Bing Crosby, Hey Jude
The Bing croons his way through some '60s classics
Bing Crosby was the first modern singer. Though his iconic star has been in eclipse over the past few musical generations, his vocal innovations absorbed into the common-law vocabulary of popular song, there is little question that he forever changed the way the human voice could be projected and humanized. Elvis Presley, for one, has more of Der Bingle in him than one might imagine, and then there's Nick Cave and Iggy Pop….
Not much of a writer himself (though he is credited with penning the first verse of "Where the Blue of the Night"), Bing was primarily an interpreter of song. Many of his recordings are the definite version of pop standards — "White Christmas," anyone? — and his warm butterscotch baritone curled itself comfortably around all manner of Tin Pan Alley's creations, especially during his '40s heyday. But by the time of the late-'60s, with music in severe flux, even Bing found himself out of his element. It was a problem for many of his song-stylist contemporaries; and though he didn't score the oddball hit like Frank Sinatra ("Something Stupid" with daughter Nancy) or Dean Martin ("Everybody Loves Somebody"), he kept making records and selecting winning songs.
He was a first-take kind of guy who liked to record in the morning and hit the golf links in the afternoon, and Hey Jude has an off-hand and casual air that suits his chosen tunes. He never cared much for rock and roll, and seems most at home with songs that tend to the wistful and dreamy: "Both Sides Now" is given a nostalgic reading, filtered through Crosby's awareness of his long Road movie traveled (here unleavened by Bob Hope's levity). "It's All in the Game," the Tommy Edwards classic, has Bing's lazy sensuality shining through, and his take on "Little Green Apples" touches the same sonorous quality as O.C. Smith's original. "Those Were the Days" has a subtext with reminiscence inscribed all over it, and though the arrangement tends to the bombastic, he negotiates the title song with aplomb (I'm sure McCartney was influenced by Bing). A true Vox Populi.
