I was never a fan but never disliked him either.

I used to eat at an Italian restaurant frequently. One day Leilani and I were sitting, waiting for our meal, and the song "Speak Softly Love" from "The Godfather" movie was playing. Occupational delight: Leilani and I listen intently to everything and evaluate it.

When Andy got to the end of the song, we were stunned. We both looked at each other with wide eyes and almost gasped. From the key change at about 2:00 to the end of the song the performance is truly spectacular. The emotion and the pure singing skill is astounding. Especially at 2:30 to the end when he drifts up higher and higher while his voice is lighter and lighter but the emotion is even more intense than before. Stunned, all we could say was "Wow"!

So we asked the waitress if she knew who was singing that song. She went into the back and brought the cassette out. We both remarked, "Andy Williams?!?!?!?"

We always knew he was a good singer, but not really liking the genre he is involved with, we never really listened to him that much. What we didn't know until that day was that Andy Williams was a great singer.

Just listened to it again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBW6G0hSrs and I still get chills down my spine.

I don't care if that is your preferred genre of music, or even if you hate the song, any musician should be able to appreciate the taste and the chops he displayed on that song.

Since then we've heard some kitsch by Andy (we all do that) and some other great performances. Not always necessarily my cup of tea, but always done well, artistically, and appropriately for the song.

RIP Andy and thanks for the music in my head and for the thrill in that pizza parlor that almost brought tears to our eyes.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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