Perry Como / Brenda Lee Duet - 1961

Perry sings a duet with Brenda Lee. Includes "Teach Me Tonight", "An Apple For My Teacher", "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E", "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Little Red School House".

Hear the original recording of "Schoolhouse": http://turtleservices.com/In%20The%20Little%20Red%20School%20House.mp3

An earlier duet of Lee's is included for comparison. Go to 3:08 to skip the first duet.

This Como show aired 5/31/61 with guests Audrey Meadows, Brenda Lee, and Cliff Arquette. Just before the duet, Brenda sang "You Can Depend on Me" which is also available on YouTube.

Mr C's Amazing Facts
Brenda Lee first appeared on the Perry Como Show at the age of 11.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Live performance
• Live
• Duet

[GuinnevereB]

Well, even if the show was recorded (...might have been live...), it was in front of a live audience and people do make little errors, it's only human nature. I listened to this a few times, and it sounds like Brenda switched the words in "Apple For the Teacher" instead of repeating a word: "...A little bit of grammar...and he'll excuse your glamor..." It's almost unnoticeable, in any case, and she kept on regardless. A real trouper!

[MrCallipygous]

@GuinnevereB Yes you caught it. Perry also sings old New York was once old Amsterdam instead of New. I later annotated the mistakes on screen, but maybe you have them turned off?

[leitros]

Are you sure this wasn't a year or two earlier? Anyway, I'm surprised at how much Ms. Lee's accent changed in a few short years. Was this part of marketing her for a pop audience and to be another Connie Francis?

[MrCallipygous]

@leitros Excellent observation. However, I believe the dates are correct. Probably, it wasn't a plan. It's just that Brenda's ear for sound and vocal control is such that she could just blend anywhere. See my vid "Brenda, Broomstick and The Beatles" where she does a fairly neutral accent for a national TV interview. In recent years, doing far less travel, she sounds way too Tennessee twangy to me in interviews and I long to hear her natural Georgia drawl again.

[leitros]

@MrCallipygous I'm from the UK and have traveled only to NY, and a little bit around Mass & Detroit area, so I really don't know too much about US accents. I do have a friend here who's from S. Carolina and he doesn't sound like Brenda Lee. The person whom I have heard who's accent is closest to hers is Nancy Griffiths who's from East Texas, I think.

[MrCallipygous]

@leitros Nanci is more Central Tx (Seguin near San Antonio). I don't really know how much Brenda Lee's sometimes lighter or heavier accent is intentional or instinctive. My guess is that it is dictated by the song and the way she wants it sound. Her facility for language is such that she once dubbed Italian, French and German versions of one of her hits in one session.

[WALRU11]

Brenda Lee, herein, is preternaturally gifted - an astonishing maturity not only to her voice, but shown in her acutely intelligent lyrical interpretations of a wide-ranging number of songs. She has been one of entertainment's most underrated talents, a simply incredible vocalist.

[mygommie]

absolutely it is!!

[irismcooper]

I bet she received an "A" from Mr. Perry Como in singing. I used to watch this show as a kid with my dad, mom, and sisters.

[TheVideostunad]

This is amazing! Sal

[GuinnevereB]

@MrCallipygous Your notation was why I was listening for the unusual. Thanks for the heads-up! For some reason it's always endearing to me when great talents like Perry and Brenda make tiny goofs like these. It makes them more obviously human, I suppose.

Thanks again.

[leitros]

@MrCallipygous Watched your vid. Thanks very much. Really interesting!

[leitros]

@MrCallipygous For example, in her intro to "Love at the Five & Dime".