Thursday, July 20, 2023

Bye Bye Blackbird - Sammy Davis Jr.

Bye Bye Blackbird - Sammy Davis Jr.
2:49
single, 1962
Written by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon, 1926

Davis singing this one starting out quiet, a capella, with snapping fingers as an accompaniment.  Then, the band kicks in, and it swings, until it slows down again and fades out.  Things are bad for the narrator: "No one here can love and understand me / Ah, what hard luck stories they all hand me."  But he's going to a place where somebody waits for him: "make my bed and light the light."  The tempo change reflects the sad situation and the hopeful future,; but will the narrator make it?  It's ambiguous.  Thus the final slowdown.

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