Noel, Noel

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 349, 1 March 1946, Page 13

Noel, Noel

‘THE singing of Noel Coward, on the fairly rare occasions when we hear recordings, is one of the minor, curiosities of the ait. No one could really claim that his voice possesses range, or any marked tunefulness, or even any immediately recognisable character; yet there is something which makes one continue listening, and the composition of ‘the songs he presents, if his own, or. their choice, if not, has always something to justify one’s interest. This was exemplified by a recording heard from 3YA in a morning session-no,

not the renowned (and over rated) "Don’t put Your Daughter. on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington," but a series of songs from Cavalcade. Most of these were the ultrafamiliar yet never despised Cockney

music-hall immortals -their names too well-known to be re-peated-possessing in their associations the hackneyed charm which is their peculiar secret. Coward has always made a cult of the music-hall tradition — is there something over-ripe in his presefitation, an over-prized sweetness? Probably not; these songs are so familiar that nothing can make them clichés (unlike 90 per cent of modern sentimental songs, born redundant). But’ some of his own songs are interspersed and mingle rather oddly with the company. How tame, now, sounds "Twentieth Century Blues," once the acme of weary nihilism; and how much more it "dates" than the music-hall hearties. What makes endurance in a popular song?