Did I mention I don’t like kitsch and I don’t like camp? (Although I do love the genuinely weird.)
And yet the power of the song shines through…
In 1927, composer Nathaniel Shilkret wrote the song “The Lonesome Road,” with lyrics by vocalist Gene Austin (best known for his big hit song “My Blue Heaven”). The song was added to the first film version of Show Boat (1929), the only song in that film not written by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern.
The song received new prominence when Frank Sinatra performed it on his 1957 album A Swingin’ Affair! (The follow-up to Sinatra’s popular album Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!). It’s a great arrangement by Nelson Riddle, with Sinatra’s voice flowing very languidly.
Listen to the first 30 seconds. The orchestra is very quiet, but creates a sense of anticipation. Sinatra stretches out the words: “Look doooown, look dooown…” Then, his delivery is more abrupt: “Look up, look up…” About a minute-and-half in, the orchestra gets a little brassier; at 2:09, they start banging out the song. Sinatra’s voice gets a little more forceful, but he still keeps his pace. He does a neat thing: at 3:08, he starts easing back on the vocal power, and then at 3:14, the band does the same thing, almost in response.
Okay, so a classic song, almost 80 years old. A great performance. Then, it gets turned into a cartoon.
Dean Elliot was a studio composer and arranger. He scored a bunch of Saturday morning TV cartoons, the original 1971 TV version of The Cat in the Hat and two Mamie Van Doren classic films: College Confidential and Sex Kittens Go to College (both 1960). In 1963, Dean Elliot & His Swinging Big, Big Band released the amazing space age pop album Zounds! What Sounds! Working with Phil Kaye, who supplied sound effects for cartoons such as Tom & Jerry, Elliot mixed a brassy big band sound with just plain noise.
From the album cover:
A Sonic Spectacular Presenting Music! Music! Music! With These Special Percussion Effects! Cement mixer, air compressor, punching bag, hand saw, thunderstorm, raindrops, celery stalks (the crunchiest), 1001 clocks, bowling pins and many, many more!!
Version two is goofy and silly ( I mean that in a good way), although I think Elliot was being somewhat serious, at least in his craftmanship. The damn song still works, even with the beeping horns.
Frank Sinatra – The Lonesome Road — BUY
Dean Elliot – The Lonesome Road — BUY
Tags: The Lonesome Road, Frank Sinatra, Dean Elliot, space age pop, MP3s
3 Responses
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The Pop View Says:
Once again, I’ve ended up sounding incredibly harsh.
I love the Incredibly Strange Music books and CDs, where the Dean Elliot track is taken from. It’s a great jaunty tune. But the contrast here is really from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Sinatra is so damn good with this song. Elliot’s just having fun with it, so I don’t mean to sound like I’m knocking him.
What I’d really like you to do is have that experience of hearing one song — a standard — done in two of the most aesthetically opposite fashions possible.
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LondonLee Says:
I don’t like kitsch either but I do quite like camp. Must be the fey Englishman in me.
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The Pop View Says:
I actually can think of some rather camp things that I like. What I dislike is when people set out to be camp. “Oh, we’ll overact and be terribly ironic and it’s all just an amusing lark!” And then it sucks.