Paula West leaned into the mic and seemed to tap deep into some inner well of song as she belted the line “I could be another Lincoln, if I only had a brain,” the plaintiff tune by Harold Arlen from the Wizard of Oz.
A far cry from the scarecrow’s version, West’s interpretation wrung all the longing and desperation from the tune, a skill she’s adeptly applied to many well-worn songs through a singing career that’s stretched across three decades.
“Good music stays with us and is open to different interpretations,” said West, sitting in the lounge of the Nikko Hotel where she’s performing a series of shows in Feinstein’s, running