For me, music came first. My mother is a musician and our house was always filled with tunes.
Many of us grow up hating our parents’ music. I did not. This is not to say I didn’t develop my own tastes somewhere along the way, but I did not automatically discount that which filled her record collection.
Broadway cast albums, movie musical soundtracks, they made up the majority of her wares. Did I just tolerate them while she was around and playing them? No, while she worked or was out of the house I would still play them on my own. I’m sorry, but a song’s a song and no matter what the genre, I simply love … songs.
Three of my favorites that I played until the grooves wore out were the original Broadway cast album of Lerner and Loewe’s “Camelot”, a television revival of “Brigadoon”, and “Robert Goulet on Broadway”. They all featured a face and a voice I envied since as long as I could remember. From the first time I could recognize and appreciate singing, I thought that no man could sing that well and no man was that handsome. To aspire to match either trait was simply beyond comprehension, and that one man possessed both was blatantly unfair. It is said that it was Goulet who was singing on television when Elvis grabbed a gun and put a hole through the picture tube, realizing that even he could never sing so well or look so good.
Time passed, tastes changed, and yes, like so many artists of most every era, Goulet became somewhat of a caricature of himself. His cameo appearance in the film Atlantic City was the ultimate test of guts as he parodied his own self-parody.
And yet it was still impossible to forget his prime. “Camelot” remains one of Broadway’s greatest scores and every Lancelot who ever dons the costume will forever remain in Mr. Goulet’s shadow.
It was only upon his passing today that I also learned that he was a Massachusetts native; a Red Sox fan. Trifecta.
Death occurs every day, and often we hear of the passing of famous people that we never had the pleasure of meeting. Most merit nothing more than a “Hmmm…” and then a return to whatever we were doing. Robert Goulet’s untimely passing today was not one of those times. It made me stop; it made me sad and wistful. It filled me with regret and left a void in my heart. Rest in peace, Mr. Goulet. You were truly blessed. And above all, thank you for bringing awe to our lives.
