JANYE CORTEZ & PATTI PAGE R.I.P.

Jayne Cortez was a dynamic poet and woman, who was a major force in the small press world for decades, as well as in spoken word, performance art, and women's and African-American poetry scenes. She passed late last month [here's the NY Times obit] and I kept meaning to post at least a small homage to a wonderful woman whose work could be challenging and comforting at the same time. Here's an example:

There It Is

And if we don't fight
if we don't resist
if we don't organize and unify and
get the power to control our own lives
Then we will wear
the exaggerated look of captivity
the stylized look of submission
the bizarre look of suicide
the dehumanized look of fear
and the decomposed look of repression
forever and ever and ever
And there it is

And here's what she was like performing only a few years ago:

This is the way I remember Patti Page when I was a kid. Best known for what seem like cheesy or schmaltzy songs in retrospect, as a kid they were fun and comforting [not surprised that latter word is part of both these small tributes]. I commented on Doug Lang's tribute to Page, she was sort of the flip side to Peggy Lee back in the early 1950s. Both beautiful blondes who managed to transcend their natural genres (jazz for Lee and country for Page) to become pop stars for a while.

Where Lee was sultry and still, Page was joyous and expansive. But the main thing about Page, for me, was her unpretentiousness. Lee was more musically skilled, especially as a song writer and arranger, but both had great control as vocalists and Page made it clear she was here to entertain and please and wasn't ashamed to sing about "How much is that doggie in the window" a song that became so ubiquitous it became almost too much to bear but when first heard was just a delightful novelty song.

But my first memory of noticing her as a singer was her first hit: "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming" that made me fall in love with her as a little boy. Here's a YouTube posting of that, not the best reproduction, but listen to the end and you'll hear how skillful a singer she was.