Bobby Darin, “Sail Away”

Bobby Darin, “Sail Away” (1972)
from Darin 1936–1973
Motown M5 813V1

It takes serious stones to cover “Sail Away.” The song is such an ethically, aesthetically, morally, emotionally fragile creation, the slightest miscue can send it off into severely unintended territory.

It takes something beyond serious stones for a white man to cover “Sail Away” with a gospel choir. On Motown.

Yes, Bobby Darin is what we might call a fearless interpreter of song. He’s the type of artist who makes taste seem like some sort of effete ornament, something as obscure and outdated as the code of chivalry. What is taste—or even conveying an understanding of a lyric—when compared to the sheer force of his personality? (In this, he anticipates much subsequent popular culture.)

And thank God for him, for Darin’s indiscriminate—well, let’s be kind and say inclusive—approach to material does produce some rare gems. “Mack the Knife” was only the beginning of his left-field exploration of the canon. His “Nature Boy” has nothing to do with nature or boys or poignant spiritual messages; it’s louche backing suggests instead the title character might be a pot dealer on Sunset Boulevard. And yet … Darin’s steamrollering of the song causes one to question the sincerity of the lyric and the whole backstory of its author, proto-hippie eden ahbez. That’s a neat trick of unintended textual criticism. (And you can dance to it.)

Just as you begin to think that the pleasures of Darin are of purely a kitsch variety, out pops a version of Jagger and Richards‘s “Back Street Girl” that blows away the original. Seriously. It’s more knowing, sadder, and the accordion is a perfect touch.

Bobby Darin is one of the singers that taught me to keep digging to the bottom of the crate. You never know what you’ll find. Is that version of “While We’re Young” by Mike Douglass a hidden gem? (No!) Is that Jimmie Lunceford album worth checking out? (Yes! Yes! Yes!) Is there anything redeeming on that Olivia Newtown John disc? (We’ll see….)

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Bobby Goldsboro (The Webs), “Dizzy Boy”

Bobby Goldsboro (The Webs), “Dizzy Boy” (1959)
from Today’s Scene!
Pickwick RPM 0102

I suspect a fairly comprehensive history of larceny and the role of organized crime in the music business could be told through no-name compilations like Today’s Scene!: the tilted contracts, the stolen copyrights, the disappearing masters. But then, as some wise person once said, “God invented the music business to make the movie business look ethical.”

This one—“produced for General Electric by PIckwick International,” meaning perhaps that it was a freebie when you purchased a refrigerator or  stereo (or hi fi!)—plays a little fast and loose with the details. “Annabelle” is not, in fact, a song by Simon and Garfunkel but rather “Anna Belle,” a nice doo-woppy tune from 1959 by a solo Paul Simon performing as Jerry Landis. Why lie when it’s a giveaway anyway?

“Dizzy Boy” was the first release of Bobby Goldsboro’s career, but it was recorded for Heart Records in 1961 by his band the Webs and was a local hit in their Alabama stomping grounds. This was before they became Roy Orbison’s backing band and while they still wore all-black outfits and had a spider’s web graphic on the drum. For anyone who thought the naked emotionalism of Goldsboro’s biggest hit, “Honey,” was an anomaly, “Dizzy Boy” proves it was there from the start. Indeed, the low-fi, just-barely-beyond-amateur tenor of the record makes it seem even more vulnerable a performance. It also features the cheapest guitar sound this side of Big Brother and the Holding Company—though to be fair, what the guitar is doing is pretty nifty, especially for 1961.

A hit like “Honey” can make a career, but it can also distort one, can make an artist seem one dimensional. Imagine my surprise, then when, digging through his past, I discovered this latter day Goldsboro hit. It’s no less naked or emotional than “Honey” or “Dizzy Boy,” but it‘s more subtle and all the more effective for it:

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