My sibling deedee has weighed in on the enduring charms of Jo Stafford, which seem to me beyond dispute. But there is another side to Ms. Stafford that is also highly entertaining; she and her husband Paul Weston invented alter-egos in Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, a duo who mangled the genre of cocktail pop in a witty and subtle way, just barely straying off key and not... quite...getting the timingright. It doesn't sound like a particularly durable musical joke, but it is.
In 1962, at the waning of the "Sing Along With Mitch" phenomenon (and it really was: between 1958 and 1961, Miller and his gang scored more than 15 top 10 albums), RCA released "Sing Along with Jonathan and Darlene Edwards," which captured perfectly the glee-clubbish spirit of Miller's concoctions, while keeping the Edwards trademark of being oh so slightly off kilter.
On this selection, Darlene and her sing-along companions tackle "The Object of My Affection."
And as a bonus track, a ditty about a fellow who just couldn't get with the whole Miller program:
My Trusted MOGs
man. where do you dig this shit up?
thanks for the education!
My Trusted MOGs
Oh yeah, Thanks for sharing this.
My Trusted MOGs
Looks like the second Jack Davis sighting this week (the guy who did the above album cover; MAD magazine's most prolific artist).
Do you think this song conjures a strong image of a fair damsel out on a date with 25 strapping, amorous men? I do. The guys obviously have to hold her hand in shifts. Hope that goes smoothly.
My Trusted MOGs
Any artiste who ranks on Mitch Miller has my full approval - though clearly not untalented, the man was respinsible for some of the most abysmal shit ever foisted upon the American listening public. "Sing Along With Mitch" is far from the least of his crimes, ghastly though it was. (I was listening recently to a chronological Tony Bennett best-of that became exponentially better once the Miller-produced tracks had ended.) Also, am I right in thinking that the Halifax Three was the group that Denny Doherty once sang in?
My Trusted MOGs
You know, it didn't occur to me that this was the group Denny was in, but you're absolutely right (why am I not surprised?), so quite unwittingly I posted Denny's vocals in successive MOG ramblings.