretha,”  starting on March 21.

There will also be a free screening for a Detroit only, Saturday night, at The Monroe Street Drive-In.

Tomorrow night is the 63rd Grammy Awards.

When combining all of these separate events in my head, “Nessun Dorma” by Aretha Franklin materialized!

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on opera.

Actually, I don’t claim to be an expert on anything.

I felt that I was lacking in my musical knowledge, so I did what I would normally do when I needed to be better informed on something, and buried myself in opera for almost a year.

And I came to the conclusion that I would never understand the history, intricacies, or nuances of the genre to my satisfaction.

But I do respect it!

Only a tone deaf fool wouldn’t acknowledge the truly rare talent that operatic vocalists have!

And I did find works that I absolutely love!

“Nessun Dorma,” by Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot” is one of those!

It is a show stopping aria that requires an incredible vocal range as well as dynamics!

It has to be a difficult piece to sing when the singer practices it for a performance.

For the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998, world renowned tenor, Luciano Pavorotti, was scheduled to sing it when he suddenly came up ill.

When the announcement was made that he would not be performing, almost immediately came the news that Aretha Franklin would be stepping up to deliver the song!

Whhhhaaaaaattttt??????!!!!!!!

I was stunned!

I didn’t know she could sing that way!

It makes sense that Aretha could because her vocal acrobatics in Jazz/Gospel/R&B/Soul had proven that her voice was a once in a generation gift!

Not only did she give a standing ovation performance, it was also one of the greatest moments of The Grammys, as well as music in general!

And it turns out that she did a very noble thing by singing the song in Pavarotti’s key!

Double wwwhhhhhaaaatttt????!!!!

That way the orchestra didn’t have to do all of the heavy lifting by playing in a different key!

I love watching the clip and seeing that look on Aretha‘s face when she gets to that last note and the music swells!

And she did it with a world wide audience of over a billion watching her every movement and gesture!

That alone could worry any other performer

Outstanding in so many ways!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Nessun Dorma” by Aretha Franklin!!!

I chose a bonus clip from the performance that had subtitles because it was longer and had an introduction.

Here’s another bonus clip describing the behind the scenes story!

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If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

NessunDorma #ArethaFranklin #TheGrammys #PhilMaq #OneoftheGreatestSongsEverRecorded #GSER

 

 

 

 

 

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