Introducing… Jukebox!
Yup, it’s going to be a random series of posts introducing music that’s playing on my stereo, mainly stuff that’s moved me either cos they’re so achingly good or awesomely bad… and sometimes, just plain quirky.
To kick things off, here’s an evocative piece from the soundtracks of Days of Being Wild and 2046 — two beautiful art films directed by the Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai. Listening to this cinematic tune transports me to an era that I didn’t grow up in, yet somehow it still feels familiar and comforting. It’s a strange kind of ‘borrowed’ nostalgia…
Xavier Cugat - Perfidia
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.
Read more about Xavier Cugat
That is not the original or hit version of Perfidia by Xavier Cugat (please pronounce his name in the Spanish way - Hah-vee-AIR, for those unacquainted with him), which was released some time during World War II years; I’m not sure if it was 1939, or 1943. At any rate, the old hit version on Victor (RCA) records certainly had more Latin fire, and sounded less like elevator music.
That is, in case you are wondering what the hit version of Perfidia sounded like, the one, along with “Brazil” from those times, that helped him “make his bones” (come to prominence), so to speak.