“You’re Gonna Hear From Me” is a song by the late André Previn written with his then wife Dory, from the movie Inside Daisy Clover . Natalie Wood’s original vocals were dubbed for the movie, but YouTube features the rather touchingly strained Wood vocalisations:
Mark Steyn writes that for many Great American Songbook pieces (and those of that ilk) “there’s a definitive ballad treatment and a definitive up-tempo version and they’re both by Frank.” (this is in the course of an article on Sinatra’s hilariously bad up-tempo version of Some Enchanted Evening) For me, the definitive treatment of “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” is Scott Walker’s.
Usually, “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” is done as a rather narcissistic, boastful song (of course, with a dramatic irony in the context of “Inside Daisy Clover”) – witness the versions of Frank:
And La Streisand:
And Shirley Bassey (though this is my favourite so far):
Scott Walker, however, brings a vulnerability, delicacy and yearning to the song. His version is entirely without narcissism or boastfulness, more of a sadly, gently defiant expression.
Scott;s obituaries focused on his transformation from teen pop idol to avant-garde experimentalist. Just how good he was as an interpreter of “mainstream” popular song was obscured by this narrative. I like a good auld avant garde workout along the lines of Bish Bosch or Soused as much as the next guy, but part of me suspects that these works may have less of a shelf life than some of the more conventional outings for Scott:
Séamus Sweeney 