Today's rant

Am I just an old crochet, an elderly curmudgeon who can't stand new ways of doing things? I don't think so. Generally, I'm pretty tolerant and sometimes I've even been at the cutting edge of what's new and exciting. But one thing that really upsets me, that makes me grind what's left of my teeth in rage, is to listen to a lovely ballad being mutilated by some trendy, wailing contemporary -- and here I'm stuck for a word, something that doesn't often happen to me -- singer? No! Those who perpetrate these atrocities can't sing, can't usually span more than a couple of octaves, obviously can't read music or sing in tune by ear, and worst of all, seem to believe they can improve on a time-honoured ballad by an anonymous mediaeval composer, or on the pitch-perfect music and words of Cole Porter and others of his kind. Some of those early to mid-20th century tunes are quite lovely; a few have words to match that are genuinely poetic. A week after hearing it I'm still simmering with rage at the desecration of the hauntingly lovely tune, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, by somebody who, charitable chap though I am, I think it would have been a kindness to strangle at birth. So that's my rant for the day.