Fine Wine of the Week

Bernadette Peters. "Not a Day Goes By."
From Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall



Today is Miss Peters' 60th birthday (thanks for the reminder, Mr. Spears) -- and she's still as fabulous as ever.

She is, in my opinion, one of the premier interpreters of Stephen Sondheim -- my theatre god. She's transcendent and charming and accessible and you feel every note, every sentiment, every nuance when she sings.

This song is from Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along." It's a piercing one, as it talks of the lingering residue of lost love and the yearning that invariably and inextricably comes along.

And La Peters is magnificent.

Not a day goes by
Not a single day
But you’re somewhere a part of my life
And it looks like you’ll stay
As the days go by
I keep thinking when does it end
Where’s the day I’ll have started forgetting
But I just go on thinking and sweating

And cursing and crying
And turning and reaching
And waking and dying
And no, not a day goes by
Not a blessed day
But you’re still somehow part of my life
And you won’t go away
So there’s hell to pay
And until I die
I’ll die day after day after day
After day
After day after day after day
Til the days go by
Til the days go by
Til the days go by