Saturday, January 31, 2015

Battle of the Bands 14: My Funny Valentine




Since December my Battle of the Bands post have been pretty thematic. That continues this month as Valentine's Day strikes in the center of the month,  My selection this time around is Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine." The song is originally from the musical "Babes in Arms."

Before I get to the music let me explain what is going on and who else has battles!

Regular rules, listen to the song clips in the blog post. In the comment section vote for the one you like the best. Feel free to explain why you voted the way you did. The battles take place on the first and 15th and winners will be announced on the 7th and 21st. I will normally post the winner in the comments. Of course have fun and enjoy!

The below list is edited to welcome some new battles and unfortunately some battles have taken a break. If you are still looking for more musical fun after you vote, you can check out these sites for more battles:

DC Relief






The Sound of One Hand Typing


I am changing it around this month, I am not posting the original song. Just two very different covers.

CHALLENGER ONE: FRANK SINATRA


CHALLENGER TWO: ELLA FITZGERALD


A battle of the sexes if you a like. A battle between two legends if you like. A great song covered by two great voices enjoy. 

Enjoy! Vote in the comments and I will see you soon!

12 comments:

Arlee Bird said...

That's a very tough choice as both versions add exceptional qualities to a beautiful song.

I'm most familiar with the Sinatra version and have always liked the way he did it. I think Ella's vocals have a slight edge over Frank's as far as tonal quality and beauty.

But in the end I'm going to vote for Frank Sinatra on the basis of a classic vocal delivery and the real deciding factor for me is the exquisite orchestral arrangement. I really like that overall recording.

Frank Sinatra for my vote.

Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out

Dixie@dcrelief said...

Frank Sinatra - always golden to me.
Ella Fitzgerald - has the golden touch too... but maybe I'm a 'sucka' for the male version.

My vote goes to Frank Sinatra... I enjoyed this, Mike.(smile)

Kim @ This Belle Rocks said...

Oh, this is tough. I actually liked Frank's voice and Ella's musical style. When it came to arrangement and execution, I prefer the overall sound of Frank Sinatra's best though. My vote goes to Ol' Blue Eyes.

dolorah said...

Good match. I think the only real preference here is for male or female voice. Today, I like Sir Frankie more.

farawayeyes said...

Hey Mike, I almost didn't vote on your BATTLE today. I mean SHEESH! one little hitch in my giddy-up and you dropped me off the BOTB list. Heck, Mike, I started this thing. You didn't think I was gonna walke away that easy, now did ya?

Anyway...I agree with Donna when she said, 'this comes down to a choice between male or female vocals. Both versions are great, but today I like Ella better.

Mike said...

I'll put you back on! Welcome back!

Cathy Kennedy said...

I thought I knew from the start who I'd pick, but that changed after listening to both renditions. Both artists did an excellent job. You couldn't have said it any better ~ two legends. I like the softer vocals of Ella cover over Frank's version.

Ella Fitzgerald won my heart!

Stephen T. McCarthy said...

MIKE ~
Truthfully, I'm not a big fan of either Frank or Ella.

Ella had a great voice, no doubt about it; she hits all the notes with a clear, pure, feminine quality. The only problem (for me though) is that I tend to gravitate more toward voices with some character or quality that grabs me in an outstanding way. Not necessarily the most beautiful voices, but voices that are more recognizable by some personal trait. In other words, Ella's singing is a bit TOO pure and clean for my tastes.

I'm not a Frank fan either (I'd usually prefer the Nelson Riddle track as an instrumental) but there ARE some songs Frank sings that I do like a lot (i.e., 'We'll Be Together Again', 'Winchester Cathedral', 'It Was A Very Good Year').

When it comes to 'My Funny Valentine', I gotta say that I DO like Frank's interpretation of it.

So I cast a fairly enthusiastic vote for FRANK SINATRA in this very good BOTB you put together.

~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'

Robin said...

Chalk one more for Frank Sinatra. I'm constantly amazed at the perfection of his delivery.

Anonymous said...

Both beautiful, but Ella's showed more emotion and she made the song hers. She gets my vote.

StratPlayerCJF said...

Love both versions, but I lean towards Frank in this battle.

Still not a wrong vote for wither one. But give me Frank.

Mike said...

Frank wins