The major categories of popular music-pop, rock and country-don`t seem to be coming up with memorable songs any more, says Brenda Lee, a multi-million- seller of records in each of those formats.
”I don`t know what to attribute it to,” she adds, ”but there don`t seem to be any songs that are holding up, that people are going to know and sing two decades from now.
”There are country standards and pop standards from the `20s through the `60s, and rock `n` roll standards from the `50s and `60s, but you don`t find that many from the `70s and hardly any from the `80s.
”They might be big hits right now, but try doing them in 20 years and see if anybody knows what you`re doing.”
The validity of her conclusion won`t be provable until 2008, but Lee`s opinion may reflect what she is and isn`t doing this year.
What the 43-year-old `60s superstar isn`t doing is recording-not having looked for another contract yet, she says, since ending a 30-year association with MCA Records last August.
What she is doing daily is belting out some of America`s greatest songs as the star of ”Music Music Music,” a stage production at the Opryland USA family entertainment park in Nashville.
”I think there are 260 performances, which go until October,” she says. ”I tried to pick songs that I liked-and that I thought I wouldn`t get sick of over a whole season. Starting in June, I`ve got to do them twice a day six days a week.”
Personnel at Opryland, home of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry, are more than accustomed to singing stars, but they profess to be wowed by Lee`s tremendous voice and her habit of giving every show everything she has.
The 4-foot-10-inch Lee, who has made command performances before European royalty, seems just as inspired in front of 1,600 tourists per show in Opryland`s Roy Acuff Theatre.
Lee acknowledges the compliment but shrugs. ”It`s not that I`m trying,” she says. ”It just comes.”
So it does. Here, as opposed to the recording studio in recent years, she finds music worthy of her vocal powers: such great songs as ”Over The Rainbow,” ”Rockabye Your Baby” and Lee`s own ”I`m Sorry.”
Featuring a large supporting cast of young Opryland performers, the 90-minute production pays tribute to the musical creativity of Nashville, Hollywood and New York.
Sitting in a dressing room whose walls hold 15 of her award-winning albums, Lee says her favorite part of the show is the Hollywood segment. It opens with a spectacular spaceship attack and goes on to feature a dragon-like monster puppet to whom Lee, barely as tall as its knees, sings a rock & roll medley of such tunes as ”Tutti Frutti,” ”Rip It Up” and ”Rockin` Robin.” There are moving moments as well as unlikely ones. A monologue of sage show-business advice Lee once received from Sophie Tucker ends with a riveting rendition of ”Some of These Days.”
”That actually happened to me,” Lee recalls, referring to the Tucker advice.
”I was on the `Ed Sullivan Show` that celebrated her 75th birthday-I think it was the 75th, although I could be mistaken about that-and I was supposed to follow her. Just having to follow Sophie Tucker was bad enough, but on a show celebrating her birthday, too?
”I was 16 years old, scared to death, and I was so upset I started crying. I said, `Oh, I can`t follow you, Miss Tucker, I just can`t!` She took me over into a corner and gave me this long talking-to, and after it was all over, I felt a lot better. She was a grand lady. Later on, my choreographer took all the things she told me and wrote them down, made them rhyme, and we made a dramatic thing out of it in my show.”
Lee is the first name performer to be featured in a season-long production in the history of Opryland, which recently opened its 17th season. She says her role evolved over a long time.
”Several years ago, we went to the people at Opryland and presented them with an idea that was a lot like what this show is,” she recalls.
”The idea had to do with the fact that I`ve been in the business such a long time and been involved in all facets of popular music. It was going to be sort of a chronological thing about my experiences, the people I`ve met and the different types of music I`ve been associated with: rock `n` roll, rhythm & blues, gospel, country and so on.
”At the time, they didn`t use me, but they got back in contact with me several months ago and wanted me to come do it.”
It isn`t the first time Lee has been involved in a stage production, but it`s the first time in a good while. She recalls that she did several stints in summer-stock productions of ”Bye Bye Birdie” and ”The Wizard of Oz” in the early `60s.
She would like to do more such dramatic work, she says, if the opportunity ever presents itself.
”I`ve always wanted to do something on Broadway, but I don`t know whether that will ever materialize. I`m not pursuing it, and I don`t imagine they`ll come knocking my doors down. But I`d like to do more of this. It`s quite different from what I`m used to.”
What she is used to is globe-trotting. In December, just before entering her Opryland rehearsals, she returned from another sold-out tour of Japan, where she has entertained packed houses ”just about every year since `65.”
She has had international hits not only in Japanese, but also in Spanish, Italian, German and French.
Why decide to devote a year to staying in Nashville, her hometown of more than 30 years?
”For one thing, you work that road so much it gets to be tedious and sort of old hat,” she says. ”I also thought it would be really nice just to be at home. Both our girls are gone now-one`s married and one`s in college-and my husband`s sort of by himself. I thought it would be a good time to be at home with him.”
She also hints that staying in Nashville may give her a chance to do some contract-hunting on Music Row. There are, after all, new standards-to-be to be found and sung.
”A singer needs to have records out, so I need to do something,” she observes. ”I can`t hit any (more) home runs if I`m not in the ballgame.”
