Archive for March, 2011
Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast
“Nature Boy”
This week, The Friday Night Cat Fight is a battle royale between 4 distinguished crooners over the classic, if not eerie tune, “Nature Boy.” Nat King Cole scored the first and biggest hit in 1948, but Sinatra and Haymes each had top 20 versions of the tune also in ’48. Bobby Darin brought it back to life in 1961 with a slightly different take on it musically and today, “Nature Boy” is a jazz standard.
Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast
“Dedicated To The One I Love”
The Friday Night Cat Fight features a classic vocal group record this week with “Dedicated To The One I Love.” The song was co-written by the “5” Royales insanely talented guitar player and songwriter Lowman Pauling in 1957. His group cut the original version of the tune without much success. The Shirelles made a slight dent in the charts in 1959 with the first release of their cover. In 1961, everything changed. King re-released the “5” Royales’ original and it scraped the charts, but that prompted the Shirelles’ label to re-release their version and it shot to #3 on the charts. In 1967, Mama Michelle got her first lead vocal as Dunhill Records issued the Mamas And The Papas version which hit #2. Many others have covered this classic tune, but these three versions stand out as the best and most popular.
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This blog is dedicated to the preservation of the world's greatest music: 1940s-70s Rhythm & Blues and Rock n' Roll. When I'm not collecting records, I'm listening to them.
