Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - "Moonlight Bay"

The brilliant Jo Stafford and husband Paul Weston continue their song-wrecking expertise as they totally destroy this American classic.

The only one's in tune are the members of the male chorus, who manage to hold it all together, like mortar in a brick wall, as the Edwards' do their best to bring the song tumbling down.

Never has a piano been played with such fervour; never has a vocal cord generated such harmony.

Only a master pianist and a professional songstress could mangle a song so expertly as to give the impression to those not in the know that hey, who ARE these crackpots?!!

Bless you both for works such as this. I hope that Heaven appreciates your talent.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jonathan & Darlene Edwards
• Jo Stafford
• Paul Weston
• Moonlight Bay

[bhoekje]

Don't you wonder how that marvelous male chorus - ala Mitch Miller - ever got through that rendidtion without cracking up. And of course, Paul's "creative" mastery of piano ornamentation is to be greatly admired!!! I think it must take a real musician to properly appreciate the talents of these two!! It's tough to be that bad!

[hcrun]

@bhoekje

It was a very difficult job for them both - more so for Jo - to actually "appear that bad".

Apparently she found it hard to not automatically sing in tune and really had to work at each song!

A brilliant send-up........I love what they did.

[marked54]

Either you "get" this or you don't. It still reduces me to a helpless heap of uncontrollable laughter whenever I hear it.

[hcrun]

@marked54

Very true.....many people think it is the real deal.

Like yourself, I have a laugh every time I listen to any of their massacres! :)

[halvickery]

Joe Stafford as Darlene Edwards does something very difficult. Instead of singing flat, she actually sings sharp.

[kynoceph]

Brilliant stuff. This is so obviously a parody of Mitch Miller's production style and arrangements that it's doubly hilarious for someone who's a student of American pop music.

[LShackley]

My high school choir teacher used to bring in the original LP every year and try to convince the students that it was a 'great singer' that he just discovered. Then he would wait for someone to start cracking up. Not everything J&D recorded is now on CD, but there were two fairly decent compilations. Great fun.

[GuinnBerger]

@bhoekje After a while the performer just "gets in a zone" where the emotion is something that's part of the character he or she is playing, and they're removed from it enough to get through the performance without either breaking up — if it's funny — or breaking down if it's sad. It's very strange while you're in it; you're watching everything, including audience reaction, detached from the emotion in reality, but still able to convince the audience that you're truly feeling it.

[SingerOfSwing]

It's genius. Pure genius.

[hcrun]

@bullfrog11758

Are you sure that they *could* talk after being exposed to J&D for extended periods? :)