Five Minutes More - Frank Sinatra

Five Minutes More - Frank Sinatra

2:37

Come Swing With Me!, 1961

written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, 1946

Sinatra originally recorded this song in 1946, but re-recorded it for his last swing album for Capitol.  It's written from the point of view of a suitor who begs his inamorata for just a few more moments together, unwilling for the evening to end: "All week long I dreamed about our Saturday date / Don't you know that Sunday morning you can sleep late?"  Sinatra remains in strong vocal form, and Billy May's orchestra wisely gives him the spotlight, while still turning that classic big band sound, with full brass stabs, all the way up.

Straighten Up and Fly Right - Nat King Cole

Straighten Up and Fly Right - Nat King Cole

2:36

The Nat King Cole Story, 1961

Written by Nat King Cole and Irving Mills

Cole originally released this song in 1944; he re-recorded it for this album with a jaunty tune and cheery male backing vocals.  It's a humorous fable in which a monkey is being carried by a buzzard, who tries to throw him to the ground.  The monkey manages to get his tail around the bird's neck and, presumably, forces him to land.  It shares a similar plot and moral with Rudy Greene's "Buzzard Pie."  Cole's song was based on an African-American folk tale that his father had used as a theme for one of his sermons. 

Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson

Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson

2:23

Rick Is 21, 1961

Written by Jerry Fuller

This song was originally intended for Sam Cooke, but he passed on it, according to some accounts literally throwing it in the trash where it was rescued by Nelson's manager.  It's a song about a fellow who has a girl in every port: "Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town / Makes my heart start to yearn / And my China doll down in old Hong Kong / Waits for my return," and so forth.  Melodically, it's fairly simple, using an extremely common Brill Building progression and a melody built largely from chord tones. It has that conversational, stepwise motion that several early-'60s hits share.

Way Over There - the Miracles

Way Over There - the Miracles

2:56

Hi... We're the Miracles, 1961

Written by Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy

Let's celebrate Juneteenth

Although it never achieved the fame of the Miracles' later hits, this one of Smokey Robinson's finest early compositions.  Faster and more energetic than the group's singles, it finds Robinson singing with a yearning passion, backed by enthusiastic harmonies, handclaps, electric guitar, and a bright piano figure. The lyrics concern a determined narrator overcoming every obstacle to reunite with his distant love ("I've got a lover way over there / On the mountain side / And I know that's where I should be"), and the soaring chorus perfectly captures his optimism.

Exactly Like You - Sam Cooke

Exactly Like You - Sam Cooke

2:11

My Kind Of Blues, 1961

Written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, 1930

A triumphant love song, in which the narrator declares he's been waiting all his life for someone who is a perfect fit.  "Now I know why mother taught me to be true / She meant me for someone, baby / Exactly like you."  The singing is superb, of course, and the tempo is energetic, especially when it gets to the inner rhymes that often were used in songs of the era: "You seem to understand / Each foolish little dream I'm dreaming / And the schemes I'm scheming." Pace the album title, musically this isn't blues, but big-band swing.

Jump In the Line - Harry Belafonte

Jump In the Line - Harry Belafonte
3:41

Jump Up Calypso, 1961

Written by Lord Kitchener, 1946

This song, with its infectious Calyspo rhythms, is known by millennials and kids alike due to its inclusion in Beetlejuice and the direct-to-video Disney offering The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning.  However, its lineage is far messier than its pop-culture afterlife suggests.  It was recorded by Trinidadian artists Lord Kitchener and Lord Invader, and Jamaican Calypso artist Lord Flea.  Somewhere in the decades between its writing and Belafonte's version the "Shake, Senora" chorus was added.  Belafonte uses that chorus and leans into bright, infectious calypso rhythms and an uptempo arrangement that turns the song into pure motion: hips, shoulders, whole rooms shifting. His delivery folds the song's island exuberance into sleek pop craftsmanship, giving it a buoyant, effortless joy.

