Three Tune Tuesday・The Rat Pack
Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let's go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.
As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.
I thought for this post we'd go back to that old crooning style. But instead of just pulling up three hits from the Chairman of the Board, I thought we'd instead do one each from the group he's most associated with, The Rat Pack. That means, Frank, Deano, an Sammy.
Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon
This may be a staple of crooners, but there is a reason for that: it's a great song. Written in 1954, Frank's version is usually considered the definitive.
Sammy Davis Jr - Mr Bojangles
I don't know if it's possible to think of a song more associated with a singer. Unlike Frank who always sang My Way but hated it (again, see the above link), Sammy was always singing Mr Bojangles and absolutely performed it as well as sing it. In a strange way he embodied the song: having his own problems with alcohol and ending up bankrupt, but dancing all the time.
Dean Martin - Volare / On An Evening In Roma
It's hard to find an entirely serious performance of Dean. Far from his image as Mr Cool, he always had a twinkle in his eyes and was cracking jokes. Later when he adopted the comedy gag of always being drunk, he added even more silliness to his performances. You can really see why he was such a good fit for Jerry Lewis. Of all the Rat Pack, he may have had the best voice.
BONUS: Birth of the Blues
But you know, the best part of the Rat Pack was when they performed together, throwing jokes and barbs at each other the entire performance. Unfortunately we don't have much video of these performances. Here's one we do have:
So what's your favorite?
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |
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My dad would have loved this choice of three songs.
Mine too.
There is no denying that Frank is a classic, but I have always been a bit partial to Dean Martin too. Oddly enough, I don't think I have ever heard that version of Mr. Bojangles. I am more familiar with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version, which given your aversion to country music makes sense :)
haha yeah I haven't heard that version. There is a version Sammy did in Germany for one show that shortens it down, and that is actually my favorite version. I picked this one for the post because I like how he puts his entire body into the performance.
There is no denying Frank, tis true, but he's actually my least favorite of the three.
Absolutely amazing choices! I've always loved the music of that ere, the Rat Pack were an amazing bunch of singers. It was way before my day but it was fantastic music!
There's no law saying we can't enjoy what came before us. My dad used to listen to this music and I'd roll my eyes, but now I go back and enjoy it too. Really fun stuff.
Well you have put a silly smile on my face tonight as you managed to choose my all time favourite era of music.
Although I am an 80's girl, I think- no I'm SURE that I must've had a past life in the 50/60's when the Rat Pack were swinging their way through orchestras and I don't think that there is another era in time with such classy music, like dancing is to Ginger and Fred.
Dean is definitely my favourite and has been for a long time and nobody in the world has ever sung Sway like him- or will ever sing a better version I think.
Thankyou for reminding me of the good times!
Glad you enjoyed it! Yep, I came up in the 80s so that is always my favorite music, but I do really enjoy some of the swing music from this earlier time. I go back and forth between thinking Dean and Sammy is the best. The king of cool is hard to beat, but Sammy brought so much joy to everything he sung and danced. Great stuff!