Meryl Streep - I'm Checkin' Out

I have already highlighted some of my favourite Country-styled recordings by diverse female talents like jazz queen Ella Fitzgerald, movie and Broadway musicals soprano Dame Julie Andrews, British national treasure Dame Vera Lynn and song stylist supreme Jane Morgan. Joining them is Meryl Streep, the most nominated actress in Oscar history and winner of the highest number of Golden Globe acting awards. Her undeniable musical ability has been seen and heard in the Abba screen musicals Mamma Mia' [2008] and its follow-up 'Mamma Mia - Here We Go Again!' a decade later in 2018, during which period she was seen to good effect in 'Ricki and The Flash' [2015] for which she had learned to play rhythm guitar and sang with Rick Springfield. In 1990, Meryl starred in 'Postcards From The Edge' alongside Shirley MacLaine as her mother. Based on Carrie Fisher's semi-autobiographical novel, these were loose characterisations of Fisher's own relationship with her mother, Debbie Reynolds. Her portrayal earned Streep the seventh of her 17 Best Actress Oscar nominations. A true highlight of this movie was its closing sequence in which Meryl performed author-songwriter Shel Silverstein's outstanding composition "I'm Checkin' Out". Meryl's vocal has been one of my most played tracks ever since. What a disappointment that she didn't record an entire album in this vein! She would surely have put herself in line for a Grammy to accompany all her acting awards!