I originally dedicated the song to my Facebook friend, Steven Spencer, who lives in Stalybridge, after I initially recorded it some time ago, but the death of his partner, Ken, made it inappropriate to dedicate it to him at the time. I know it takes many years to grieve the loss of a loved one, Steven. God bless you. My thoughts are with you, always. Bill x
My song today is ‘Big Spender’. This song was written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for their musical ‘Sweet Charity’ which was first performed in 1966. Peggy Lee was the first artist to record the song for her album of the same name also that year. It is sung, in the musical, by the dance hostess girls. It became a successful Broadway Musical, and also a film in 1969. A hit version of the song by Shirley Bassey reached Number 21 in the ‘UK Singles Chart’ in December 1967. This version is featured in the 2004 film ‘The Life and Death of Per Sellers’, and in the 2005 film ‘Nynne’. The song has become one of Bassey's signature songs. She has performed the song numerous times, most notably for the 80th birthday of Prince Philip. She also sang it at the 2007 ‘Glastonbury Festival’.
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Because of a sizable compensation award I received at the age of 21 years for a serious traffic accident I had at the age of 11 years, I had a sound financial safety net when I went to live in Canada for a few years in 1963 and was able to travel more than I otherwise could have done.
I recall when I moved from Montreal to Toronto to live, I soon met a lovely young woman to whom I was very attracted. I wanted to impress her on our first date by making it a special occasion which she would be unlikely to forget in a hurry. At the time I was working in ‘The Glenview Terrace Hotel’ in up-town Toronto as a Desk Clerk. The weekly wages of $40-$50 were not good but my job paid for my board and keep. The young woman in question was, to put it bluntly, ‘classy’ and she came from a family that did not materially want for anything.
So, what I did was to find a cosy restaurant and after talking with the owner, I established which day of the week was his quietest night for customers. He indicated that there was one night during the midweek when he got very few customers between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm, after which he might get half a dozen regular diners. The rest of the week it was always packed out.
The upshot was that I booked the restaurant ‘exclusively’ between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm on the owner’s quietest mid-week night. I vaguely recall having stolen the idea from some film I had once seen. The cost of the gesture was over one month’s wage, and one could say that for that evening, I certainly acted the role of ‘Big Spender’. I suppose that it was not too different than a young man spending six months' wages hiring an aircraft to fly a smoke message through the sky asking his girlfriend (in full public gaze) '"Will you marry me, Jenny? Bill" On reflection, I would never book an aircraft in that way. I'd never take the risk of her booking one in hot pursuit of my aircraft with her answer of "NO!" emblazoned in smokey fury across the sky.
Was it worth it booking the entire restaurant, I hear you ask? That is a story for another time.
Love and peace Bill xxx