John McCormack - Roses of Picardy (1928) video free download

Phyllis Ramsey

A lovely song sung with great feeling by a premier tenor!

JY Media

That's awasome. I've always liked the old recordings. It sounds like you might have done some work to get it to sound so good.

Walter Gray

Lovely !!Thank you for sharing.

John Macleod

I close my eyes and it brings it back to my child hood the happiest time of my life listening to my grand father sining john Mac cormack songs his grand daughter marlain

John Upton

The voice and the diction were just a wonderful combination. Forget all the others, this man was the greatest popular tenor singer ever.

Henry Davies

I've found the answer to the pitch problem. According to the McCormack discography by Worth and Cartwright, the lathe was running 77.43rpm (instead of 78) on 13th January 1928 (it can be very cold in New York) so my guess was correct.

Henry Davies

I make it just a few Herz sharp of the key of Db. If this is taken from an early vinyl dub from the original 78 the pitch can have been altered as is often the case. Another possibility is that, at the recording session, the cutting lathe hadn't fully warmed up and was running a little below the correct speed. This did happen on occasions.

Tbird Tim

I had only heard Buddy Greco's version, circa 1961.

Tom Smith

@giordani19 Thanks for your comments. Yes, this should be the right pitch.

giordani19

Wonderful, even if the tenor is past his absolute prime. He phrases songs like Roses of Picardy with such spontaneity and sincerity, it's hard to imagine anyone else singing them. Incidentally, is this played back at correct pitch? It sounds a quarter tone high to me.

Tom Smith

@TheUBIQUITOUS12 You are very welcome. Thank you so much for commenting and listening. Glad that you enjoy the photos as well.

Tom Smith

@nipsterstang Glad you like it, Jim!

Kevin Ryder

Thanks for all these wonderful recordings.Also you have used some lovely photographs of the great man which I have never seen before.

Mario Lanza

Mario Lanza - Roses of Picardy

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