At your next big party, when the joint is jumping and folks are on their second drink, slip Jonathan and Darlene into your CD player and watch the fun.See related story:
Stylistic Differences
By:Michael Redmond
Recordings featuring Judy Kaye are plentiful, and so are recordings featuring Florence Foster Jenkins. Next up, one expects, is a recording of Judy Kaye singing Florence Foster Jenkins singing. The mind reels.
Once the credit cards are out and Google is at the ready, type in "Jonathan and Darlene." Up will come the classic recordings of that inimitable pair, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, the worst lounge act in the history of the world.
Truth be told, Jonathan and Darlene are the wicked creations of band leader Paul Weston, on piano, and his wife, Jo Stafford, who was one of the top songbirds of the 1950s.
During the ’50s and the ’60s, Weston and Stafford recorded a number of Jonathan and Darlene albums, including Jonathan and Darlene in Paris, which won a Grammy for best comedy album in 1960. As Darlene chokes on her lyrics, misses cues and soars into the off-key stratosphere, Jonathan plays "Tea for Two" in 5/4 time, speeds up suddenly to get one bar ahead of Darlene, realizes his mistake, then slows down to end up one bar behind Darlene, and so on. It’s a laugh riot.
Here’s something you can try at home. At your next big party, when the joint is jumping and folks are on their second drink, slip Jonathan and Darlene into your CD player and watch the fun. See how long it takes for people to realize that something is terribly, terribly wrong…