You and Me – by Lalith Paranavitana

Introduction by Des Kelly

     Listened to the song, a very difficult one to sing, and one that was possibly chosen by “The Voice”, himself. Many changes of key involved, plus lyrics that only experts like Sinatra could sing meaningfully.

Lalith has produced an excellent cover version of this song, right down to the last note. He has a rich baritone voice, ideal for ballads of this sort, the backing track & production of the song was also very good, so, on behalf of e’Lanka, I would like to congratulate him 100%. If he can produce a video of this song c/w a picture of himself,  with his story as per his e’mail, I think that we would be very proud to publish it on e’Lanka. He will have to realize that there are no finances involved, but a donation to e’Lanka would be appreciated by us. Vocalists such as Lalith are a pride to Sri Lanka! Regards, Des Kelly (editor-in-chief – eLanka).              

About Lalith Paranavitana

I grew up in Sri Lanka and immigrated to the USA in 1989

I really appreciated the music that we heard on the SLBC commercial service and remember listening to your songs on Sunday Choice. I hope you are keeping well and still singing.

The strange thing is that all the songs that were played on SLBC stuck in my memory for the most part, and I am able to reconstruct most of the lyrics in my mind even hearing just a few bars of the song decades later! I believe that growing up in the absence of TV, our audio senses were better developed. People here are surprised how many English songs I remember and recall. SLBC played a variety of songs because there was only one channel (station) to appeal to everybody. For that I am truly thankful.

As a Tea Planter for 20 years I was cut off from the entertainment scene in Colombo and had no access to participating in my passion for singing. After coming to the USA I joined our church choir and when I turned 60 I wanted to develop my singing skills even further as a soloist. In 2010 I won the “Senior Idol’ contest in our town and since then I have tried to use my singing skills at fund raisers for the benefit of causes. I am not a professional but try to use my talents to help worthy causes. Fortunately I discovered backing tracks online and was able to use them to create some music which I was able to record as a hobby. Recently I discovered an App called Smule and was able to record a few songs on that app using my Samsung Galaxy cell phone. This App has a lot of music that people have uploaded and you can even sing with others in collaboration. It was a real boon to me. I have attached a song that I recorded on Smule a Frank Sinatra classic called “You & Me” I hope you like it. You are welcome to publish it or forward it to your friends.

With kind regards.

Lalith Guy Paranavitana