Kent
...
One
thing I noticed listening to Wild Wayne's 40th Anniversary Interviews ... Jack
Scott, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Duane Eddy, Hank Ballard, Bruce Belland (the
Four Preps) and Fred Parris (the Five Satins) all tell similar stories ... their
hit song started out as a B-side before they figured out how good it
was.
I was
listening to another one of those countdowns on tape.
1991 = WCBS-FM's Top 101 Songs Of The 1950's.
1991 = WCBS-FM's Top 101 Songs Of The 1950's.
The #1
song was "Mack The Knife" by Bobby Darin.
DJ Bob
Shannon said that Bobby listened to Louis Armstrong's version of the song and
made the same mistake that Louie made. The name Lottie Lineard wasn't supposed
to be in the song. She wasn't a character in the "Three Penny Opera." She was
the songwriter's wife.
I was
wondering if you came across this information when you did your Bobby Darin
Series?
By the
way, on December 1, 1960, Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee got married. It
lasted seven years.
Ironically I was working on a piece over the long Thanksgiving
Weekend and, as part of my reseach, saw that Sandra Dee was granted her divorce
on March 7, 1967.
As for "Mack The Knife," here's the way we covered Bobby's biggest
hit in our 30-Day Salute to Bobby Darin:
'60's FLASHBACK:
Chapter 5: Darin Crosses Over
Despite all his pop chart success, Bobby wanted more. The truth is, in
his heart, Bobby didn't believe that rock and roll would last. Like many of the
older generation, he felt that rock was just a fad that would eventually peter
out. (Keep in mind that by 1959, Elvis was in the army, Buddy Holly had died in
a plane crash, Jerry Lee Lewis had already been forsaken by his fans after
marrying his cousin, Little Richard had left rock and roll for the church and
several new poster-boy teen idol wannabes like Fabian, Frankie Avalon and Bobby
Rydell were now prominently on the scene.) Bobby knew that the key to a
successful, long lasting career was to capture the hearts of the older audience
as well ... and if he could take the kids along with him, all the
better.
Darin
would be criticized throughout his career for using rock and roll as a stepping
stone to a bigger musical career. Indeed, some of his own comments early in his
career would indicate that he wasn't particularly fond of the genre ... but
there is no question that he could write it and sing it and connect with the
young teenage audience. (After recording "Splish Splash", Bobby told his
long-time friend Richard Behrke, "You'll vomit when you hear it.") He always
said that it wasn't a great song ... but that it captured what the kids wanted.
Lyrical references to Peggy Sue and Good Golly Miss Molly insured its place
alongside these other early classic rockers. He as much as admitted to his
master plan in an interview with Down Beat Magazine in 1960: "Pat Boone was
using rock and roll as a device ... which is all well and good. It's exactly
what I did."
There
was no question that Bobby wanted to branch out and do more musically. When he
first talked about doing an album of standards, his contemporaries told him it
was career suicide. Close friend Dick Clark pretty much spelled it out for him
... he would lose his audience and alienate his fans if he even TRIED to change
his style. Bobby felt that if he simply stuck with rock and roll, he'd just be
one of a thousand other singers ... but if he could continue to polish up his
stage act ... and reach a broader, more mature audience, he could take his
career to levels never even dreamed of ... and sustain a much longer lasting
career than any flash-in-the-pan rock star.
Darin
was determined to prove the cynics wrong. Despite all the advice he received to
the contrary, he went in and cut the standards album he wanted to make. With
that thought in mind, "That's All", for all intents and purposes, may very well
have been the very first concept album. Bobby wanted to show his versatility as
an artist and when the unlikely pop / rock candidate "Mack The Knife" was
selected as his next single, it blew the lid off EVERYTHING else that was out at
the time. It shot straight to #1 and stayed there for nine incredible weeks.
Besides several other previous chart appearances (most often as "The Theme from
'ThreePenny Opera'" or "Moritat"), Bobby made the song his own ... to the point
that every "eek" he ad-libbed in the studio have now become permanently etched
as part of the lyrics of the song ... you end up singing along with each and
every one of them every time you hear it. Richard Weiss did an INCREDIBLE
arrangement and the song took on a whole new life of its own. "Mack The
Knife" was a radio SMASH, crossing over to ALL genres of music ... even the JAZZ
stations played it!
