Toujours Gai

"wotthehell wotthehell" might be a better tagline for mehitabel than "toujours gai", but the song is wonderful and looking up stuff about it leads to so many connections. I can't recall any setting where I first heard Earth Kitt sing "Toujours Gai" but I was immediately familiar with the song when I played it on a CD of her music I got last year. I know I've listened to it before. "The years that I've poured down the drain / Have sparkled like golden champagne." is one of those unapologetic tributes to a misspent life that catches my attention. It comes from Shinbone Alley and I assume it was originally done by Carol Channing (her version is very different).

I've always liked Eartha Kitt's voice because DrDemento plays "Santa Baby" every year and sometime in 2018 I got a CD of her songs. "Toujours Gai" is on that CD. I had driven through or near North, South Carolina at least a couple of times between Aiken and Charleston so I had to get her biography (wikipedia doesn't always cut it but it is very good in this case). In an unrelated thread or reading, I've long been a fan of Don Marquis and I didn't expect to find Shinbone Alley (which I've since ordered). It's a real shame that some of this old material is so hard or expensive to acquire.