Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXCIII--Nancy Sinatra: Sugar Town

Though this week's tune originally was released when I was seven, I'd never heard (or don't remember hearing) the song until I saw the film The Kid Detective, which my oldest son had recommended to me (and which I in turn would recommend as well--it's a nice indie movie).  It's played at the beginning of the film (and at the end, as well), and I had literally heard the first line and knew it was love at first listen....

Nancy Sinatra had a bit of a leg up considering her somewhat talented father (tongue planted firmly in cheek), but in the end if you're going to have a lengthy career (which Ms. Sinatra most certainly did) you've got to have some talent.  After dropping out of UCLA in the late fifties, Sinatra made her first appearance singing a duet with her father on a TV special and would have a modicum of success overseas until the mid-sixties.  At that time her father asked singer, songwriter, and producer Lee Hazlewood to help her with her career, and the rest, as they say, is history.  Through the end of the sixties, she would have ten singles reach the top forty, be nominated for two Grammy Awards, and act in eight movies.  While her career slowed after that, she did continue to record and tour, with her last studio album being released in 2013.  For her career, Sinatra released fourteen studio albums (with one peaking at #5). five collaboration albums, and seventy-three singles (two of which hit #1).  She is still actively involved in the remastering of her earlier albums.  For a wonderful closing note, Sinatra is an avid advocate for women's issues and climate change and has made no secret of her (and her father's) dislike for Donald Trump.

Fun Fact:  Sinatra is the first artist featured on Friday Night Jukebox that I follow on Twitter.  Woo-hoo!

"Sugar Town" was released in 1966 from her rather sweetly entitled album, Sugar.  The single would peak at #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #18 (which some attribute to its provocative cover).

I'm not sure that a pop song can get any better than this for me:  female vocalist, velvety smooth vocals, catchy as all hell melody, some solo trumpet to die for, and, in the end, it just oozes fun.  While the song is a reference to sugar cubes laced with LSD (which I did not know until I did my half-assed research), it could just as soon be an ode to being on top of the world, thinking life is the bee's knees, or to just feelin' groovy.  I can't think of too many songs I've been introduced to in the last few years that I've enjoyed more than this one.  A stellar, glorious, heart caressing addition to the pantheon of pop singles.  Just beautiful.

Lyric Sheet:  "If I had a million dollars or ten/I'd give it you, world, and then/You would go away and let me spend/My life in shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, Sugar Town..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

I left my heart...

One of a kind...

 Tony Bennett was the fourteenth artist I devoted a post to on Friday Night Jukebox (Vol. XIV), and seven years later I wrote a second one (Vol. CCCLXXXIX) for one of the finest singers this world has ever seen.  Sadly, Bennett passed away today at the age of ninety-six, leaving us his wonderful legacy of over seventy years in the music business.

Bennett is the last of his generation--Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, among many others--of male crooners, artists who interpreted songs written by others and left their own indelible mark on those songs.  While the bulk of its success was before my time (and I freely admit to not being an expert), it was a gift that so, so many of us will be able to enjoy for the rest of our lives--and for generations to come.

For me, Bennett will always hold a special place in my heart for "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" his paean to my forever home and my city by the bay.  This December will mark fifty years since my family left the Bay Area, and lo these many years the sentiments in Bennett's signature tune resonate as much today as they did on a cold winter's day in 1973 when our plane landed in our new home of Indiana.  Just a beautiful tribute from a one-of-a-kind singer to a one-of-a-kind city.

Godspeed, Mr. Bennett, Godspeed.

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXLV--Johnny Cash: Love's Been Good to Me

This week's featured tune was written by America's pop poet Rod McKuen, who had quite a run of success in the sixties.  McKuen was a multi-talented artist, writing poetry and music, as well performing as a folk musician and an actor.  He won a Grammy Award for Spoken Word and was nominated for two Academy Awards for composing the score for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and also had a song he wrote hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Jean" by Oliver). While McKuen was beloved by the masses, he was universally reviled by critics who thought his work was schmaltzy.  McKuen had the last laugh, though, as his recordings sold over one hundred million copies, and his books of poetry sold sixty million....

I wrote about Johnny Cash in Jukebox CLXXXV, and as he's been at the Ultimate Hall of Fame for over twenty years now, there really isn't much more I can add other than to say I'm still as big of a fan as ever.

