This was a song I worked on translating with my then mentor, Jean Kelly, in 1994, and I performed it as the finale to a one-man show I put on San Diego in 1995. I was only 28 then! If you can’t tell, I sang & signed this song simultaneously– a hard feat because what I was signing was not the same as what I was singing. I signed it as ASL as I could while singing English. Do you like it? Leave a comment to let me know what you think. Or, if you would sign it differently, post a video response.

By the way, looking back I can see that I took this song too slow, and my singing and signing were a bit over-the-top. Oh, well!

P.S. “Over the Rainbow” was composed by Harold Arlan with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. It is from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, and it was sung by Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy. Judy Garland was known for "Over the Rainbow" her whole life. My piano accompanist on this song was James Bianchi.

I’m working on overcoming my classical training to sing the way I talk. Here I’m talking about and showing the difference between my “standardized” voice and my “individualized” voice, using the song Chasing Cars to give examples. What do you think?

You may have heard the jazz standard “My Satin Doll” written by Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn. Well, I learned that song when I was in high school and I attended the Fullerton Jazz Festival music contest— singing contest. It was adjudicated, and we got to go up there are do our stuff and get some feedback from the adjudicators. Well, I remember when I learned that song it just struck me as a little odd, like why would you call her your satin doll, and why would she speak Latin?

Well, a few years went by, and I learned a little bit more about the Jazz Age, and Harlem, and the different people that hung out there, and some of the lingo. And it really struck me that maybe the song was originally written “My Latin Doll.” Meaning, like, my “Latina” doll. Because if you think about the lyrics, there’s all kinds of Spanish in there, like “careful amigo, you’re flippin’” and, uh… “doin’ my rhumbas with uno.” So there’s at least three “Latin”—Spanish—words in there. And think about it— who “speaks” Latin, anyway? I mean, maybe people read Latin, or they can write Latin (or sing or recite Latin), but Latin’s a dead language. Nobody really “speaks” Latin. And even if there are some academicians that meet at, like, some special conference once a year and maybe they speak a little Latin with each other? Eh, I’m not buyin’ it. I don’t see how that’s a sexy thing, that “I’m going out with this girl who speaks Latin.” Okay?

So, at the risk of questioning the lyrics of the great songwriters, I just want to sing it the way it makes sense to me. Think about it. I would love to hear your comments, and I would love it if anyone knew any historical facts about this song and if there were some way to know what the intention was originally. ‘Cause I’m wondering if there was a little political correctness going on where they had to change it from what it originally was.

Anyway, here’s the way it makes sense to me:

Cigarette holder
Which wigs me
Over her shoulder
She digs me
Out cattin’ that Latin doll

Baby shall we go
Out skippin’?
Careful amigo, you’re flippin’
Wears satin, that Latin doll

She’s nobody’s fool so I’m playing it cool as can be
I’ll give it a whirl but I ain’t for no girl catching me

Switcheroonie!

Telephone numbers
Well you know
Doing my rhumbas
With uno
And that’n my Latin doll
And that’n my Latin doll
Wears satin, my Latin doll

I sing this Christmas song and simultaneously express it in signs from ASL (American Sign Language). I purposely adapted some of the hand-shapes to create sign-rhymes. While no song that is simultaneously sung and signed is truly ASL, I do hope that I have created something here that can be enjoyed by both hearing and deaf people. I also believe that people of all faiths can appreciate the hope that each newborn child brings: that he or she may help to heal this world.

I called my mom on Mother’s Day and sang her this song from Peter Pan that she used to sing to me when tucking me in at night. I tried to subtitle, but I couldn’t figure it out. The lyrics are:

The angel voice that bids you goodnight
Kisses your cheek, whispers ‘sleep tight’
Your mother and mine
Your mother and mine

The helping hand that guides you along
Whether you’re right, whether you’re wrong
Your mother and mine
Your mother and mine

What makes mothers all that they are?
Might as well ask what makes a star

Ask your heart to tell you her worth
Your heart must say heaven and earth
Another word for divine
Your mother and mine
Your mother and mine

Here are the lyrics to this 1946 popular song by Mack Gordon:

You make me feel so young.
You make me feel so “Spring has sprung”,
And every time I see you grin
I’m such a happy individual.

The moment that you speak
I want to go and play hide-and-seek.
I want to go and bounce the moon
Just like a toy balloon.

You and I are just like a couple of tots
Runnin’ across the meadow
Pickin’ up lots of forget-me-nots.

You make me feel so young.
You make me feel there are songs to be sung,
Bells to be rung, wonderful fling to be flung.
And even when I’m old and gray
I’m gonna feel the way I do today
‘Cause you – you make me feel so young.

You make me feel so young.
You make me feel so young.
Ooo – you make me feel so young.

Paul McCartney and The Police -
do you have to be old to understand?
Originally uploaded by danielgreene.

Well, here I am in Starbucks at the age of 40, telling the 20-something cashier how excited I am that my partner and I are going to see The Police in concert next Monday night– when I find myself having to explain to the young lady who The Police were. ;-( Nevermind telling her that The Police was the band Sting was in before he went solo; that would be like telling her that Paul McCartney is the guy who used to be the lead singer of The Beatles! (Who’s Sting? Who were The Beatles? Oh dear!)

Seriously, though, once I told her that The Police brought the world such indelible hits as Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Message in a Bottle, and Wrapped Around Your Finger, she got it. And if you have the chance to discover — or rediscover — The Police, I highly recommend it! It may be the closest you’ll ever come to a reunion of The Beatles until you go to heaven, if there is such a place. And if there is, I count on attending live concerts of The Beatles and The Police on a regular basis.

• My grandmother on my mother’s side was a singer who performed in vaudeville. She toured the Orpheum circuit as Linda Preston with comedian Gene Sheldon. If you have an Orpheum theatre in your town, chances are she performed there! She was also a member of SAG under the name Audrey Arent, and she did a Mitchum deodorant commercial and appeared as an extra in the movies King Kong (1976), Network, and The Turning Point.
• My grandfather on my mother’s side was Johnny Drake of The Modernaires– yes, Glenn Miller’s Modernaires who appeared in The Glenn Miller Story.
• My grandmother on my father’s side, Helene Greene, was an interior designer and an award-winning painter.
• My grandfather on my father’s side, Ernest Greene, played trumpet and harmonica in jazz bands as a young man.
• My mother, Jonni Greene, sang in musicals throughout high school and junior college. She has sung in choruses of one form or another since I was 10.
• My father, Andrew Greene, took some painting a sculpting courses and supported a friend in teaching and promoting her art classes.

I am grateful to my family for passing down their tradition of performing and visual arts, and for encouraging me in my artistic endeavors.