1968 Esther And Abi Ofarim: Cinderella Rockefella

Well where to start? 'Cinderella Rockefella' is a song I seem to have been familiar with forever. To my young years, having no idea what these people looked like, I'd always pictured Esther's disembodied ghostly shrill as coming from an aged Bianca Castofiore lookalike (yes, I was a big TinTin fan as a lad) while Abi was a suave, middle aged Dean Martin type in tuxedo and spats. It didn't make the song any more enjoyable, but it did give it an 'adult' context that made sense of why I found it so strange and unyielding. And with that in mind it came as some surprise when I eventually found out they were actually a young couple with film star good looks. Not that this made the song any more enjoyable either - three minutes of yodelled sweet nothings over a variation on the theme from Steptoe and Son is going to need more of a boost than a good looking front end to salvage it. Yes I know it's meant to be humorous and all that, but compared to the genuine warmth emanating from that 'other' couple singing sweet nothings to each other, 'Cinderella Rockefella' is cold and charmless. Esther sings with intensity yet still sounds like a flake while Abi is too smug and self satisfied for anyone's good, creating a mismatch car crash sound of a couple on a blind date going off the rails.