(Not So) Fun Fact:  In 1983 Cash suffered a serious abdominal injury when he was kicked in the stomach by, of all things, an ostrich on his farm.  Ouch!

"Love's Been Good to Me" was released in 2004 on Cash's posthumous album American V:  A Hundred Highways.  The song was not released as a single, but the album went on to become Cash's first #1 album on the Billboard 200 in thirty-seven years.

If ever oh ever a wistful song there was "Love's Been Good to Me" is one because because...Johnny Cash was a marvel.  Against its sparse production, Cash delivers the vocals of a man who's never been able to settle down but still has no complaints as he's had the love of many a good woman throughout his years.  There's a peace--and a happiness--in the narrator's story and Cash captures it perfectly.  Cash recorded this one mere months before his passing, and one has to wonder if he wasn't in some ways singing about his own life--and letting us all know that he was going to his end without any regrets, too.  Disclaimer:  I have to admit that there's a special sport in my heart for this one because love's been awfully good to me as well....

Lyric Sheet:   "And she could laugh away the dark clouds/Cry away the snow/It seems like only yesterday/As down the road I go..."

Enjoy (note that Frank Sinatra did a wonderful version of the song as well):

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXXXIX--Tony Bennett: I Wanna Be Around

 During the pandemic, my youngest son and I became enamored with the movie The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick.  In the movie there's a scene where Brando ice skates with a woman and while they're skating, this week's tune provides the background music.  Though I was vaguely familiar with the song (it's older than me), I became enamored of it as well because of the movie...and it's another example of the many different ways that a beloved song can be introduced to us.

I wrote about Tony Bennett's signature tune "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" way back in the fourteenth post for Friday Night Jukebox, but in the early days I didn't write bio recaps, so I'm going to give a brief (or as brief as one can for an artist who's been singing for over 70 years) one for this post, just to highlight what a stellar career Mr. Bennett has had.  He began singing after serving in World War II (Bennett served on the front lines in the European Theater and the horrors he saw led him to become a pacifist, which he still owns to this day) as a singing waiter, was discovered by Pearl Bailey in 1949, and by 1951 had his first hit.  Bennett was a huge success through the mid-sixties before rock and roll slowed his career to a halt.  By the late seventies he was broke and addicted to drugs; his sons helped him turn his life and career around.  Bennett had a massive renaissance in the 1990's (propelled by, of all things, an MTV Unplugged special), and has spent the last thirty years releasing hit album after hit album.  For his career, Bennett has released 61 albums with two #1's and five more that hit the top ten, and 83 singles with three #1's and two more that reached the top ten.  He's also won nineteen Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame.  Bennet released his latest effort (a duets album-their second--with Lady Gaga) just last year, and in doing so became the oldest artist, at the age of 95, to release an album of new material in the history of the Billboard charts.  Due to the effects of Alzheimer's, Bennett has stopped touring but still sings in the studio regularly.

Fun Fact:  In an interview in 1965, no less an authority than Frank Sinatra declared that for him Tony Bennett was the best singer in the business at that time.  High praise indeed.

"I Wanna Be Around" was released by Bennett as a single in 1963 from his ever so craftily entitled LP I Wanna Be Around.  The single hit #14 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200.

At first listen, "I Wanna Be Around" seems to be like any other "My Baby Left Me" song, but by its close it's anything but.  Backed by a piano, a bass (I think), and a lightly tapped drum, Bennett begins by singing about how he wants to pick up the pieces when his love gets her heart broken, and by the end he's joyfully crooning about how sweet revenge will be when she suffers like he did.  The song could easily have turned into a bitter diatribe, but thanks to Bennett's anticipatory gusto (and his vocals--Mr. Bennett can flat out sing) it leaves us with a knowing smile and an understanding heart.  

Lyric Sheet:  "And that's when I'll discover that revenge is sweet/As I sit there applaudin' from a front-row seat/When somebody breaks your heart/Like you, like you broke mine..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXIX--Jo Stafford: You Belong to Me

 I must be channeling my late father these past couple of weeks--during the pandemic lockdown I redid my record collection, and as I was sorting through them, I found an album by this week's artist (whom I had discovered like previous Friday Night Jukebox stalwarts Johnny Mathis and Vic Damone on the 4-CD set Sentimental Journey) among the records my father had given me shortly before his death.  And as an added bonus, it even had this week's tune on it....

