Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin

Recording Category Star

• Ceremony was on May 26, 1982

Recording Star for Bobby Darin

That's All

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and film and television actor, Bobby Darin (1936-1973) performed in a range of musical genres, including jazz, pop, rock 'n' roll, folk, swing, and country. Presented here in its entirety is Darin's second LP and one of his most celebrated, That's All, released in March of 1959. It includes Darin's US No.1 hit "Mack the Knife," which spent nine weeks at the top spot, and "Beyond the Sea, which was a Top 10 hit. This album, together with the 5 bonus tracks, constitutes a true Bobby Darin greatest hits collection.

Bobby Darin is a singer who defies classification. In each of his single records he has come up with something different and uniquely Darin. Nothing he has done before, however, can have prepared you for the artist that emerges from this LP. In it, Bobby presents a specially conceived program of standards in a broad pop vein, It will take only a few minutes of listening to establish that, with this LP. Bobby permanently takes his place among the greats of American popular song.

Rock & roll hits of Bobby's, like "Splish Splash," "Queen of the Hop" and "Plain Jane," have created one public image of him, his frequent TV and personal appearances yet another. Bobby's free-swinging interviews with newspaper people, in which his outspoken individualism has more than once caused him to be called an "Angry Young Man", complete the confusing picture. All these are parts of him, but together do not add up to the whole.

It is an album like this that brings the many-sided talents of Bobby Darin into something like complete focus for the first time. From beginning to end, we never lose sight of the fact that this is the work of a mature, disciplined artist, of someone who seriously thought through what he intended to do here.

What is great about Bobby Darin is the richness and variety of his musical experience. In his rock & roll hits he has proved how much he absorbed from that quarter. Equally important for him, however, have been jazz, blues, folk music, and the older tradition of pop ballad styling. In this album, his individual combination of all these strains creates something all his own. Bobby often expresses his special debt to the blues. Some of the present-day figures who inspired him are Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Little Richard. Perhaps that isn't terribly obvious in an album like this, but if you remember that, it's easier to understand whence the feeling and little stylistic touches that make his work seem so unique in comparison to that of other young people in the music business today. Isn't the same implied homage to the blues evident in the best of the older singers? Certainly that explains the special quality of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Kay Starr.

Turning to the tunes in the album, I think that just a quick glance at the titles knocks that "Angry Young Man" stuff out the window. The titles are an index of Darin's interest in, and respect for, the past. They evidence both taste and range. Trenet's "Beyond the Sea" and Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" are not the songs you expect from a musical fledgling.

Of course, Bobby may have a feeling of nostalgia for some of the older tunes in the LP from having heard them at the movies when he was a kid in knee pants. "I'll Remember April," for example, was first heard in Ride 'Em Cowboy, so these many years ago. "Through a Long and Sleepless Night" was the only thing that held together a tear-jerker (Come to the Stable), in which Celeste Holm starred ten years back.

Then again, "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" (from New Moon) takes you back to 1928, long before Bobby was born. That was the same year Kurt Weill wrote the Three Penny Opera score, of which "Mack the Knife" has become the best known tune. To know the complete history of "Some of These Days," you would have had to know Sophie Tucker when she was a young girl, and nobody goes back that tar. Let it not be said that Bobby has anything against the "old songs." What makes anything new and exciting is interpretation and styling. Bobby's program here convinces because of its strength in those two respects. He has authority, he has temperament, he has heart. Perhaps most important, he has an insinuating sense of humor that gives a glow to all these proceedings. That's why "That's All" is both a smashing closer and a fitting title to this LP. You'll see why!
GARY KRAMER (1958)

Side A

• 1 Mack The Knife 3:06
• 2 Beyond The Sea 2:54
• 3 Through a Long and Sleepless Night 2:36
• 4 Softly As in a Morning Sunrise 2:31
• 5 She Needs Me 3:28
• 6 It Aint Necessarily So 3:24
• 7 I'm Beginning to See The Light 2:18
• 8 Dream Lover 2:32

Side B

• 1 I'll Remember April 2:21
• 2 That's The Way Love Is 3:00
• 3 Was There a Call For Me 3:07
• 4 Some of These Days 2:40
• 5 Where Is The One 3:27
• 6 That's All 2:03
• 7 Things 2:33
• 8 It Had to Be You 2:11
• 9 Splish Splash 2:14

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Things & Other Things

The talented world of Bobby Darin is made up of many things. Besides Bobby Darin the singer, there is also Bobby Darin, the skiked writer of popular songs; Bobby Darin, the gifted piano stylist; and Bobby Darin, the busy Hollywood actor. The dozen performances in this LP are a tour de force of the many things that have made Darin a permanent fixture in the entertainment world.

Darin's range of materia ermanent fixture in the entertainment world knows no boundaries. He kicks off the album with his popular Country & Western flavored Things, sings a moving slow calypso, Lost Love, encores with a rhythm ballad, Look For My True Love, and moves over to the piano to knock out a bluesy instrumental, Beachcomber. Other things are a slow ballad, You're Mine, the amusing OO-EE-Train, a folk ballad, Jarler Bring Me Water, and Darin's unexpected but delightful cha-cha treatment of Nature Boy. Versatility is often taken for granted in today's per-formers, but by anyone's standards, Darin sings 'way above par for the course in this album.

