Picture of a Go-Between

Grant McLennan photo by John Nixon, Brisbane, 1981

"When the rain hit the roof/With the sound of a finished kiss/like when a lip lifts from a lip/I took the Wrong Road round"

Tony Amazes Me

My height ... just average

My weight ... just average

And my IQ is like you'd estimate, just average

But evidently she does not agree

Consequently, if I seem at sea ...

It amazes me, it simply amazes

What she sees in me

Dazzles me, dazes me

That I've learned to clip my wings

And soften my ways

These are ordinary things

Unworthy of praise

Yet she praises me

Just knowing I'd try for her

When so many would,

If they could,

Die for her

I'm the one who's worldly-wise

And nothing much phases me

But to see me in her eyes

It just amazes me.

When I listen to Tony Bennett, I listen to the more mature recordings. Every bump and bobble in his delivery has been earned.

'It Amazes Me' has such an air-tight form that when a master like Bennett gets hold of it, the song is like one long sigh of satisfaction.

Glorious.

P