Stacey Kent's Superb "You're Looking at Me"

Recently, cycling the back roads of Tavira, Portugal, I found myself humming a fragment of melody that I couldn’t quite identify. Then it came to me – Diana Krall’s rendition of “You’re Looking at Me.” There was a time back in the nineties when I collected Krall albums. I adored her singing. “You’re Looking at Me” is on her 1996 album All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio. 

When I returned home, I delved into my jazz collection. I listened to Krall’s “You’re Looking at Me.” It’s very good. But I found an even better version on Stacey Kent’s 2001 Dreamsville. Kent sings it slightly faster. Her exquisite crystalline voice intoxicates.   

A quick Google search discloses that “You’re Looking at Me” was composed by jazz pianist Bobby Troup in 1953. It’s been recorded by Nat “King” Cole, Carmen McRae, Cleo Laine, and John Pizzarelli, among others. It’s a superb melodic song – a wry, self-mocking meditation on romantic disillusion. I love its opening line: “Who had the boys turning hand springs?” And the clear, precise way Kent enunciates “ridiculous” in the line “Believed every word of this ridiculous tale” is pure poetry. I can’t get this song out of my head. It’s indelible.