When Greg Hit That Note

 When Greg Hit That Note




      Some days these are harder to do than others. Since I spent a long dream with my old friend  last night it behooves me to write about a good memory instead of the cannonball I have inside my chest. Enough of that. Because his sister chose to listen to show-tunes instead of Elvis Presley, Greg developed a deep love of the genius of  Rogers and Hammerstein. He listened to the soundtracks, even the shows that never really got off the ground like Pipe Dream or Allegro. When it came to Dick and Oscar he had every note and nuance memorized, especially "Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, the King and I and Flower Drum Song. That is not to say he did not adore the Sound of Music but the show was so overwhelmingly popular he preferred the stuff put on the Broadway stage before he was born. When you really study the music and lyrics of the shows you will come to understand that the songs were not for the faint-hearted singers and many of them were tremendous challenges to the vocal instrument. Since Greg knew the most demanding of all these songs he chose to attempt to sing them despite the limits of an untrained voice. He would begin "longing to tell you but afraid and shy..." with no warning and take the tune to the outer limits of his baritone. He had a strong voice and could handle most showtunes but Dick Rogers liked to make unreal demands on his male vocalists. A perfect example is the song "I have dreamed" from "the King and I" that taxes even the most professional of  singers by bounding up  and down the scales at  "How you look in the glow of eveningI have dreamed and enjoyed the view..." Even accomplished singers would be careful about taking this one on since the wind can give out and leave the singer with a flat tire. Larry Douglas did the original while Sinatra did it as did Johnny Mathis, Chad and Jeremey, Anthony Newley, Sammy David Jr. and recently Kurt Elling. It is widely known that "If I loved you" from Carousel is the one song that is a musical mountain to climb but Greg had his sites set on "I have dreamed." So on a Saturday before a football game to be watched in the front room Greg was given a chore of clearing out some stuff in the garage. I may have been shooting some baskets while Greg limbered up his pipes with "Happy Talk" or the opening bars of "Surrey with the Fringe on Top." He felt a bit frisky and so began "I have dreamed" in just the right key. When he reached the unreachable point in the song, he felt an inspiration and leapt upward and hit the big note. We shouted in amazement and he bounded out of the garage celebrating his achievement with tears of joy in his eyes. To the very end of his life he looked back on hitting that note with great pride and I am delighted to say I heard it and put it into posterity here.






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