GOING BACHARACH: THE DEEP CUTS, Part 5 "Mostly Melvin"

Tormé Time: Melodies for Mel (and one miscredited to Burt)

In which we continue our series delving into the nooks and crannies of the Burt Bacharach song catalogue.
RECAP: I spent much of the last year working with my very wonderful collaborators, the brilliant director David Zippel, producer Jack Lewin, and musical director Adrian Galante, putting together a revue titled Going Bacharach: The Songs of an Icon. It’s my pleasure to report that this production is successfully running Off-Broadway at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater at 10 West 64th Street—to excellent reviews. In the course of working on this show, I have become entrenched in the marvelous music of this most versatile and distinguished of American composers. This current series of Substacks is devoted to oddball nooks and crannies in the Bacharach canon; these are “the deep cuts.”

“The Desperate Hours”
Lyric by Wilson Stone
Music by Burt Bacharach
Recorded by Mel Tormé (NOT! See below)
Actually recorded by Eileen Rodgers. (Yes! See below again)
From a promotion for the Paramount movie The Desperate Hours October 1955

Mel Tormé’s relationship with Burt Bacharach starts with a curio—a song that was alleged to be by Bacharach but which we now know is not. And I am partly to blame! (More’s the pity!)

As Serene Dominic relates in his much-recommended study, Burt Bacharach: Song by Song: in 1955, Burt and a lyricist named Wilson Stone wrote an exploitation song for the crime drama The Desperate Hours. This was only Burt’s third song to be published and recorded, following “Once in a Blue Moon” and “Keep Me in Mind” (both covered in this Substack). Like “Wives and Lovers” a decade later, it was not heard in the actual film, but there was a Columbia single by Eileen Rodgers and presumably other recordings as well. (Yes, this is the same Eileen Rodgers who is beloved among Broadway buffs for the Oh, Captain! original cast album, although she wasn’t actually in that show. But that’s another Substack.)

In 1960, Mel Tormé, then under contract to Verve Records, cut two miscellaneous tracks; one was the Jimmy McHugh-Ted Koehler song ‘I’m Shootin’ High” (from King of Burlesque, earlier memorably recorded by Louis Armstrong). The other was a new song titled “These Desperate Hours.” This other “Desperate Hours” was the work of Stanley Styne, son of Jule, and the celebrated Hollywood composer-arranger George Duning. They wrote it for Mel Tormé to sing as a guest star in the TV series Dan Raven. (According to info on Discogs.com, this was episode 9 of the show, aired in November, 1960. However, the IMDB—courtesy On-the-Job Rob—tells us that it was actually episode 8, broadcast November 8, titled “The Junket.” Either way, I would love to see it.)

Fast forward to 30 years later. In 1989, archivist supreme Phil Schaap is culling through the Verve vaults, looking for interesting rarities, singles, B-sides, etc. to include as “bonus tracks” on the CD edition of Mel’s first album for Norman Granz, titled simply Tormé, one of Mel’s many masterpieces for that label. He comes across these two tracks, “I’m Shootin’ High” and “These Desperate Hours” and decides to include them. (Well, he should—they’re terrific!) Either Phil or someone—I swear it wasn’t me, honest!—did a quick check of the songwriter credits and concluded that this was the Bacharach-Stone song.

So, that’s how the track was issued on the Tormé CD, with credit to Bacharach and Stone. (Mel was very much alive then, but I don’t know if he ever listened to the CD or to that bonus track.) Then, about ten years after that, a producer at Rhino (working with me and George Feltenstein) put together an excellent compilation titled Mel Tormé at the Movies, which was a worthy follow-up to Rhino’s spectacular The Mel Tormé Collection. I did the notes for both CDs, and we repeated the mistake. (Oy!)

(In my defense, this is the only major mistake I have caught in the excellent Dominic book—other than the fact that he completely misjudges the great Jack Jones. This author too was under the false impression that the Tormé song was by Bacharach.)

As it is, the actual Burt Bacharach song is not one of his better efforts, even as a very young man—it’s no “Keep Me in Mind”—there’s no arguing that the Styne-Duning song is a superior piece of work. But there you go.

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“Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do)”
Credit to Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen
Sung by Christopher Cross in the 1981 film Arthur
Performed by Mel Tormé live at Park Ten
Included on The Mel Tormé Collection (Rhino Records)

Apologies up front: a lot of these details are shrouded in the fuzzy mists of memory, and I hope I haven’t gotten anything terribly horribly incorrect.

In 1981, “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do)” was Burt’s third and final Oscar-winning song. Four years later, Mel, who was always looking for good songs from what he called “the RRP”—relatively recent past—picked up on it. This was one of the rare pop hits of the era that he could feel comfortable singing. Mel and his ace musical director Mike Renzi came up with a great chart for it.

In 1984, Eric Comstock and I (both 22 at the time) were working at Tower Records in the East Village. (To this day, Eric refers to Tower as our “alma mater.”) Around the same time that we started hanging out, even while we both mutually learned about the great singers, he already was deep into Bobby Short and Mabel Mercer, I already loved Bing Crosby and Al Bowlly. But we both discovered Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, and eventually Sinatra, in this period.

In 1985, Mel was making his first big appearance in New York since the legendary Marty’s had closed a few years earlier. This was at a new club called The Park Ten, on East 34th Street, near the corner of Park Avenue.

We had to be there! I don’t know how we got in; I may have already been writing for The Village Voice, but I didn’t have any legit press credentials, and we certainly didn’t have any money. (In those days, we were making minimum wage, $3.10 an hour, and got as much as $3.85 for working holidays.)

