Friday, December 24, 2010: Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear?

Christmas Eve.  Do you hear what I hear?

There are about a thousand songs I could have chosen for this day, but I had to start somewhere, right?

And I can think of very few, if any, better starting places than this performance of Whitney Houston on the Jay Leno Show, 1991.

This is pre- Whitney Houston. Pre-tabloid fodder Whitney, pre-Bobby Brown Whitney, pre-train wreck Whitney.

We are still in the era of number 1 hits like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and probably one of the most stirring renditions of the Star Spangled Banner ever performed.

And pre- Whitney has, to this day, one of the greatest voices that has been recorded.  I'm not saying she's better than Ella Fitzgerald, but she's certainly breathing down her neck.  Whitney had "it", that magical component that elevates a talent up from merely very good into the stratosphere of rarefied expression.  Whitney had "it" in truckloads.

There are always up and coming singers who are billed as the next Whitney Houston.  Let me be clear.  There will never be another Whitney Houston.

And, yes, I'm using the past tense.  Whitney is still great, mind you, but that IT that she had is such copious amounts as all been squandered away by now.  Her voice is something different.  Like Billie Holiday in her later career, its a voice that carries a different message, expresses a different feeling.  Sings a different tone.

It kills me that I can't get a better recording of this, but a snapshot of the Mona Lisa is still looking at the Mona Lisa.  And a crummy YouTube capture of Whitney Houston singing, for me, the definitive version of this oft covered Christmas classic, is still Whitney Houston singing.

And that is as close to magic as we come in this season of magical wishes and visions.

Gentle Readers, thank you for all your support of this humble blog so far, and may you all have a blessed Christmas.

God bless you, every one of you.