Friday, November 14, 2008

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

I really must try a bit harder to keep up with the posting. For some time I've been meaning to compile a few of my favorite music vids in that elemental format: the man-woman duet. I'll begin with the basics, Dolly and Porter, singing Parton's "Tomorrow is Forever" circa 1970:



Fantastic version, in every respect.

Then, moving right along from Dolly and Porter's oddly repressed sexuality to Kris and Rita's oddly unrepressed (as in "get a room!") sexuality, we present this classic performance:



I won't post it here but if you need the video equivalent of a cold shower after that, check out Johnny and June's rendition of the same song. Cold, baby.

As much as I'd like to watch Kris and Rita melt the stage with their chemistry, something must be done here to acknowledge two voices that match each other at least as well as Kris and Rita's gonads did (for a time, anyway). These two characters never sounded better together than in this TV footage from 1976:


The last minute or so when the camera moves in is quite nice, as the performers return in unison to the shared mic at the center of the image as if they also shared a brain...

...and last but far from least is a video that is something of a gold standard in terms of the photography of a live performance. Is this "acting"? Were Rita and Kris "acting"? I can't be sure but Linda looks into the camera and out of my computer screen at 2:09 and I think she's looking into the future directly at me. I feel helpless, drowning in reverb. Maybe I need a thick wolly hat.



I always crack up at the cutaway to the douchebag at the end. The spell is broken! We get it, bro'. Cut to the fish and chips commercial.

I'm always interested in seeing more stuff in this vein. So if these ring your bell but you are aware of another that I should know about ... well, fill up the comment box with them.

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