More More Morricone

Yesterday I posted a couple of my favourite Ennio Morricone pop songs and today I'm going to post them again! Only this time, Questi Vent'Anni Miei has been rewritten as Funny World, interpreted by Ken Colman, and Se Telefonando has been transformed into Françoise Hardy's French hit Je Changerais d'Avis.

Ken Colman - Funny World mp3 (available for 7 days)

Ken Colman...who he? Well, he's a jazz singer from Vancouver more commonly known as Kenny Colman. He hasn't had a huge amount of commercial success (although he did do the rounds of the American talk shows in the 60s) but he's an acclaimed vocalist on the international club circuit. He came to the attention of Frank Sinatra, who became a friend and mentor to not-so-young-by-that-time Kenny.
Funny World was included on Morricone's soundtrack of 1964 shockumentary I Malamondo - along with Catherine Spaak's Questi Vent'anni Miei - and involves some decidedly Sinatra-esque crooning.

Françoise Hardy - now there's a woman who just gets better with age. By 1966 she'd already released four full length albums and La maison ou j'ai grandi, released that year, was her fifth. Track 2 was Je changerais d'avis (which was recorded and released as Se Telefonando by Mina also in 1966), a building-to-a-crescendo promise to change every aspect of her life in slavish devotion to some chap or other. While I can't really agree with the sentiment, it's a beautifully enduring performance!

Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais d'Avis (Se Telefonando) mp3 (available for 7 days)

Here's Françoise performing the song in a shiny mini-mac whilst appearing to be lost in a tv studio. Don't you just hate it when that happens?



If you enjoyed these songs, they can be found on Canto Moricone Vol. 1. And you can visit the websites of two fine singers:
Kenny Colman website
Francoise Hardy website (she looks fantastic on that front page photo!)