I watched The Great Gatsby yesterday - the 1974 film with the Frances Ford Coppola screenplay and with the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow duo making their appearance as J. Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan respectively - and I was noticeably caught up in the drama of F. Scott's story and characters. I have to say, I am most sympathetic to Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston) who watches the lives of his rich and often thoughtless friends implode. After Nick, I find myself caring most about Gatsby, a man who has willed/tricked himself into believing that the woman he loves is truly worthy of him, when actually her character is tragically flawed and she is more than a little selfish.
The opening credits to The Great Gatsby roll along with "What'll I Do" from Nelson Riddle's score for the film. It is a perfectly morbid song when played across a backdrop of Gatsby's possessions - both gratuitous and lonely - in his enormous house, with pictures of Daisy everywhere, and a half-eaten egg-salad sandwich rotting with flies in the picturesque atmosphere of the rich. There's something mortal being conveyed through that sandwich, in all the splendor: something mortal and a sense of abandonment that is only strengthened by the tenor and the intent of the song, which conveys a longingly broken soul resigned to that broken state.
"What'll I Do" was written by Irving Berlin ("Blue Skies," "Puttin' On the Ritz," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "White Christmas," and many more) in 1923. It has become a jazz standard, recorded by many artists (and the version I have on my iPod is by the trumpet player Chris Botti with vocalist Paula Cole.
The original lyrics are as follows (in the Chris Botti/Paula Cole version, the first section of the lyrics is not sung, but instead the trumpet plays the voice):
Gone is the romance that was so divine,
'tis broken and cannot be mended.
You must go your way,
and I must go mine.
But now that our love dreams have ended...
What'll I do
When you are far away
And I am blue
What'll I do?
What'll I do?
When I am wondering who
Is kissing you
What'll I do?
What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?
When I'm alone
With only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do?
What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?
When I'm alone
With only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do?
Nat "King" Cole does a lovely, simmering, smoky version that downplays the heaviness and sorrow in the delivery. Garrison Keillor (whose voice I completely adore) does a softly sad cover as a duet with a female vocalist who I do not recognize and whose name is not credited in any of the places I generally look for credits. I love this song, and I wish I could find a cover by Etta James and Nina Simone, along with Zooey Deschanel + M. Ward, Regina Spektor, and Bat For Lashes. Sometimes standards are standard for a reason.
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