I have just discovered that one of my favorite albums is available on iTunes: Lebendige Vergangenheit — Leonard Warren (Vol.2). Leonard Warren was a mid-20th century operatic baritone; he died young, 49 years of age, in 1960. He was reasonably famous at the time.

This album, however, is not an opera album. Rather, it’s an album of sea shanties, folk songs, and Kipling poems set to music, sung by a man with a huge voice and amazing expression. His recording of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” will lift you right out of your seat. If you think that “Blow the Man Down” and “The Drunken Sailor” are old chestnuts, you’ve not heard Warren sing them.

The whole album’s great, but my two favorite pieces on the album are by Kipling: “Gunga Din” and “Boots”. The latter is from the point of view of a British soldier serving in Africa. Soldiers in those days got from place to place by marching, and Africa is a big place. Soldiers marched for thousands of miles. And there’s nothing to see as you march but “Boots, boots, boots, boots, going up and down again, and there’s no discharge in the war!”

Seriously, get this album…either from iTunes, or, if you prefer, from Amazon. (Note, I don’t get any kickbacks.)