Somehow we got in; I remember seeing Mel more than once there, as well as Rosemary Clooney and a few others. That’s when we both got to know Mel. Not everyone had the same experience that we did, but I can tell you that he was kind and generous to both of us.

During that run, Mel included his version of “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do),” as arranged by Mike and Mel, and also featuring stalwart bassist Jay Leonhart and Mel’s “super drummer” Donny Osborne. “Arthur’s Theme” was a highlight of the show, one of the few contemporary songs in the act.

During that run, one of Mel’s shows was broadcast by WNEW AM. (I’m not sure if it was live or pre-recorded.) That set was taped off the air on a cassette (remember those, hey?) by our other buddy, Sandy Gunar. At that time, Sandy was dating Eric’s sister Kate. (I do not recall if she could actually shimmy, but I know that I did make that joke in 1984.) Sandy Gunar was a very cool guy, and he actually got hip to Sinatra well before Eric or I did. Sandy went on to a distinguished career as an agent; sadly, Sandy died during the COVID pandemic in 2021.

Fast forward again! This time again more than ten years later to 1986, when I was working with Rhino Records on The Mel Torme Collection, which was intended to be a career-summarizing retrospective of Mel’s best work over a 40-year period.

I desperately wanted to include Mel’s version of “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do),” but, alas, he had only sung it at Park Ten, and presumably other clubs. And there was no official live recording, other than the WNEW version. So, we borrowed Sandy’s cassette. The audio wizards at Rhino cleaned it up the best they could, and presented it to Mel for his approval—which he gave. And to this day, this is the version of Mel Tormé doing “Arthur’s Theme” that we all know and love. And this was the version of the theme that Adrian Galante studied for his own arrangement in our show, Going Bacharach, with a deep nod to Mel and Mike.

Eric and I remember a bit that Mel would routinely do when he introduced the song. “Here’s a charming theme that deservedly won the Academy Award, because it’s from a charming movie called Arthur.” Then he would stretch out the songwriting credits, as slowly and comically frustrating as possible. “This was written by Burt Bacharach … [pause]... Christopher Cross … [pause]... Carole Bayer Sager … [pause]... Peter Allen.” And then he would keep going, throwing in more names “A. J. Foyt* … [pause]... Mookie Wilson*… [pause]... Dr. Ruth Westheimer…”* and then he would keep going even beyond that, declaring to the crowd, “Forty-seven people wrote this dumb little song.” Sadly, that intro is missing from the Rhino edition. But it’s forever etched in the memories of Eric and me. (And it is a bit we will do at parties anytime, just ask us!)
(* At that time, I had no idea who the sports figures, A. J. Foyt & Mookie Wilson actually were, and to this day I am only familiar with them because Mel dropped their names in this routine.)

More to come! Mel Tormé sings:

“Walk on By”
“My Little Red Book”
“A House Is Not a Home”

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Four Bacharach-centric episodes of SING! SING! SING!

The Bob Hilliard Songbook—from Sinatra to Bacharach
(SSS #184 2025-01-31 )
Listen + Playlist

Going Bacharach, Part 3 (Strictly Instrumental)
(SSS #182 2025-01-17)
Download: <or> play online: + Playlist

Going Bacharach, Part 2
(SSS #181 2025-01-10)
download: <or> play online: + Playlist

Going Bacharach Pt 1: Bacharach Around the Clock
(SSS #023 2022-12-03)
download: <or> play online: + Playlist

Our next virtual (online) presentation—for more info and to register, click here
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 at 7:00PM EST.

Coming Very Soon—Your Next Favorite Substack: “The Adventures of Bill Boggs.” Yes! (Watch this space for details!)

(Very special thanks to Elizabeth Zimmer, Rob Lester, & Dan Fortune for their expert proofing, hey!) Special Thanks again to Daniel Weinstein, Jordan Taylor, & Rob Waldman.

Sing! Sing! Sing! : My tagline is, “Celebrating the great jazz—and jazz-adjacent—singers, as well as the composers, lyricists, arrangers, soloists, and sidemen, who help to make them great.”
A production of KSDS heard Saturdays at 10:00 AM Pacific; 1:00 PM Eastern.
To listen to KSDS via the internet (current and recent shows are available for streaming) click here. Here is the running list of recent shows.
The whole series is also listenable on Podbean.com; click here.

THIS JUST IN! THE OFFICIAL ALL-NEW
“SING! SING! SING!” T-SHIRT!

“IT’S TRUE!
IT’S TRUE!
IT’S ALL TRUE!”

SING! SING! SING!

The REBECCA KILGORE Memorial Show
(SSS #183 2025-01-24 )
download: <or> play online: + playlist

What A WONDERFUL New Year!
(SSS #180 2025-01-03)
download: <or> play online: + Playlist:

New Year’s Eve with Mr. Booze (Drinking Songs)
(SSS #179 2025-12-27)
download: <or> play online: + Playlist

Alt-Christmas (By Request)
(SSS #178 2025-12-20)
download: <or> play online: +Playlist:

The Sammy Davis Jr Centennial - Sammy By Request
(SSS #177 2025-12-13)
download: <or> play online: + Playlist

Sinatra sings Burke & Van Heusen REDUX
(FS 2025 01 2025-12-01)
Download: <or> play online:

SLOUCHING TOWARDS BIRDLAND is a Substack newsletter by Will Friedwald. The best way to support my work is with a paid subscription, for which I am asking either $5 a month or $50 per year. Thank you for considering. (Thanks as always to Arlen Schumer for special graphics.) Word up, peace out, go forth and sin no more! (And always remember: “A man is born, but he’s no good no how, without a song.”)

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