It's Raining - Irma Thomas

It's Raining - Irma Thomas

single, 1961

2:08

Written by Allen Toussaint (as Naomi Neville)

This is a stately R&B number, draped in doo-wop-style falsetto backing vocals and Toussaint’s beautifully unhurried arrangement.  The narrator notices the rain, which evokes sad memories of a lost love: "The harder it rains the worse it gets / This is the time I'd love to be holding you tight / I guess I'll just go crazy tonight."  What makes the song land is Thomas' vocal.  She never overplays the emotion.  Her delivery is poised, almost regal, turning a simple ache into something clear-eyed and adult. The sorrow feels lived-in, not melodramatic; a quiet storm held together by dignity rather than despair.

Rainin' In My Heart - Slim Harpo

Rainin' In My Heart - Slim Harpo

2:32

Slim Harpo Sings "Raining In My Heart...", 1961

Written by Slim Harpo

As the Wikipedia article admonishes, this song is not to be confused with the Buddy Holly song of the same name.  It's been covered by Tom Jones, Neil Young, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, among others, but I haven't heard any of those versions.  This one is a slow New Orleans blues, a plea to an absent lover, sung in a gentle, high croon, accompanied by simple guitar lines.  It's punctuated by a couple of warbling harmonica solos and an Ink Spots-style spoken invocation in the middle, the voice pitched a shade deeper so you know he's serious: "Honey, I need your love / Darlin', you know why."

My True Story - The Jive Five

My True Story - The Jive Five

2:34

single, 1961

Written by Eugene Pitt, Oscar Waltzer, and Joe Rene

A soulful doo wop story-song about the sadness of unrequited love.  She loves him, he loves another.  "Love will make you happy / And love will make you cry / Love will make the tears fall / When your lover says goodbye."  This is a true story.  Only the names have been changed.  Eugene's heartfelt vocal, backed by the high, fluttering trills of the other Five, makes this song a tearjerker for all who have recently felt the sting of Cupid's mischievous arrow. 

If I Lose - The Stanley Brothers & the Clinch Mountain Boys

If I Lose - The Stanley Brothers

2:08

single, 1961

Written by Ralph Stanley

Few songs look upon the gambling life with rosy optimism, but this droll bluegrass proves it can be done.  In it, the narrator begs his lady love to come back to him — not because he can't live without her, but because she has the deep pockets to bankroll his losses.  "If I lose a hundred dollars while I'm trying to win a dime / My baby she's got money all the time," he boasts.  He doesn't look at other girls; they don't have enough dough.  He's gambled all over town and lost every time, but "now that you're back dear, let's take another round."  Over some virtuoso banjo picking and a bright fiddle, and accompanied by some down home harmonies, Stanley belts out the lines with his nasal yelp.

Mama Get Your Hammer - Bobby Peterson Quintet

Mama Get Your Hammer - Bobby Peterson Quintet

2:00

single, 1961

Written by Bobby Peterson, Joe Pyatt, Emmett Simmons

Know mostly as a novelty polka by Homer & Jethro, this original version is a rollicking piano boogie with buzzing horns and an urgent, shouting, growling vocal.  The titular mama is urged to get the hammer to squash an invading fly.  Peterson is concerned: "there's a fly on the baby's head" (Homer and Jethro changed it to "Daddy's head").  It's a throwaway lyric, but a the music is fun R&B rock.

Bru's Boogie Woogie - Dave Brubeck Quartet

Bru's Boogie Woogie - Dave Brubeck Quartet

2:27

Time Further Out, 1961

Written by Dave Brubeck

This song's album is supposedly a jazz interpretation of a Miro painting called "Calculation."  You could have fooled me.  This song is a upbeat number that swings with energetic rhythm.  I especially like the machine-gun piano run around the middle of the piece.  I don't know the first thing about time signatures and don't understand what Brubeck is doing when he plays with them, but I really like the results. 

Forty Shades Of Green - Johnny Cash

Forty Shades Of Green - Johnny Cash

2:53

single, 1961

Written by Johnny Cash

A gentle, midtempo ballad that extols the places and geography of Ireland, as well as a certain lady that resides there.  "I miss the river Shannon / And the folks at Skibbereen / The moorlands and the meddle / With their forty shades of green / But most of all I miss a girl / In Tipperary town."  Obviously, it's a Cash song, but he makes it pretty authentic.  I could easily hear the Clancy Brothers doing this song.