Bobby was rewarded a few months later when he was nominated for four
Grammy Awards. In the Music Industry's second-ever (and first televised)
ceremony, "Mack The Knife" was nominated for Best Arrangement. (Richard Weiss
lost to Billy May, who had done the arrangement on Frank Sinatra's hit "Come
Dance With Me".) Darin and Sinatra (and the same two songs) faced off again in
the Best Vocal Performance Male category and Sinatra also won THAT award. But
then Bobby rebounded with the Best New Artist award and topped off the evening
by winning The Record Of The Year Award for "Mack" (which just happened to beat
Sinatra's "High Hopes" recording.) By now, the comparisons to Frank Sinatra had
really started to escalate and would follow him for most of the rest of his
career. (How ironic that these two crooners would go head-to-head in so many
categories at that year's Grammy Awards!)
At the
end of the evening, whether he was pumped up by the excitement of the day's
events or overcome by his own massive ego, exhilaration and / or exhaustion,
BobbyY made a comment that would haunt him for the next several years. When
pressed by UPI's Vernon Scott about challenging Sinatra in all four categories
(and winning in two), Darin reportedly said "I hope to surpass Frank in
everything he's done." Soon newspapers all over the country were talking about
the cocky young kid with the big mouth, who was WAY out of line for even hinting
that he deserved to mentioned in the same breath as "Old Blue Eyes" ... despite
the fact that those same newspapers had been playing up the comparisons for
months already.
While
Darin would spend the next several years denying or down-playing the remark,
Sinatra refused to comment. In hindsight, it seems to have been more of a feud
fueled by the press than anything personal between the two artists. Photos
circulated of Sinatra and Dean Martin using a Bobby Darin album cover as a
dartboard .... but the truth is that Darin was close with fellow rat-packer
Sammy Davis, Jr., most of his life. (In fact, the liner notes for Bobby's big
crossover album "That's All" even reprinted a telegram sent by Sammy Davis,
Jr. stating "I've just heard the dubs for your new album. What can I say?
They're so good I hate you! But seriously, Bobby, I think the album's another
step in a career that I feel will last a long time.") Bobby also remained on
excellent terms with Sinatra's daughter Nancy and her then-husband Tommy
Sands. There are even reports that suggest that after Sinatra broke away from
Capitol Records to form his own record company, Reprise Records, Bobby
was approached about jumping ship from Atlantic to record for Ol' Blue Eyes.
(Darin reportedly turned down the offer, feeling he'd be the lost, forgotten
artist amongst Sinatra's rat-pack pals also signed to the label ... in fact,
Bobby signed with Capitol to record alongside his other idol Nat King
Cole, hoping to fill some of the void left by Sinatra's departure!) Another
well recounted incident tells that after one of Bobby's nightclub engagement,
Jerry Lewis approached Darin and told him that he was all alone in the league
... Frank, Dean, Sammy and Jerry were all several years older ... and NOBODY
else was doing what Bobby was doing ... he had the whole arena to himself. The
only one who could louse it up for him was Bobby himself ... otherwise, there
was NOBODY out there that could touch him. Bobby took the advice to
heart.
The
most-famous comment Sinatra ever made on the subject when asked what he thought
of Bobby Darin was: "I sing in saloons. Bobby Darin does my prom dates."
Darin called it "one of the greatest single lines of all time" and said that he
was only too happy to play his prom dates ... until graduation!
ISN'T IT IRONIC?: Years
later, Frank Sinatra would cut his OWN version of "Mack The Knife", using a
virtually identical arrangement to Bobby Darin's!!! In fact, on his 1984 album
"L.A. Is My Lady, Sinatra added a lyric paying tribute to some of the previous
"Mack" hit-makers: "Satchmo Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darin and Lady Ella, too ...
Old Blue Eyes can add nothing new."
