I miss BOBBY DARIN..

Thanks very much for this, all very well said, as I'd expect from a fellow Canuck.

I think Darin's vocal style did reflect Frank's influence, it's more than just production/style/showmanship.

Frank Sinatra had the ability to go R&B/Blues, as we see from That's Life and this luminous live performance:

I think though it was too late in his career, it was an indulgence, not something he took completely seriously as one can infer from the opening monologue. But it was a great song, arguably his last (with New York New York).

I'd wager Frank was sorry for his early anti-rock and roll comments, he didn't think it through and That's Life showed he could think beyond it. Bobby Darin was the younger Frank who could have (did) embrace that genre amongst many others. Sadly his parlous health prevented the full flourishing of his career.

I don't think I ever realized how unwell he was until reading about him online after this salutary posting by Steve.

 

Does anyone know what concert/show the above is from?

I can't remember if I have it.

 

I like Bobby Darin.

 

Not sure, looks like a TV special of some kind. One thing by the way that shows how people knew how to make records in the 60s (and to 80s): On the studio version, the backing chorus is used very effectively. The song without it is good, but not as good. It took production and mixing talent to do that well and it was a skill probably honed in American studios (Britain too) for 30 years. Those records just sounded so right...

 

Man and His Music

 

I recently saw the Jack Benny Show episode that featured Bobby Darin. Great stuff, both his singing performances and his ability to do comedy with Benny.

I love all of his early records.

 

Is that on the "A Man And His Music Part II" DVD? I just don't remember the start being the same, but I haven't watched it for a while.

Thanks.

 

It's from A MAN AND HIS MUSIC PART II, originally broadcast December 7, 1966, on CBS-TV. (That was the week before Sinatra's 51st birthday.)

BTW, the YouTube clip posted above is restricted in the USA: "This video contains content from Eagle Rock. It is not available in your country." I don't know why, because the show has been available worldwide for years, and Eagke Rock is releasing a DVD reissue in both the US and EU later this month. Anyway, here is what I expect is the same performance, from the official Frank Sinatra channel and viewable in the US:

 

In ref Bobs post above the one above...

It's slightly different Bob, Frank talks before he sings, he starts by talking about how too skinny he was to have a shower , how the water kept missing him...etc....

I need to watch the DVD again, thanks.

 

Yes, that's all in the spoken intro to the song. ("You know what a thrill it is to get attacked by a herd of wet linguine?", etc.)

 

The key-change toward the end is a brilliant move on the part of the arranger or writer. The Beatles used a similar technique often.

 

The story behind the song Mack The Knife is quite unusual. Wikipedia has the details: Mack the Knife - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »

No one could have predicted an arcane song like this would hit it big. Goes to show you never know what will take off in music.

 

It may not be obvious, but this was the ORIGINAL arrangement of "That's Life," before the studio recording of October 18, 1966. Although the TV program aired in December (shortly after release of the single and album), the show was taped in June. So the backing chorus was added AFTER this performance was in the can.

 

Thanks Steve. By arcane, I meant what the lyrics are about: medieval murder tales, not your usual pop music fare....

 

Bing Crosby and Buddy Greco had also recorded "Mack The Knife" before Darin.

Ahmet Ertegun knew Lotte Lenya. She had asked Ahmet if he could recommend her husband's songs to his artists on Atlantic. When Darin told Ahmet he wanted to record "Mack The Knife" Ahmet was thrilled.

 

Steve, it's true the lyrics - I just read them online as Darin sang them, have a jazzy tinge. They also have some odd references like "MacHeath", which always reminded me of Macbeth.

I'm sure though that most people at the time didn't understand the words very well, I know I didn't. The music and swinging way Darin sang the words made the song what it was. They were so good they overcame a lyric at best ambiguous and, for those who knew the history, an unusual choice for a pop song. But then you can't tell with these things, the Doors did well with the whiskey bar song. Brecht was in then, at least within a certain element.

 

It should be remembered that this was also the time of "West Side Story", gang warfare, and the....Switchblade. Similar themes to "The Threepenny Opera". Darin's record couldn't have emerged at a better time.

 

Good point. When you're a jet you're a jet all the way... always loved that.

Truth is the music of the late 50s and 60s was very diverse and that is partly what made it so good. No one thinks that way today judging by the playlists.

Like when the Mamas And Papas did Dream A Little Dream, which is a 1930s tune:

A brilliant arrangement and performance. Music was a more unified whole then. The Beatles knew this and worked a lot of influences into their sound from Day 1.

 

Darin was no copycat but stood on the shoulders of giants - who hasn't?

So "Mack the Knife" has been played with before - like "Basin Street Blues", play with the lyrics... I get it. That's part of the fun. And how the subject matter doesn't "seem" to call for the treatment its given. And hence, SUCCESS! But the song really needed Bobby to belt it in his own overly confident way...

But it's not all that Darin is. Blessing and a curse I guess - at least people know this one.

Just listen to Bobby's "Clementine" or "Artificial Flowers" to show, not only that he knew what he was singing about, but that it was better to give it his BD-esque broad, hilarious and if you read the-lyrics-only "unsympathetic" treatment. If there was even a hint that it was from an unsympathetic viewpoint he RAN with it.. Again, like so many have played with the lazy and wonderful "Basin Street Blues" - from Louie Armstrong to Dr. John.

Blowing bubbles and yelling "Bye!" on "Clementine"... at the very least, it's no tragedy in Bobby's version and he ain't subtle - people had fun with it, but never nailed it definitively like Bobby. Making light of a "heavy" situation (about 299 lbs). Probably my favorite pop vocal by Bobby Darin... You don't believe for a SECOND he would have jumped in to save her at any weight! "So long!" And want those Bobby's trademark "hep-heps"? "Clementine"s got 'em!

Since this is the SH Forums, it has to be noted John Lennon was a fan of the Bobby-written "Dream Lover" (though the "up your ass and in a stew" is a Lennon-original) and Paul McCartney was about Bobby's "Queen of the Hop" - plenty in common with "I Saw Her Standing There" and he even attempted during the Get Back sessions... this was taking WAY too long to become a Beatle thread.

Jeff

 

More unreleased Capitol Darin has surfaced on MP3 on "Rare Capitol Masters: Deluxe Edition" released on May 6.

"Get Me To The Church On Time"
"Scarlet Ribbons"
"If You Were The Only Girl In The World"
"Oh, Shenandoah"
and the German language versions of "18 Yellow Roses" and "You're The Reason I'm Living".

 

I got the Bobby Darin Motown Cd on Saturday, listening today,
A lot of this material is new to me, I do love "Blue Monday" by BD>

 

It's a sad state of affairs when 9 unreleased Capitol recordings are only available on digital download while the Real Gone set has multiple versions of the same songs. Now Edsel will issue for the THIRD time "The Shadow Of Your Smile" and "In A Broadway Bag". This is not progress.