Or Happy Valentine’s Day as it’s better known – the Smooch Day comes from Alfie himself who tweeted that phrase himself on this day in 2015. If you’ve yet to get a Valentine this year or even if you have, this is especially for you:
Thanks to Nikki for sharing!
This is one of my favourite Alfie Boe songs ever and I especially love Emilia Mitiku’s vocals. This song was nominated in the 2014 poll to decide Alfie Boe’s Most Romantic Song so I know I’m not alone in loving it.
That said, my favourite romantic album as a whole is Love Was A Dream – just magnificent. Here is You Are My Heart’s Delight from that album (thanks to Linda for sharing):
A happy memory of the late, great Sir Terry Wogan too.
Lastly, the last time we looked at Alfie Boe’s romantic songs a song from Serenata came out on top, so here is My Heart is Yours from the first night of the Serenata tour (thanks once again to Linda for sharing):
…Luna Malinconia, from his last album, Serenata, on the first night of his 2014 UK Winter tour (thanks to Linda W for sharing):
If memory serves me right, this was the only time we heard it on this tour, the reason being that the Newcastle show over ran quite considerably and had to be shortened for all subsequent performances.
Blue Moon was written by Rodgers and Hart (with different lyrics) for a 1934 film starring Jean Harlow but it never made the cut. It did appear in a different film that year but with another set of lyrics but failed to make a splash. The lyrics were changed yet again and this proved third time lucky as these became the English lyrics that we know today. Recorded by many over the years (Elvis again!) the song was a worldwide hit in 1961 for The Marcels:
I’ve also chosen Dean Martin’s version though as Alfie chose to pay tribute to Martin on Bruce’s Hall of Fame in December 2014:
Blue Moon is available on Serenata:
Thank you for reading and sharing the Twelve Days of Christmas!
Yes, one year ago, I was enraptured by this beautiful album that I had only heard snippets from over the summer. Alfie Boe’s Serenata was something that I had been looking forward to hearing in it’s entirety since he first teased us with a few songs at James Morgan’s Parkinson’s UK fundraiser, SymFunny, back in June that year.
Looking back at the review, my initial favourite was Serenata Celeste which then changed to Feneste Vascia. I think I ended up with the new fans’s favourite song, Addio Sogni di Gloria by the end of the review whilst also saving a mention for Rondine al Nido amongst others. As always, I can never choose just one favourite song when it comes to Alfie. Now, regular readers will know that I usually don’t listen to Alfie singing when I’m blogging as there is always a danger that nothing will get written as he’s far too distracting! Nevertheless, I’m breaking the habit to listen as I blog now and…you guessed it, I’m having considerable difficulty choosing again! I think though, that I’ll go for a song that only appeared once on Alfie’s UK tour, Serenata Celeste:
If you haven’t got this beautiful album in your collection yet, it’s available now:
thanks for reading – please share #alfieboeserenata
We’ve made it to the top three of the second annual Alfie Boe Best Ever Song poll and if you’ve been following this far, it’s safe to say that the major shock came last week with the news that Alfie’s best known dropped down to number four from top of the heap last year. Yes, Bring Him Home no longer reigns. So, which will be the top?
Before we get there, number three is the second offering from Onward, A Gaelic Blessing. Written by renowned British composer, John Rutter, in 1978 as a commission from an American Methodist church, the piece is often used as part of hatched, matched and despatched ceremonies as well as being sung by choirs all over the world. The video features Aled Jones before Alfie’s version:
Interestingly, despite composing almost exclusively religious music, John Rutter describes himself as an “agnostic supporter of the Christian church”.
Number two is something completely different, being from Alfie’s 2013 Trust album. Keep Me In Your Heart is the highest non-classical sounding song in the top ten and is one of my all time favourites (it’s the buttons on your blouse that does it for me) and I’m obviously in good company!
The song was written by US musician and songwriter, Warren Zevon in response to receiving a terminal diagnosis of asbestos related cancer although it was the last song to be recorded for 2003’s The Wind, Zevon’s final album. Zevon survived the album release by only a few weeks although he did manage to see it achieve a top 20 chart position, his highest position since his critically acclaimed earlier album,Excitable Boy.
Love this song but the original doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid – the buttons on my blouse are quite safe! Now for Alfie’s version:
Adore this video with lots of my friends in – are you in there? Let us know!
So we come to the final position, which is you’ve been following avidly, you will know goes to a Serenata song, Addio Sogni Di Gloria. To my knowledge, he’s only sung this live once and I was one of the lucky ones there at the time. Classic FM Live was the occasion and we were also lucky enough to grab a few minutes at the stage door that evening.