DIDJAKNOW?-1: Against the best wishes of his musical colleagues and his record label, Bobby Darin released his "That's All" album in March of 1959. Atlantic Records didn't know what to do with the record ... it was SO different from anything else that Bobby had recorded ... and, in fact, different than anything the label had released up to this point. Coming off the heels of Bobby's smash hit single "Dream Lover", they didn't know what to release next ... all they knew was it had to be big. The decision was pretty much made for them ... radio jumped on the lead LP track and started playing "Mack The Knife" ... in fact, it quickly crossed over into EVERY style of music, getting played not only on the rock and roll stations but also the pop / contemporary stations, the big bands stations, the jazz stations and everything in between. It was, by ALL definitions, an across-the-boards SMASH. Atlantic had no choice but to release it as a single ... which they did in August of that year ... incredibly, a full FIVE MONTHS after the song first hit the streets as an LP track!
DIDJAKNOW?-2: Bobby Darin was criticized by some for "glamorizing" the character of Mac Heath ... it was basically a song about a murderer! Bobby most patterned his arrangement after the Louis Armstrong hit from 1956 but the musical "ThreePenny Opera" was also making a comeback in the theater at the time Bobby's song hit. One of the characters mentioned in the lyrics was Lotte Lenya ... who was actually the widow of Kurt Weill ... one of the original songwriters of "Moritat" ... which became "Mack The Knife"! In fact, Lotte was starring as Jenny in the off-Broadway revival of "ThreePenny Opera" at the time that Bobby's record hit! Ironically, Lotte Lenya had discussed the possibility of recording some of her late husband's songs with Atlantic Records label head Ahmet Ertegen ... when Bobby came to Ertegen with the idea to record "Mack The Knife" for his new album of standards (a song he had already been performing in concert for months) it was a COMPLETE coincidence.
DIDJAKNOW?-1: Against the best wishes of his musical colleagues and his record label, Bobby Darin released his "That's All" album in March of 1959. Atlantic Records didn't know what to do with the record ... it was SO different from anything else that Bobby had recorded ... and, in fact, different than anything the label had released up to this point. Coming off the heels of Bobby's smash hit single "Dream Lover", they didn't know what to release next ... all they knew was it had to be big. The decision was pretty much made for them ... radio jumped on the lead LP track and started playing "Mack The Knife" ... in fact, it quickly crossed over into EVERY style of music, getting played not only on the rock and roll stations but also the pop / contemporary stations, the big bands stations, the jazz stations and everything in between. It was, by ALL definitions, an across-the-boards SMASH. Atlantic had no choice but to release it as a single ... which they did in August of that year ... incredibly, a full FIVE MONTHS after the song first hit the streets as an LP track!
DIDJAKNOW?-2: Bobby Darin was criticized by some for "glamorizing" the character of Mac Heath ... it was basically a song about a murderer! Bobby most patterned his arrangement after the Louis Armstrong hit from 1956 but the musical "ThreePenny Opera" was also making a comeback in the theater at the time Bobby's song hit. One of the characters mentioned in the lyrics was Lotte Lenya ... who was actually the widow of Kurt Weill ... one of the original songwriters of "Moritat" ... which became "Mack The Knife"! In fact, Lotte was starring as Jenny in the off-Broadway revival of "ThreePenny Opera" at the time that Bobby's record hit! Ironically, Lotte Lenya had discussed the possibility of recording some of her late husband's songs with Atlantic Records label head Ahmet Ertegen ... when Bobby came to Ertegen with the idea to record "Mack The Knife" for his new album of standards (a song he had already been performing in concert for months) it was a COMPLETE coincidence.
Lotte Lenya
WHAT DID MACK THE KNIFE SOUND LIKE BEFORE BOBBY DARIN?:
"A Theme from 'The ThreePenny
Opera'" was a Top 20 Hit three times in 1956. Richard Hayman and Jan
August took their instrumental version to #12. It was surpassed by the
similarly named Dick Hyman Trio (actually called "The UNFORGETTABLE Sound of the
Dick Hyman Trio" on the single) who released the similarly sounding "Moritat ...
A Theme from 'The ThreePenny Opera'". Their version went all the way to #7 in
Cash Box. (Hey, didn't they use to play this on the old Ernie Kovacs
television television series all the time?!?!?!) In fact, three MORE
instrumental versions also reached the charts that year when released by
Lawrence Welk, Billy Vaughn and Les Paul. Finally, Louis Armstrong took his
vocal version to #20 that year as well. It's the Bobby Darin version, however,
that's become the definitive take ... and most certainly his signature tune.)
However, this IS Forgotten Hits ... so today you get several of the highlighted
versions!
