Letter: Song lines

IN RESPONSE to Tim de Lisle's introduction to 'Lives of the great songs' (Sunday Review, 11 September), I would like to point out that 'Fever' does not belong to the Broadway tradition but to R&B. If Madonna took it from Peggy Lee, she had already taken it from Little Willie John. As Dave Marsh rightly points out, 'Lee was like an advertisement for sex: Willie John was the thing itself'.

This statement captures the difficulty that genuine lovers of music will always have with 'easy listening'. Given the choice, Radio 2 will always play Maria Muldaur's version of 'Midnight at the Oasis', never that of the Brand New Heavies, or Bill Haley's version of 'Rip It Up', never that of Little Richard. In each case the latter version is superior. The best music is always difficult and overwhelming, never contained and tame: it is, at least for a moment, real sex and real death, not some guy calling an answering machine to hear the voice of his dead lover to a tune you could use to advertise groceries.

Glencarse, Perthshire