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SOUTH PACIFIC
AN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING

Vinyl liner notes
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SIDE 1 –

1  SOUTH PACIFIC OVERTURE

2  DITES-MOI
Nellie Forbush and Children

3  A COCKEYED OPTIMIST
Nellie Forbush

4  TWIN SOLILOQUIES – SOME ENCHANTED EVENING
Nellie Forbush, Emile de Becque

5  BLOODY MARY
Ken Darby Male Chorus

6  MY GIRL BACK HOME
Lt. Cable and Nellie Forbush

7  THERE’S NOTHIN’ LIKE A DAME
Ken Darby Male Chorus

8  BALI HA’I
Bloody Mary and The Ken Darby Singers
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SIDE 2 –

1  I’M GONNA WASH THAT MAN RIGHT OUTA MY HAIR
Nellie Forbush and The Ken Darby Singers

2  I’M IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL GUY
Nellie Forbush and The Ken Darby Singers

3  YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME
Lt. Cable

4  HAPPY TALK
Bloody Mary

5  HONEY BUN
Nellie Forbush

6  CAREFULLY TAUGHT
Lt. Cable

7  THIS NEARLY WAS MINE
Emile de Becque

8  FINALE
Nellie Forbush, Emile de Becque and Children
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Just as stage pantomime and ballet have developed ways of telling stories without words, so have record albums like this one created in recent years the newer art of telling a story to the ear without benefit of what the eye can see.  When a medium of entertainment approaches us through only one of our senses, it automatically demands of us more attention, more contribution from our own imagination to compensate for the senses we are not permitted to use.  Thus to listen to an album of this kind, and to be called upon to supply one’s own visual accompaniment, can be a most rewarding pastime.  If one has already seen the film of “South Pacific” one can recapture to a degree the appearance of the characters as they sang, the emotions they portrayed and the backgrounds against which they performed.

If one has not seen the picture, then one can conjure up from his own fund of experiences and fancies and desires what he thinks the characters should look like, how he thinks they should be portraying their roles, and where he thinks should be the scenes in which the songs are sung.

This is a “sound track” album.  That means that when you play it you are hearing the songs sung exactly as they are sung in the picture.

If you find, as we do, that these records are unusually “alive,” if the personalities of the singers and the characters they play seem to emerge as you listen to them, it is because the songs were recorded with as much concern for their dramatic significance as for their vocal and orchestral performances.

On the sound stages of 20th Century-Fox Studios in Hollywood, Alfred Newman conducted his orchestra with the care and command for which he is noted.  For many weeks before this he had been supervising musical arrangements, working with his vocal director, Kenneth Darby, to perfect the interpretations of the singing principals and choruses.  But on these sound stages, as the tracks were being made, there was one other element represented by Joshua Logan, the director of the picture.  He too had been working with the singers, on dramatic interpretations.  As they made these tracks he was watching them and listening to them.

He was there to create characterization, to project the songs out into the South Sea islands where they were meant to be.  That is why this album seems to have a quality that is almost visual.  A great deal of what the characters are feeling in their hearts can be heard in their voices.  There is something more here than mere singing.

Those who are familiar with the show score of “South Pacific” will discover a new musical number in this collection.  It is called “My Girl Back Home.”

Strictly speaking it is not new because it was written for the original production.  The necessity of cutting the show down to a reasonable time forced us to eliminate this song before it was ever tried on an audience.  We have always been a little wistful about this and wondered whether it was a wise decision.  We have restored the song to the score of the film version.  We believe it adds value to the story.  It emphasizes the plight of Cable and Nellie who, like so many young Americans during World War II, found themselves in strange places, leading lives for which they had never been prepared.  “My Girl Back Home” brings back to them – and to the audience – the recollection of their backgrounds, so incongruous with their current problems.  We think it adds depth to our understanding of the special situations Cable and Nellie face, and that therefore it belongs in the score.

In common with most authors and composers we are inclined to be hypercritical when our songs are being performed.  We make this confession in order to add weight to our endorsement of these sound tracks.  If we could have this whole score re-recorded, the corrections we would suggest would be negligible.  We are very happy to have in our possession an oral document of “South Pacific” so complete and so satisfying as we find this one.

Richard Rodgers
Oscar Hammerstein, II
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STEREO

© 1958, RCA, New York, N.Y. Printed in U.S.A. Tmk(s) ® Registered. Marca(s) Registrada(s) Radio Corporation of America. Made in U.S.A.


AYL1-3681

Previously released as LOS-1032

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