Yesterday Once More

16 May 2017

Make Believe

Hi Listeners,

One of our defence mechanisms is to fantasise or pretend when we wish to avoid unwelcome occurrences or to imagine a more magical existence. Often caused by love. Several songs this week tap into our avoidance behaviour of pretending. Petula Clark sums this up through the expression we all understand – ‘The Other Man’s Grass Is Always Greener’ while Jerry Vale’s heart wrenching ‘Pretend You Don’t See Her’ and Conway Twitty’s ‘It’s Only Make Believe’ capture the agony beneath the pretence. Perhaps the Platter’s ‘The Great Pretender’ sharply focuses the plight of the aggrieved partner.

Two old songs from troupers Doris Day (It’s Magic) and Ella Fitzgerald (I’m Making Make Believe) present different sides of making believe through the act of being in love. Doris Day’s song is upbeat and Ella’s is decidedly,downbeat. Two different songs with the same title (Land Of Make Believe) are performed by sixties girlie group, The Supremes, and Aussie band, Easybeats. However, it’s not the usual Easybeats line up – on this song Harry Vanda is the lead vocalist.

Make believe can also flow into the realm of fantasy. Margaret Whiting’s quirky and thoroughly enjoyable ‘The Money Tree’ and teen Aussie, Jamie Redfern (When You Wash Upon A Star) tap into the ‘if only’ world of fantasy. Arguably, the most gorgeous song ever written about fantasy is Bread’s ‘If’. The lyrics of the song combine with the lush arrangement and the sweet voice of David Gates to produce a soaring and melodic vision.

Playlist