Tune Tag #19 with Steve Goldberg of Earworms & Song Loops, Pt. 2: Brian Eno, Cheap Trick, Sammy Davis Jr., Be Bop Deluxe

Steve's first attempt at a "standard" Tune Tag yields songs from the Great American Songbook all the way to the experimental and avant-garde!

A ticket under your seat! Come on down, Steve! Let’s Tag Tunes!🎶

Steve Goldberg

of the Earworms and Song Loops Substack joins us for his first anything-goes Tune Tag! He was part of a special Genesis Edition, accessible here:

Tune Tag #5 with Steve Goldberg: The Genesis Edition--Peter Gabriel, Paula Cole, Phil Collins, Roxy Music & More!

Steve: Okay Brad, this feels like a Tag to find the most terrifically terrible tunes in history. And by terrible I mean, amazing. I remember hearing Miles Davis being interviewed, and he was telling a story of hearing, I want to say Mingus, but it was probably someone else, and describing the sound as terrible. The interviewer was confused until it became clear that “terrible” meant “terribly brilliant.”

Setting the mood.

Steve’s Song #1 sent to Brad: Esquivel, “Begin the Beguine,” 1958

Steve’s rationale: I knew immediately that I wanted to start with “Begin the Beguine.” I also knew that there would be a hundred interpretations of this Cole Porter classic. When I saw the Esquivel version, I found my winner. I own three albums and a CD by “the father of space-age lounge music.”

I think I discovered Esquivel back in college at the campus radio station. I love this sh*t (another Milesism: = fantastic stuff). I have several albums by Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman that I bought back in the day. There’s something cozily kitschy about this style of music that makes me supremely giddy.

[Brad: I agree, and as I was 3 in 1958 (when this Esquivel cover was released on RCA Victor), I grew up in the ‘60s with much this same vibe, thanks to Dad’s mammoth jazz record collection! Mom and Dad’s best friends would frequently come over for Pinochle, cocktails, ping-pong, and a small army of ashtrays purloined from Houston’s Tidelands…always with light jazz or this “lounge/cocktail” music playing on the “Vic.” Thanks for the memories, Steve!]

Brad’s Song #1 sent to Steve: Sammy Davis Jr., “Begin the Beguine,” Live, 1984

Steve’s response: I can only assume the tie-in is the obvious one: It’s another fabulous interpretation of the Porter tune. But, I am left wondering if there is a Sammy/Esquivel connection I’m unaware of. Maybe the connection is that both of them had to deal with racism to get their music made and accepted. Sammy Davis, Jr. definitely dealt with a ton of it (being Black and Jewish), but I’m unsure about (Juan García) Esquivel, who is of Mexican descent. I’m confident he faced his fair share of racism.

In the studio, 1962. Possibly at Capitol Studio A, Sinatra recorded for Capitol through most of the ‘50s, and in 1962, released his first album on his own label, Reprise (Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass), distributed by Warner Bros. All three Reprise Records roster-mates convene here (l-r) Dean, Frank, and Sammy.

[Brad: Quick note on Sammy and enduring ‘50s and ‘60s discrimination: Especially in Las Vegas, and especially when Sammy was performing with the Rat Pack, including Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, The Chairman of the Board would insist Sammy get the same food, room accommodations, and every other consideration afforded Dean and himself. If Caesar’s or The Sands, or wherever, didn’t or wouldn’t, Frank threatened to cancel the gig, and had no problem doing so if the property refused to comply.]

Brad’s rationale: I love Cole Porter. I love the Great American Songbook. Of the G.A.S. composers over the century, Porter is not only alone in his songwriting mastery, but he was consistently alone in being the sole writer of all his songs: Words and music.

I love The Rat Pack, and the fact that all, in the ‘60s, were on Frank Sinatra’s Warner Bros.-distributed Reprise Records, which he founded in 1960….Frank, of course, Dean Martin (even his kid, Dino, with Desi and Billy!), and Sammy Davis, Jr. This 1984 live performance at Jerry Lewis’s Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon occurred just six years before Sammy’s passing, in 1990, at age 64.

There’s so much to take in from his performance. Relax and enjoy it, of course, but there’s also a lot to zero in on, dissect, and appreciate in his talent and his unique ability to interpret a classic:

Start with the orchestra, which is playing to an established rhythm, and will continue to do so. Sammy surgically meanders in and around that rhythm, skillfully lagging slightly behind the beat, catching up, but never getting lost, and always improvising.

Notice how Sammy’s singing the melody (and creating as he does so), while all the ork is doing is playing complimentary horn punches and accents throughout….not the melody! Brain surgeons aren’t this deft and precise as Sammy is here, vocally. Sublime.

Steve’s Song #2: Mr. Joe Jackson (presents Max Champion in “What a Racket”)

Brad’s response: I have no idea what all this is…no clue as to who Mr. Joe Jackson is (the Joe Jackson?), not to mention Max Champion. But, I chose this song’s “What a Racket!” title to link to our next cultural linchpin from 1974, and my next song.

Steve’s rationale: This one is a bit of a stretch connection-wise. As a huge Joe Jackson fan, I read a couple of months ago that his new project was going to be an album reviving the songs of enigmatic early 20th-century English Music Hall artist, the fictional Max Champion.

The entire album is out now (it’s a lot of fun), but this was the second single off the album (following the first, “Health and Safety,” in late September). Joe has proven before that he can play any style of music, and this is yet another reminder. Jackson’s “Two Rounds of Racket Tour” will traverse the States with 20 dates next June and July.

I suppose the link to Sammy Davis, Jr. is the feel of the orchestration playing behind him reminded me of the orchestra behind Joe in “What a Racket.” If there is another tie-in, I'm sure you will find it! Perhaps Sammy owned the missing shoe from Shoeless Joe Jackson?