Sammy!

 

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is here, and I have something very groovy for your ears.

Sammy Davis, Jr. is by any measure one of the greatest entertainers of the second half of the 20th century. A gifted singer, dancer and musician (he could REALLY play the drums, among other instruments), Davis has for a younger generation devolved into something of a cliché of ring-a-ding-ding, pinky ring, Las Vegas glitz.

There is of course a grain of truth in that cliché, but he was much more than than, and today’s selection proves that given the opportunity, he could get soulful with the best of them.

Pulled from the soundtrack of the 1968 sub-Rat Pack, Sammy/Peter Lawford vehicle ‘Salt & Pepper’, ‘I Like the Way You Dance’ is a swinging, four on the floor bit of mod soul.

Composed by Davis and his music director George Rhodes and arranged by UK jazzer (and husband of Cleo Laine) John Dankworth, ‘I Like the Way You Dance’ is driven by some hard edged guitar, wailing organ (I’d love to know who’s playing here) and horns.

Sammy’s vocal is hot enough that you wonder why he didn’t do more of this kind of stuff, but when you flip over the 45 for the Lesley Bricusse penned theme from the movie, you realize that ‘I Like the Way You Dance’ is the aberration, and Sammy had both feet planted firmly in the showbiz mainstream.

If you get a chance check out the clip of Sammy performing ‘I Like the Way You Dance’ in ‘Salt & Pepper’, where he (sporting love beads and accompanied by several lovely go go dancers) dances with a Rickebacker six-string.

It’s a hot little 45, and I hope you dig it.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.