Fenster writes:

Tip o’ th’ hat to UR colleague Eddie Pensier for the “five way” idea.

Here is a 5 way Lush Life.  Since it’s a plural thing, make that Lushes’ Life.   Or maybe Luscious Life, depending on the arrangement.

Since UR readers are busy people, the five links below are not to the entire song but only to one phrase in it.  C’mon, it’ll take only a couple of minutes–play it through.

Life is lonely again,
And only last year everything seemed so sure.
Now life is awful again,
A troughful of hearts could only be a bore.*

Lush Life is a good song from which to snatch phrases since it is one of those songs called “through-composed”, i.e., it is not based on repetitions and is therefore chock full of, or trough filled with, discrete musical phrases.

The song is an interpreter’s dream, and versions vary tremendously, from the hepcat to the dolorous and everything in between.  I tend to prefer the latter, and most enjoy the versions that bring out the sadness in the mood and the uncentered strangeness of the music.  There are a lot of unexpected chord changes.  You could say it changes key a lot but I am not sure it is in a key in the first place.  As this web commenter put it, there is “no dominant”.  Add to that the verses have varying bar lengths.  No AABAs here, no big “come home to momma” resolutions. For these reasons, the song is considered hard to sing, as will be noted below.

First, someone who makes it look and sound easy: Sarah Vaughan.

Next up, Andy Bey’s very downbeat version.  He also has the chops to nail the unconventional, shifty melody.

But what if you are not so long on chops, strictly speaking?  You can still nail it, if you only know how.  Blossom Dearie says that it took her “eleven years to learn” and that “it is difficult to play and even harder to sing.”  Despite the fact that her voice is not huge, I think she sounds great.

Yes, if you are not blessed with a huge voice, you have to know how.  Here, poor Rickie Lee Jones–a Blossom Dearie wannabe I expect–struggles through the phrase to adoring fans.  Heck, she doesn’t worry about hitting the odd notes, she just talks her way through them.

Last, the Chairman of the Board.  Here, in an out-take, he tries to get through the phrase and gives up.  He laughingly grouses  “it’s not only tough enough with the way it is, but he’s got some ‘clydes‘ in there.”  He decides to put it on the shelf for a year, but it never made it to vinyl.

*(note that last line: it is listed variously on lyrics sites as “trough full”, “troughful”, “traw full” and “thoughtful”.  I always thought it was “truffle”.)