Donuel, is it possible to play [on] the cello without deep feeling? It's too beautiful an instrument to sound shallow when played by anyone, even a first-year student.

But back to the subject:

Please, folks, the title of the song is "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" NOT "Buddy"! Brother, brother, brother. *end of mini-rant*

I prefer Rudy Vallee's version of the song to Bing Crosby's. Seems the older I get (and the more I read about what a pr*ck the man was), the less I care for Crosby's song-stylings.

Judy Collins's version is simply dreadful. I'm not familiar with Mary Flower's version, but for me the song loses a lot of power when sung by a female. (Ooooh, how un-P.C. of me as a fellow female!) Sorry, ladies, but this is a song that needs to be sung by a man. Not just any man, either, but one with a gruff voice to offset the tone of the lyrics -- otherwise the whole thing comes off as sounding whiney and self-pitying. The character "Al" is obviously not a whiner, but a hard-as-nails "regular Joe" who is angry and weary, betrayed and bewildered by the things American government and industry have done to him.