May 24, 2011

"On the Street Where You Live"

I like Vic Damone's version of "On the Street Where You Live" all right, but it doesn't swing as hard as Dean Martin's. Dino's version was recorded for his 1960 This Time I'm Swingin'! album. The arranger/conductor on the song and album was Nelson Riddle (obviously), hence the elegant swing rhythm. Riddle was of course the guy who helped to retool Frank Sinatra's sound in the mid-1950s. Heck, this recording even featured Harry "Sweets" Edison, the trumpet player so important to Sinatra that the singer often made sure Edison had his own mike at recording sessions.







11th Avenue NE, 1958
Second Ave. N. near Denny Way, 1957
Orcas Street at 48th, 1958
15th Avenue NW, 1958
Pics from the Seattle Municipal Archives via Flickr
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3 comments:

  1. Dorothy3:28 PM

    I own this album; I have a collection of LPs with "Swingin'" (NO LAST G EVER!) in the title. I love Dean better than Frank, though he's only 2/3rds the singer, because Dean is fun.

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  2. Chris8:36 AM

    Cool! I agree that Dean was/is more fun than Old Blue Eyes. I think that was a known fact. During the days of the Summit (the Rat Pack), Sinatra lamented the fact Dean (and even Sammy) could get riotous laughs with a joke he'd bomb with. Sinatra had too much gravitas. But that worked for him in other ways.

    I love the no-G-in-Swinging thing. Very late fifties/early sixties. Like dropping the g made it even better.

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  3. Dorothy8:00 PM

    I like to think that the loss of the 'g' was the unlacing of America, maybe the beginning of the sexual revolution.

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