For this blog’s Video Showcase we have the beautiful song Here’s To Life. Dame Shirley recorded it on the Hello Like Before album last year but has sang it also on numerous occasions during here live performances over the years. The song was originally sung by Shirley Horn and below there is a wonderful video of her singing it live.
Lyrics:
No complaints and no regrets
I still believe in chasing dreams and placing bets
But I have learned that all you give is all you get
So give it all you’ve got
I had my share, I drank my fill
And even though I’m satisfied, I’m hungry still
To see what’s down another road, beyond a hill
And do it all again
So here’s to life
And every joy it brings
So here’s to life
To dreamers and their dreams
Funny how the time just flies
How love can go from warm hellos to sad goodbyes
And leave you with the memories you’ve memorized
To keep your winters warm
But there’s no yes in yesterday
And who knows what tomorrow brings, or takes away
As long as I’m still in the game, I want to play
For laughs, for life, for love
So here’s to life
And every joy it brings
So here’s to life
To dreamers and their dreams
May all your storms be weathered
And all that’s good get better
Here’s to life
Here’s to love
And here’s to you
The video on the top is from a live performance in Manchester by Dame Shirley from 2006 and of course below that one the studio version from the Hello Like Before album.
Thanks Pieter, this is a wonderful montage of a great song which I think Shirley sings with real passion. Wonderful memory of a live performance on her last UK tour in 2006.
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Fantastic artikel Pieter, Thanks for it!
I like the photograph with the streetview very much!
And THE song ? GREAT !!!
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PIETER MANY THANKS, JUST GREAT, JUST LOVE THIS RENDITION BY THE TWO SHIRLEY’S OF A BEAUTIFUL SONG,” HERE’S TO LIFE,” HAVING GOOD NEWS ON A HEALTH ISSUE YESTERDAY,
NOT ONLY THE SONG, BUT THE LYRICS HIT HOME,
“HERE’S TO LIFE” THANK YOU & DSB FOR BEING THERE FOR ME,
WHEN I NEEDED YOU BOTH, ALSO MY 7TH OF JANUARY FRIEND
DENNIS JERSEY C.I
,
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Dennis, glad to hear of good news with the health issue. Very, very happy for you, and thank you for being my January 7th Friend also.
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Pieter you have really outdone yourself again with this posting. Dame Shirley sounds really beautiful in both recordings, as all my above fellow commentators and friends have expressed. I enjoyed Shirley Horn’s rendition also. Wow…her HLB was publicized on those great outdoors advertisement pictures. Thanks again Pieter!!!
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A lovely song. It’s become a contemporary standard. Every diva of a certain age has recorded it and/or included it in their live set. It could be said it’s been recorded TOO much and often with little variation in mood or tone. Eartha Kitt performed a rousing uptempo version in her live act. Even so, Shirley Horn’s original is still the definitive version
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That billboard of DSB’s “Hello Like Before” is breathtaking. Is it real? What was the locale?
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