Perry Como

[GoogaMooga]

***HOT DIGGITY***

What is it about Perry Como? He is so laid back that you fear he might nod off in mid-song, but actually it's all very controlled. Dino is mellow in a faux-Dionysian way, but Perry Como is something else again. He can suck the life out of any song and smother it with a mind-numbing evenness so soporific, it's like music on axozepam, with seemingly no emotional variation. Potent numbers like "The Most Beautiful Girl" or the Martini standard, "Moon River", all are given the Perry Como veneer of effortless nonchalance, with every furrow smoothed out. Even the mid-tempo songs are strictly Squaresville. Does anyone ever say "hot diggity"? It may have been fashionable for five minutes in the fifties, but wasn't it more "hot dang" or "hot damn"? Even "hot dog" sounds better than "hot diggity". The song itself is a novelty-kinda singalong, which may sound good after three Martinis, but on the fourth you just want to put on some Dino for the hell of it. The Perry Como recording of "Hot Diggity" went to #1 on the Billboard pop music chart in March of that earth-shaking year, 1956, proving that Mister Snooze could compete with the rockers...

[Tom Waits For No One]

'Magic Moments' and 'Catch A Falling Star' are superb.
His Christmas Album is a traditional must play in our house.



Hurrah for Pierino!

[Charlie O.]

I'll grant that this was maybe funnier forty years ago, when he was actually "still alive" - but it still cracks me up:

[GoogaMooga]

Oh yes, "Magic Moments" belongs to Perry, but then again it's a Bacharach song. Zilth Pilchards raves about the Christmas album.