Every once in a while we'll hear one that we just NEVER expected to hear again. Such was the case the other night when Comcast's '70's Music Channel played the Blue Haze version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, a #21 Hit from early 1973.
I mean, let's face it ... if you're going to hear this song at ALL, it's PROBABLY going to be the 1959 #1 version by The Platters ... certainly the DEFINITIVE version of the rock era ... but the fact is, there aren't a lot of oldies stations playing music from the '50's anymore ... so that makes even hearing this OUTSTANDING recording a remote possibility these days. Nevertheless, I doubt that playing the remake sits very high on anybody's priority list. (The song actually dates back to 1933 when it was used in the Bob Hope film "Roberta" ... the following year, Paul Whiteman took HIS version to #1 on Billboard's Pop Chart.)
Blue Haze upped the tempo a little bit when they cut their version ... a couple of online mentions I found referred to it as a "reggae version" ... but I think that's being just a bit generous. There is also not a whole lot of information available on these guys ... sounds like producers Johnny Arthey and Phil Swern assembled some studio musicians and cut this one on the fly as a one-shot ... in any event, it worked ... the song just missed The National Top 20!
Long forgotten by most I'm sure, today we're featuring the Blue Haze version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes in Forgotten Hits.
