"Uh-one, and uh-two, and . . ." Lawrence Welk's hands go up, his hands go down. He has popped a cork, and Champagne Music fizzes gaily through the glittering ballroom of Washington's Mayflower Hotel.
A cameraman on the right of the bandstand maneuvers his ungainly instrument. His helper swings the giant spotlight. Now swish gowns, and jewels almost as valuable as an item in the national budget, come into focus. Here is a night for Lawrence to cherish! It is January 21 of the year 1957, and this is an Inaugural Ball. A penny for your thoughts, onetime farm boy, as you stand up there on the stage and survey the room. You can see the President in his box; you can see the diplomats, the senators, the political party leaders, and other prominent citizens all swirling about to your bright tunes.
Actually, Lawrence Welk will not speak his thoughts just now, so I'll play at mind reading.
I'm watching his face. He flashes that trademark smile of his, back and forth between his musicians and the milling people. Fifteen hundred watts bright tonight, it spells out as clearly as a neon sign: I'M HAPPY. Even in the very act of autographing programs for the crowd which masses around the base of the bandstand, he fairly bounces up and down to the beat of the music, allegro vivo. When have I seen such tremendous relish in the living moment? And such joy of fulfillment? He must have dreamed about this night, and waited for it a long time.
[Excerpt from the book by Mary Lewis Coakley "Mister Music Maker, Lawrence Welk"]
Tracklist:
01 Champagne Medley Time Part I: The Glory of Love/Side By Side/Somebody Else Is Taking My Place/The Trail of The Lonesome Pine/Dance With A Dolly/Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
02 Waltz Medley Time: Always/The Song Is Ended
03 Polka Time Medley: La Sorella/Silver Polka/Jolly Polka
04 Champagne Medley Time Part II:
A Little Bit Independent/I'll Never Say "Never Again" Again/You're Driving Me Crazy/Makin' Whoopee!/Scatterbrain
05 Viennese Waltz Time: Danube/Skater's Waltz/Estudiantina
06 Dance Time: I Can't Give You Anything But Love/Who's Sorry Now/The Sheik of Araby/When You're Smiling
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