It’s a bit of a stretch, I guess, but the song that goes through my head
when I think of Martha Stewart is that wonderful Cole Porter number “Miss
Otis Regrets.” True, Martha didn’t plug her lover with a Derringer, and
when the mob arrives it will be to liberate her, not string her up. (Well,
I guess it depends which mob…), but the ambience of crime and punishment
in the midst of gentility and good breeding just fits somehow. In any case,
I’m glad to have been reminded of a lovely and funny song. My recording is
Ella Fitzgerald, who is of course superb, but I’d be interested to hear
readers’ opinions of other artistes’ efforts.
Here are the lyrics, anyway. Cole Porter was, for my money, a U.S. grade-A
genius. I even put one of his lyrics on my poetry CD