Repost from the New York City Street Series by Paul Goldfinger. Click to make her larger.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
If you heard this song for the first time, as I did yesterday on the Jonathan Schwartz show on WNYC radio, performed by cabaret star Rebecca Luker, you would never have thought that it was not written to be sung by a woman. It certainly worked for Rebecca who was singing frankly about sex, love and betrayal.
I thought, “This is a gutsy song for her to do, but women are so outspoken these days about sex.” Women used to be very coy on that subject, because it was part of the female allure to say little that is overt, but to be able to cover that waterfront with traditional female flirtatiousness and body language, while revealing their true interests only later in the course of human events.
My old friends from high school often remember the fifties and how, if we only knew that our female classmates were as interested as we were,….oh well, getting back to Rebecca Luker, a beautiful chanteuse who was once Sarah Brightman’s understudy—-that speaks volumes on her qualifications.
So I liked this daring modern take on old themes. I had posted Rebecca Luker once before on Blogfinger with a song from “Wonderful Town.” When I looked up today’s music I discovered that it was written for a review in 2005 called “Songs From an Unmade Bed.” The show contained 18 songs written by different composers, and our featured song today, “He Never Did That Before,” was written by a woman, Debra Barsha.
But low and behold, I also found out that it was a one man show and was about gay male relationships in New York City.
So here is Rebecca Luker, from her 2009 album Greenwich Time, singing “He Never Did That Before.”
Rebecca Luker
And while we are sort of on the same subject, here is a song about a woman whose wiles helped save the world:
From the Broadway classic (1968) ZORBA: Maria Karnilova with “No Boom Boom.”