Acapulco Rock - Freddy Fender

Acapulco Rock - Freddy Fender

2:23

Eddie con los Shades, 1961

Written by Freddy Fender

This release has an interesting history.  It was recorded under the name under the name Eddie Medina because at that time he was still with Falcon Records under his real name, Baldemar Huerta.  They wore sunglasses on stage; thus the Shades part.  This song is in Spanish, describing a dance on the beach, encouraging everyone, even the swimmers, to get out of the water and have fun dancing.  Fender's guitar is bright, with stuttering surf and rockabilly lines, and a hint of Latin flavor.

La Chanson de Prévert - Serge Gainsbourg

La chanson de Prévert - Serge Gainsbourg

3:02

L'Étonnant Serge Gainsbourg, 1961

Written by Serge Gainsbourg

Gainsbourg wrote this song as a tribute to Jacque Prévert’s famous poem "Les Feuilles Mortes."  Draped in smoky, detached French cool and softly speak-crooning his baritone over an understated melancholy jazzy arrangement, he comes off here as the very model of a French Leonard Cohen.  Even the lyrics are extremely evocative of Cohen's work such as "Famous Blue Raincoat:" "Cette chanson était la tienne / C'était ta préférée, je crois" and "Les amours mortes / N'en finissent pas de mourir."

A Certain Girl - Ernie K-Doe

A Certain Girl - Ernie K-Doe

2:44

single, 1961

Written by Allen Toussaint

I'm familiar with the Warren Zevon version, but not so much with the original release, from Ernie K-Doe, a New Orleans R&B singer best known for "Mother -in-Law."  This one doesn't have Zevon's chorus of "awww!" when he won't reveal the girl's name, and instead has a bass voice echo, "No, no."  There's also a sultry sax and a drum break which liven things up.

Gee Whiz - The Innocents

Gee Whiz - The Innocents

2:29

Innocently Yours, 1961

Written by Jeanne Vikki and Jimmie Thomas

An aw-shucks vocal pop love song, in the softer doo-wop ballad style.  It was originally recorded by Bob & Earl in 1958.  It's a little sappy ("How can you talk to an angel? / What words would you say?") but sweet.  After a couple of hits but no follow-ups, this trio was relegated to being the backup vocals of her label-mate Kathy Young.  The music business is unforgiving.

Without a Song - Frank Sinatra

Without a Song - Frank Sinatra

3:38

I Remember Tommy, 1961

Written by Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu, 1929

Sinatra sinks his teeth into this one and gives a terrific performance, neither his histrionic maudlin sad-ballad voice nor his impossibly brash "My Way" vocal, but a relatively toned-down but flawless, smooth, solid delivery.  I dig the fake ending halfway through the song, only for the band to kick back in, horns blaring.  Tricked you!  They were doing it before the "hidden track" craze on CDs in the 1990s.

Big Bad John - Jimmy Dean

Big Bad John - Jimmy Dean

3:03

Big Bad John And Other Fabulous Songs And Tales, 1961

Written by Jimmy Dean

Title trax!

A half-sung, half-spoken story-song about a giant of a man everyone avoided, in the same vein as later songs like "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown."  The song starts out like it might end up in a similarly ironic way like those songs, but then turns more into a musical folktale, more reminiscent of the legend of John Henry.  A great song, its power dimmed a bit by the passage of time and parodies (like the sublime "Ballad of Irving").

Grandfather's Clock - Sam Cooke

Grandfather's Clock - Sam Cooke

3:12

Swing Low, 1961

Written by Henry Clay Work, 1876

I know this song from Johnny Cash's more appropriately somber version.  Cooke's voice is velvet, of course, but a song that starts with a male chorus singing "tick tock" probably isn't going to have the requisite gravitas, you know?  The jaunty beat, the swinging pacing, and the bright horns punctuating Cooke's lines just don't fit the theme of the song.  I didn't realize that this song was written so long ago. Fun fact, this song is the origin of the term "grandfather clock."