Women's voices: Grow in grace & goodness

Family deserves two days if we’re talking about women’s Voices, so let me continue.

I actually can’t recall whether my BFF first brought me to Mary Black’s “Bless the Road”, or I sent it her way. Either way, the song is inextricably woven into my friendship with her, and the mother-child link.

If other artists have covered the song (by Steve Cooney), I don’t know them, and I don’t much care about finding them. Have a listen.

The second Voice today is about a child's plea to her father to overcome his pride and help her win her lover. I think “O mio babbino caro” is just about the most exquisite aria written for the soprano range. But I have a, um, somewhat ancillary association with it.

Back when I was employed by a data networking company in Virginia, my group supported a number of major telecommunications accounts, so I worked closely with the account managers and their lead systems engineers. Some of the latter were what you might call unpolished, although being customer-facing, they certainly had their quota of charm. I walked into the office of one of the rougher and readier SEs, waiting for a project meeting to start, and I was quite surprised (read gobsmacked) to hear “O mio babbino caro” playing on his ghetto blaster.

“Why [Bob],” I said, “I didn’t know you like Puccini.”

“[Bas Bleu],” he replied, “I’m fuckin’ crazy about Puccini.”

Well—hard to cough up a comeback to that, so I just sat quietly until everyone arrived for the meeting.

(Of course, at the time I didn’t realize that he was engaged in an affair with the account manager, who happened to be a coloratura. It made somewhat more sense once I was put in the picture. Years later.)

I must have CDs from six, maybe ten different women singing this, but I’ll give you the lyric soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, as being just about the middle of the range.

The plea works: Lauretta does in fact convince her father, Gianni Schicchi, to put aside his scruples and pull a fast one on authorities so she can marry her beloved. Damn straight, it works; who wouldn't be reduced to a pool of tears after this?