All I can say is that the recording does not do it justice – absolutely blew us all away.
The song was originally recorded by Italian singer Luciano Virgili and written by Italian Carlo Innocenzi who write music for many Italian films from the 1940’s onward. Translated, the title means Goodbye, Dreams of Glory and the poignancy of the song sits effortlessly against the glorious soaring melody.
Thank you for accompanying me on this musical journey of discovery and thank you for choosing a song from Serenata as your 2015 Best Ever Alfie Boe Song – it will be interesting to see if Serenata remains on top in 2016!
Onward, Trust and Serenata are all available here:
thanks for reading – please share!
if you like what you see why not subscribe?
all your Alfie info straight to your inbox
plus the chance to win some more Alfie goodies soon!
So what did you think of the all new top ten in the Alfie Boe Best Ever Song poll? Any surprises? Did your favourite make the cut? Don’t worry if not – I’m already planning the third annual poll!
Now, down to business. The song in at number 10 is Je Crois Entendre Encore which made it to number 4 in 2014: click here to read more.
Number 9 is the first of our two entries from Trust, Forever Young. Written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his 1974 album, Planet Waves, it has been recorded and performed by countless others down the years; my favourite version is that by Joan Baez:
Alfie is a Dylan fan, so much so that he bunked off Cosi Fan Tutte rehearsals in Strasbourg in order to take Sarah to a concert. That being so, and only for Alfie would I do this, here is Bob Dylan singing:
Sorry Alfie, I know Dylan’s a genius but I just can’t listen to him sing! Much prefer your version, sung at the Royal Festival Hall in 2013. I’ll let Alfie tell you the story about the recording:
Number 8 in the top ten is another survivor from 2014 and the only representative from Storyteller, Rank Strangers. Click here to read more about this lovely song before we move swiftly on to number 7 in our countdown.
Number 7 is in fact the first song from Serenata to feature and Alfie’s first song as a lyricist. My Heart is Yours puts Alfie’s beautiful lyrics (I think we can all agree that he’s a talented lyricist which can only bode well for the future) to the music from the Italian film Il Postino and the result is this magic:
In the many interviews Alfie gave around the release of Serenata, he said that the lyrics were for his daughter, Grace but the lyrics work just as a well as a love song.
The next instalment in the countdown will be next week!
Trust (click here) and Serenata are both available here:
The poll has now closed but I can now reveal the top ten in the second annual Alfie Boe Best Ever Song vote! As you can see, the results are very different from last year:
You Are My Heart’s Delight
Wayfaring Stranger
Parlami D’Amore Mariu
Bring Him Home
A Living Prayer
Rosie
If You Go Away
Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna
Rank Strangers
Je Crois Entendre Encore
And no, it’s not in the right order!
In 2014, the top ten looked like this:
Bring Him Home
A Living Prayer
Rank Strangers
Je Crois Entendre Encore
Wayfaring Stranger
Parlami D’Amore Mariu
Rosie
If You Go Away
Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna
You Are My Heart’s Delight
Of this original top ten, only four songs survive and they happen to be the top four – but will they be the top four this time? You’ll have to wait and see…we’ll be counting down from Friday.
Looking at the albums represented this year, the make up has significantly changed from 2014; then, all the albums bar one had a song in the top ten but this year, only six of his nine albums have an entry. Serenata, Trust, Onward and Classic FM Presents all have two top ten entries whilst Bring Him Home and Storyteller have one each. Trust, named as the most owned Alfie album in an earlier poll, had two songs in 2014 as well but they aren’t the same as this year! Once again, classical and rock Alfie are showing as the most popular genres with Bring Him Home remaining the only musical theatre selection on the list.
thanks for reading – please share on social media!
Welcome to the second year of voting for Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song! A year ago we voted and found out that to the surprise of absolutely no one, Bring Him Home was the fans best ever song from Alfie. Of course, that was before the release of Serenata and so a few weeks ago I asked you to send me your favourite Serenata songs. You nearly sent in the whole album but not quite so I understand that it was a really hard choice! The songs you eventually chose were:
Serenata Celeste
Luna Malinconia
My Heart Is Yours
Addio Sogni Di Gloria
Rondine Al Nido
Volare
Chitarra Romana
Non Ti Scordar Ti Me
I have added these songs to the original long list and the poll is open again – so go and vote! You should be able to vote multiple times now!
In the meantime, you can listen on spotify if you click here (careful, it’s nearly three hours long!) and to help you along, here’s Alfie on his UK Winter tour last year:
Serenata is available here:
thanks for reading, sharing and voting!
if you like what you see, why not subscribe?
all your Alfie info straight to your inbox
plus 4 exclusive photos
and the chance to enter and win the next exciting Alfie giveaway
Last Night of the Proms is a British Institution and more recently, that has included Proms in the Park. The finale of the Last Night is always the patriotic fervour of Rule Britannia, Pomp and Circumstance et al and is guaranteed to get the crowd singing along enthusiastically (depending on whether we know the words!). This repertoire will have been bread and butter to Alfie as an aspiring and jobbing operatic tenor so he would have no trouble in remembering the words!
I have fairly often watched the second half of Last Night of the Proms on TV throughout my life and enjoyed it but never thought to attend Proms in the Park despite living just down the road from the London venue. All that changed in 2012 when I first fell into the world of Alfie Boe and got a ticket to see Alfie at the London Proms in the Park. I had met the ever lovely Linda W (not forgetting Alfie!) the week before at the Bluewater book signing and spent a delightful day with her in Hyde Park before the music started.
Since then, Alfie has appeared twice more at Proms in the Park (Glasgow and Belfast) and a furious evening of TV channel hopping and online surfing has duly commenced for me and every other UK fan sitting at home; I well remember the fury expressed when the BBC cut Alfie off in 2014 and then failed to show much of his set in the highlights!
Going further back, Alfie’s first recorded Proms in the Park was Swansea and of course, he appeared with Michael Ball in the Proms proper in 2008. Hopefully, Alfie will appear in many more Proms in the Park’s in years to come – until then we’ll have to content ourselves with his past performances, now in a playlist:
My favourite videos from this list are the bookend performances: Swansea and Belfast. I adore Alfie’s operatic performances, particularly Brindisi so it was wonderful to hear La Donna e Mobile in Belfast last year whilst also hearing the beauty of Serenata. I suppose it depends on where you stand in the classical Alfie vs. rock Alfie discussion as to which your favourite is – but do leave a comment and tell me.
No one was surprised when Bring Him Home made it to the top spot but there were a few surprises along the way, namely A Living Prayer placed at number 2. The final top ten was as follows:
10: You Are My Hearts Delight
9: Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna
8: If You Go Away
7: Rosie
6: Parlami D’Amore Mariu
5: Wayfaring Stranger
4: Je Crois Entendre Encore
3: Rank Strangers
2: A Living Prayer
1: Bring Him Home
Now you may notice that there are only nine videos on this list – that’s because the ninth best song, Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna has never been performed live. Taken from You’ll Never Walk Alone, I must confess to being a little surprised that this song made it onto the Top Ten in place of other more well known songs (Wheels of a Dream comes to mind). However, perhaps it is the very fact that we don’t hear it very often that made people vote for it.
Not knowing much about this particular song meant that I had to put in a bit of research and was somewhat surprised to learn that it comes from a 1972 Franco Zeffirelli film Brother Sun, Sister Moon which is about St Francis of Assisi. Donovan wrote and performed the songs on the soundtrack and re-recorded them in the early 1990’s. More recently, Friar Alessandro has recorded the song.
Since this poll was revealed, we have of course, had a new album, Serenata and so the question I ask you today is:
Are there any Serenata songs you would love to see in the top ten?
And so we reach the final instalment of your Favourite Alfie Boe Tour Moments. And the winner of the overall poll is:
Serenata tour 2014
This tour also yielded by far and away the most comments from voters. Highlights include:
Quadrophenia at the O2 with Rick Wakeman
Meeting Alfie at the stage door in Newcastle (the one and only time he came to the stage door on this tour)
Standing ovation after Bring Him Home – and hearing it live for the first time
Danny Boy in Cardiff and Newcastle
Bring Him Home at the O2 – first time since the Les Mis 25th anniversary concert
Being on the train to Cardiff with a group of mad but fabulous women
Buona Sera and My Heart is Yours at Cardiff
The two videos I’ve chosen were also chosen by voters and thanks to Linda W for sharing both – the first is from Newcastle and shows Alfie’s mishap with the razor (the lack of beard was a subject of much debate afterwards!):
The second is from the O2 and captures perfectly one of the show stopping moments from the show: Alfie singing Caruso and the curtain dropping to reveal the orchestra half way through:
Serenata is available here:
thanks for reading, voting and sharing your favourite tour moments – I enjoyed reading them all and included as many as possible
