Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXXIX--Herb Alpert: This Guy's in Love with You

Fun fact #1:  Herb Alpert is the only artist in the history of The Billboard Hot 100 to have a number one hit as a vocalist (this weeks featured tune) and a number one hit as an instrumentalist ("Rise"--not worth the effort of actually listening to).

Fun fact #2:  Alpert co-wrote "(What a) Wonderful World" which was a, uh, wonderful hit for Sam Cooke in 1960 (and one of my all-time favorite songs).

You would think, with all the commercial and Grammy success he has had that Herb Alpert would be a household name, but truth is, unless you're of a certain age (that is, old) you probably have no idea who he is.  But back in the day (the 60's for the most part), Alpert and his band, The Tijuana Brass, were about as big as you could get.  Over the course of his career, Alpert has sold 72 million records, has fourteen platinum albums, fifteen gold albums, and has won nine Grammy Awards.  In 1966, Alpert sold more records than the Beatles, and at one point had five albums in the top twenty (four of which were in the top ten) of the Billboard 200, a feat that has never been done since.  Alpert has been performing and recording for seven decades, and released his latest album just last year.

Written by famed songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, "This Guy's in Love with You" was originally performed on a TV special featuring Alpert and his Tijuana Brass as a surprise for Alpert's first wife.  After the show, so many people had called in to find where they could buy the song that Alpert decided to release it as a single (it was later put on his The Beat of the Brass LP).  The song would go on to reach #1 (with a bullet!) and spend four weeks at the top of the charts.

A couple of quick notes about the song:  1) The first is the sheer simplicity of the song--quiet and catchy melody, honest and loving lyrics, just a guy in love with a girl. It's also mostly just the piano, with a nice trumpet interlude in the middle.  2)  Alpert's vocals--Alpert is a trumpet player, not a vocalist, but as with so many great songs, sometimes lightning is caught in a bottle.  Alpert nails them--heartfelt and genuine, and to coin a phrase, just a guy in love with a girl.  3)  It has a false ending--I don't know why I enjoy them (probably the jack-in-the-box nature of "Aw, the song's over..." to "Hey, it's not!"), but I do (Rod Stewarts "Handbags and Gladrags" also comes to mind).

Side Note:  Regular readers (all three of you) may note this week's edition of Friday Night Jukebox is a little late...because today marks fourteen years that the Beautiful Girl and I have been together (we've never married, so we celebrate the anniversary of our second date--long story).  And though the Beautiful Girl isn't all that familiar with "This Guy's in Love with You" and though she thoroughly disdains politics, I wanted her to know that fourteen years down the road, "This Guy's (Still) in Love with You..."

Lyric Sheet:  "Tell me now, is it so/Don't let me be the last to know..."

Enjoy:

Peace,

emaycee