Earlier we referred to Darin's song writing abilities. In the present album, he composed all but two numbers. Despite his perpetually busy schedule, he found time for this, one of his favorite activities. Things And Other Things is substantial proof that Bobby Darin is many things to many people.

Side One

• Things
• I'll Be There
• Lost Love
• Look For My True Love
• Beachcomber
• Now We're One

Side Two

• You're Mine
• OO-EE Train
• Jailer Bring Me Water
• Nature Boy
• Theme from "Come September"
• Sorrow Tomorrow

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Greatest Hits

Includes the original recordings of:

• SPLISH SPASH
• DREAM LOVER
• 18 YELLOW ROSES
• ON BROADWAY
• FLY ME TO THE MOON
• LA BAMBA

Also includes Bobby's special performances of:

• MACK THE KNIFE
• IF I WERE A CARPENTER
• BLUE MONDAY
• HAPPY (Love theme From "Lady Sings The Blues")

When Mike Curb asked If I would consider writing the liner notes for this album, Bobby Darin Greatest Hits, I was honored and thrilled. I Immediately accepted-remembering how Bobby had written the liner notes for an album of mine that he had produced. Then the reality of what to say set in--not exactly what to say, but how much. If I said all I wanted to, it would take volumes - deadlines and space would not permit. For me, the retrospect produces some interesting thoughts...B.D.'s impact on me, my life and my career, the fact that Mike Curb had been signed as a young writer to B.D.'s production company, and now Mike owns the record company that I record for: Mike owns the company and I work for him, where did I go wrong? Well anyway, back to B.D.

I realized B.D. was responsible for a lot of us too numerous to mention. While I was in this quandary, I reached over and turned on my radio - guess what was being played? - "Splish Splash." So, B.D. was guiding me again. Talk about B.D.'s music..I had remembered him telling me how many recording studios in New York would not even let him record a demo of "Splish Splash." He was asked to leave four different studios before finding one that was, shall we say, "not too busy" - after all, who was this upstart Walden Robert Cassotto, soon to be known and always remembered as Bobby Darin. This was early 1958, his third release on Atco Records. The world would soon know who and what a Bobby Darin was. We have never seen the likes of him before nor have we since, nor will we ever again.

First "Splish Splash," written and sung by Bobby Darin, then also in 1958. "Dream Lover," written and sung by Bobby Darin--another smash! B.D. had found the world and it him. In 1959. Bobby took a song from The Three Penny Opera," put his genius to it and bingo - that song became not only a standard like his two previous hits, but also set a standard for the entire music Industry. It was #i for 9 weeks, longer than any song in the history of charted records - a record I believe is yet to be equaled to this day--that song. of course, "Mack The Knife." (The version on this album is from one of Bobby's live performances and B.D.'s favorite even over the original recording. When you hear it, you'll know why.)

Bobby's ability as an Artist is unparalleled, in that whatever kind of music he chose to do, or as musicians say, whatever "bag" he chose, he did it well. We'll never know where a New York City kid, born in the Bronx In 1936, got his country music roots, but they showed up in 1963 in his Capitol Records' release of *18 Yellow Roses." written by none other than Bobby Darin. Also a big hit and also a total departure from his recognized style in 1966, his unforgettable smash - "If I Were A Carpenter."

There are masters, students and followers - If you're one of us students, then feast your ears on "Fly Me To The Moon" and "On Broadway." Also, "La Bamba," B.D.:'s personal tribute to Ritchie Valens. Consider as you listen, that Bobby left us In 1973 and that "La Bamba," the movie and smash soundtrack about Ritchie Valens' life, won much acclaim three years ago. Let me ask you, do you think B.D. was ahead of his time? Not convinced yet? Well then listen to "Happy," the love theme from "Lady Sings The Blues" from 1972. This was one of B.D.'s all-time favorite songs, written by Michel LeGrand and Smokey Robinson. Then don't miss one of my personal favorites, "Blue Monday." When B.D. sat alone at the piano on an empty stage after a long night's work, this is the song that he would sing. I know because I would sit on the lip of that same stage and watch and listen and learn.

Last week I went to the viewing of a movie I just finished. I was totally engrossed in the action, when at the end of the movie, they played Bobby's version of "Beyond The Sea." I was again reminded of B.D:'s genius -- a song recorded in 1959 still as timely and enjoyable today as it was thirty years ago. Genius must be born, It can never be taught.

Bobby had many loves -- his son, Dodd, he loved more than life itself. Dodd was the first thought on his mind in the morning and the last thought on his mind at night. Then in between, his music, his friends, his responsibilities, his love of life and finally with what little time was left, his health.

Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold. Bobby left for Dodd and the rest of us who loved him - a legacy, a smile, a dream, and yes, a song. When history is written, it may be neither Just nor kind, but it will have to admit that because there was a Walden Robert Cassotto, this world was left a lot better place. So let me leave you with one of Bobby's favorite phrases -- "TO BE CONTINUED"...

- Wayne Newton

Side A

• Splish, Splash
• Dream Lover
• 18 Yellow Roses
• On Broadway
• La Bamba

Side B

• Mack the Knife
• If I were a Carpenter
• Blue Monday
• Happy (Love Theme From "Lady Sings The Blues")
• Fly Me to the Moon

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