Picked up a copy of this yesterday. http://wm11.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wzfuxqe5ldse
Does anybody remember this guy? I can vaguely remember watching his television show as a small boy. I grew up listening to many of his records.

Sure I remember him....very clearly as a matter of fact. He was a regular on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson) and had many classic hits in the 50's and 60's, such as Mack The Knife, Splish-Splash and the essential "If I Were A Carpenter". Kevin Spacey even did a movie in tribute to him recently.

There is a good movie about Bobby Darin starring Kevin Spacey, called "Beyod the Sea". He had a very interesting life and was a very talented artist. You should see the film...

Sure I remember him....very clearly as a matter of fact. He was a regular on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson) and had many classic hits in the 50's and 60's, such as Mack The Knife, Splish-Splash and the essential "If I Were A Carpenter". Kevin Spacey even did a movie in tribute to him recently.

I heard from my Father say that Spacey did not do Darin justice. I have not seen the film. And yes I have heard all those songs mentioned countless times. But I had never heard any of this album. And as usual, it is only available on a Japanese import CD, or this original record.
The thing is, he is almost forgotten. And he was huge even up until his death. And he had something most so called "ARTISTS" today don't have. TALENT.
I am still trying to figure out what the reviewer on AMG is talking about with side two of the record? I didn't find any of it that said where I had to cry in my martini? It was mostly upbeat. I must give it a closer listen.

Great vibes player, too.

Check out "Darin at the Copa" for a fantastic live gig.

Bobby Darin was indeed a great talent, throw out the bubble gum stuff like "Splish spash" which got him on the pop chats.
His version of Mac the Knife, up there with any version I have heard.
If you are looking for his albums the first two I would recommend are
OH: LOOK AT ME NOW,
This has a variety of "singers" songs including "All by myself" "A Nightingale sang in Barkley Square" "I'm begining to see the light" and many other great cuts.

The second would be
DARIN AT THE COPA.
He was 22 when he cut this live album
including "Mac the Knife" "Some of these Days" and "Bill BAILEY"

Oh, I bought the Oh look at me now album when it first came out, not to date myself

There's a long story behind this, but a friend of mine now in his 70s used to hang out with Bobby Darin when Bobby Darin was playing at a nightclub in the Midwest where my friend worked.

One day they had occasion to go fishing together and ran out of bait.

Bobby, being a guy from New York, had brought some lox (smoked salmon ) along for lunch and tried to try some as bait.

They did not get any bites.

Bobby Darin picked up the hook with the lox on it and said to my friend:

"I know why it didn't work: the other fish recognized him"

Bobby Darrin picked up the hook with the lox on it and said to my friend: "I know why it didn't work: the other fish recognized him"

:D :lmao: :D

Some Where...Beyond The Sea...

As noted, an excellent movie and an interesting depiction...kind of a fantasy--not a straight bio-pic. I highly recommend the soundtrack in addition to many of Bobby Darin's ACTUAL recordings.

In this soundtrack CD: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Sea-Kevin-Spacey/dp/B000641Z9K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-5660148-1963323?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1194557928&sr=8-2

Spacey's rendition of "Once Upon a Time" just brings tears to my eyes every time (it's in the spirit of Brian Wilson's "Caroline No"...innocence lost)...it's almost to the point where I must listen to this CD alone. Spacey really did an excellent, excellent job on this one (in addition to American Beauty).

I'm a big Bobby Darin fan. A real amazing talent, the man could sing it all. "Clementine" is one of the funniest songs I've ever heard, I remember many years ago at a family gathering I had played a Bobby Darin LP and the song came on and my late father in law started listening to it and started laughing out loud. A very warm memory that I treasure and to this day I cannot hear that song without thinking of him.

I heard from my Father say that Spacey did not do Darin justice. I have not seen the film.

Haven't seen it either and heard the same thing about Spacey's performance.
It was nice of him to pay homage to Darin, but...

I LOVE Walden Robert Crossotto!!!(sp?)

Their was a PBS-American Masters or Great Performances, I saw years ago that is definitely worth tracking down and seeing. It showed just how awesome and far reaching Darin's talents were. He was much, much more than, just 'Mack The Knife'!!
There is a ton of Bobby Darin video out there if you care to see for yourself!
I agree Spacey didn't do justice to Bobby! He wasn't 'bad' per se' but, Bobby really was too complex a person and musician to portray all of his life in a 2 hour movie.

Love him myself. It is said he was tagged to be the next Sinatra.

Love him myself. It is said he was tagged to be the next Sinatra.
While probably not the singer/crooner/interpretor of others songs that Sinatra was. Bobby was much more talented in many other areas. Writing, producing, playing and arranging music. He was a very talented guy who only started to scratch the surface of his abilities when he died at the very young age of 36-37.

1959 -- I can remember as a kid being stuck in a small Wisconsin town off the highway on the annual summer vacation while the family car was being repaired, so we could get home. As we sat waiting over in the local diner, the waitresses kept playing Blue Velvet over and over and over and over again. I still have the lyrics permanently embedded in my memory.

...and I still can see Blue Velvet, through my tears... :tears:

1959 -- I can remember as a kid being stuck in a small Wisconsin town off the highway on the annual summer vacation while the family car was being repaired, so we could get home. As we sat waiting in the local diner, the waitresses kept playing Blue Velvet over and over and over and over again. I still have the lyrics permanently embedded in my memory.

...and I still can see Blue Velvet, through my tears... :tears:


I think you've got the wrong Bobby there.

I think you've got the wrong Bobby there.

LOL Bobby Vinton? Bobby Vee? :scratch2:

Vinton. I think Tony Bennett had a hit with it well before Vinton, not that it matters much to Bobby Darin.

Let alone Bobby Kennedy.

Let alone Bobby Kennedy.

Or Frank Booth?:scratch2:

Let's be frank. Or you be frank and I'll be beans...

Didn't he have some sort of heart defect that killed him quite young ? Prolly smoking like a chimney, & I'll assume boozin' it didn't help, either...

Didn't he have some sort of heart defect that killed him quite young ? Prolly smoking like a chimney, & I'll assume boozin' it didn't help, either...


I think he was a non-smoker but sometimes used cigarettes as a prop on stage. He was also a teetotaler. He was born with a heart defect, which was diagnosed when he was a kid. He basically knew he would die young, and he tried to take care of his health.

Funny you should mention Bobby Darin. I picked up a couple of VG LP's from a nice lady from L.A. SHe had been carting her collection around for years and decided to sell. I got first pick and grabbed a NM copy of Meet the Beatles! and Beatles 65. I also got a VG+ copy of Darin at the Copa in "full spectrum hi fidelity". Also scored VG++ copies of This is Darin and The Bobby Darin Story.

Great score!

Didn't he have some sort of heart defect that killed him quite young ? Prolly smoking like a chimney, & I'll assume boozin' it didn't help, either...

Smoking sure doesn't help. But he suffered multiple bouts of rheumatic fever as a child according to Wikipedia, which left him with a diseased heart. Of course this is before the use of antibiotics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Darin

I think you've got the wrong Bobby there.
LoL! I sit corrected. At least I had the Bobby part right... :D

Bobby Darin was an amazing talent. He was not only a great singer, he could act too. In many ways Darin could be compared with Sinatra, if on a somewhat smaller scale...