Luther Vandross - My Favorite Things (Epic Records 1995)

"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. The song was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production, and sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film. In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a reference to things Maria loves, such as 'raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens'. These are the things she selects to fill her mind with when times are bad. The first section of the melody has the distinctive property of using only the notes 1, 2, and 5 (Do, Re, and Sol) of the scale. Rodgers then harmonized this same section of the melody differently in different stanzas, using a series of minor triads one time and major triads the next. The song ends with a borrowed line of lyric and notes from Rodgers' earlier composition with Lorenz Hart, "Glad to Be Unhappy," a standard about finding peace in the midst of unrequited love. Using the same two notes for the phrasing of "so sad" in the original song, Rodgers brings the gloom of my "Favorite Things" to a similar upbeat ending -- "and then I don't feel so bad."



Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things



Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things



When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I just simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad



The girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

The snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into spring

These are a few of my favorite things



When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I just simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad



When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

So bad any more

Not any more