Jo Stafford, who, outside of this week's song I was completely unfamiliar with prior to my weekly half-assed research, turned out to have actually had quite an interesting and varied career.  Born in Coalinga, California in 1917, Stafford began performing at the age of twelve, joined her sisters' trio The Stafford Sisters in her late teens, joined the Pied Pipers in the late 30's, and eventually became part of big band leader Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, performing background vocals with the likes of Frank Sinatra.  As time wore on, Stafford began recording as a solo artist and continued to meet with both critical and commercial success.  In the early sixties, she and her second husband, Paul Weston, formed a parody duo, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, for which they went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961.  Stafford continued performing into the 1980's before retiring.  For her career, Stafford released 88 singles and some 110 albums (a good many of which are compilations).  Ms. Stafford has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, appeared in movies, and had several different TV shows (which mostly featured her singing).  She passed away in 2008.

Fun Fact:  Jo Stafford is the first woman to have a #1 hit on the U.K. Singles chart--which appropriately enough, was this week's featured song.

"You Belong to Me" was recorded by numerous artists after its release in 1952, but Jo Stafford's version was the most popular, reaching #1 in both the United States and (as noted above) Great Britain.  She originally released it only as a single, and it was not on one of her albums until appearing (not surprisingly) on a compilation album, The Hits of Jo Stafford, in 1964.

"You Belong to Me" comes from an era when musicians spent years honing their craft (and that's not an indictment of today's musicians, just a standard from another era), and it's easy to see how fifteen years of singing professionally made Jo Stafford's voice into the perfect instrument for carrying the sentiments of this song into our hearts and minds.  There's a confidence and a smoothness to her singing that allows her sultry performance to stand above the usual fare, and the orchestra behind her hits all the right notes (in more ways than one).  This one's not for everyone--it's a ballad from another time in America's history (it was originally written with a WWII soldier in mind, traveling with the troops), but if you're a fan of female vocalists this one is about as good as it gets.  

Lyric Sheet:  "See the pyramids along the Nile/Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle/Just remember, darling, all the while/You belong to me..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LI--Frank Sinatra: Cycles

Trying to write a one paragraph synopsis of the career of Frank Sinatra that doesn't just skim the surface is a bit like trying to pour Lake Superior into a coffee cup--ain't happening.  So here goes anyway:  his discography includes 69 albums and 296 singles.  He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (From Here to Eternity) and was nominated for a Best Actor award (The Man with the Golden Arm).  He won 11 Grammy Awards, was a Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient, and a Kennedy Center honoree.  He had an amazing singing voice but often came across as an arrogant prick.  He did much work for African-American causes but had ties to the Mafia (it's pretty much agreed he was the inspiration--in more ways than one--for Johnny Fontane in The Godfather).  He was a strong supporter of labor unions but was seen by many as being misogynistic.  And as if all of that wasn't enough to make an (extremely flawed) icon, he also invented "cool"--take a look at him in his younger days and you'll see exactly what I mean.

All of which also makes him the perfect man to sing "Cycles," the tale of a fallible middle-aged fellow who may be down and out, but is still ever hopeful.  Written by one Gayle Caldwell at the ripe old age of 27 (where do these wise beyond their years folks come from?  I was pretty much an idiot at 27), it was released in 1968 on his aptly titled Cycles album.  It would eventually reach #23 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and while not as iconic or critically acclaimed of a Sinatra song as say "I've Got You Under My Skin" or "Fly Me to the Moon" or "Come Fly With Me" or "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (you'll never know how hard it was to only use four of his singles as examples), it sure should have been.

"Cycles" is sparse to say the least--it's a piano, a touch of a rhythm section, a few light strings, and the biggie, Sinatra's voice.  And Sinatra uses it to perfection, telling his tale with weariness but not defeat.  Above all else, it's honest--when Sinatra sings, "My gal just up and left last week/Friday I got fired..." his voice breaks ever so gently when he sings the word "I" and it's the heartache of a middle-aged man who's seen enough of life to know that it's one of those woeful times when you're torn between a laugh and a tear knowing full well that anger or despair aren't going to fix it.  It's the kind of moment that makes a very good song a great one, and Sinatra is old enough and wise enough to close it out with a gentle wisp of hopefulness when he notes that he'll "keep on trying to sing" though he doesn't quite know how just yet.

Comforting words, indeed:  "So I'll keep this smile awhile/And see what tomorrow brings...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee