Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

It's July, a new month, and that definitely calls for a song. As chance would have it, Paul Popa is back, and last night, we recorded a song. It is from 1930, by the great writing team of Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn, My Baby Just Cares For Me. 

This song was a huge hit in its day, by both male and female vocalists.  But then, Nina Simone got hold of it in 1958 and styled it her own way, and that became the standard for the song. She took it to a whole new level. And from then on, it became mainly a song for female vocalists, which is still true today. And they sing it beautifully, all following Nina Simone's lead. But, the original lyric, "My baby don't care for pearls and laces" tells you that it was written for men. The way the women sing it is, "My baby don't care for cars and races." 

But, Paul and I had a lot of fun doing this song because this is my own arrangement of it, and then as we started playing it, Paul had suggestions on timing and phrasing, which we added. And it's his improvisation during the instrumental. So, this is a very unique version of My Baby Just Cares For Me which you won't hear anywhere else. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADrN8MRAqAM&feature=youtu.be