Steve Lawrence - Farewell, and his 'Pussycat'
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 6:24 pm
Most of us probably saw the news that 1960s crooner Steve Lawrence passed away March 7. He was on board the Bacharach train pretty early with "Loving Is a Way of Living" (1959), and recorded "Wives and Lovers" in 1966 so his lounge singer card would not be revoked, and he recorded the Bacharach / Bayer-Sager tune "I Won't Break" (1981), but my favorite of his Bacharach interpretations by far is his version of "What's New Pussycat".
Lawrence recorded "Pussycat" two months after Tom Jones' version was released, just as his network television show was getting underway (the LP was called "The Steve Lawrence Show"). While I assume Jones' absolute ownership of the song was obvious from the moment it was out there, Lawrence found a way into the tune that succeeds, for me anyway. He almost makes it a meta-commentary on the Vegas lounge singer...there's less of the Kurt Weill feel of the Jones version, and more of a "Sinatra eight whiskeys into a set at the Sands" feel. To play devil's advocate, on "Wives and Lovers" he's also basically a caricature of a lounge lizard, so maybe that's just his default mode (I haven't explored his discography that far).
I think the arranger of his "Pussycat" (possibly Joe Guercio, but the arranger isn't listed separately) also deserves some credit. It opens like a Gordon Jenkins ballad chart for Sinatra, and when it first shifts into Kurt Weill territory, the brass has a mariachi vibe that's fun. The way it goes back and forth between that rigid oom-pah beat and pure swing is fun, and pulls it out of Tom Jones' shadow. And like the original, it doesn't wear out its welcome (a little of this tune goes a long way!)...they are 2:18 and 2:19 respectively.
Lawrence recorded "Pussycat" two months after Tom Jones' version was released, just as his network television show was getting underway (the LP was called "The Steve Lawrence Show"). While I assume Jones' absolute ownership of the song was obvious from the moment it was out there, Lawrence found a way into the tune that succeeds, for me anyway. He almost makes it a meta-commentary on the Vegas lounge singer...there's less of the Kurt Weill feel of the Jones version, and more of a "Sinatra eight whiskeys into a set at the Sands" feel. To play devil's advocate, on "Wives and Lovers" he's also basically a caricature of a lounge lizard, so maybe that's just his default mode (I haven't explored his discography that far).
I think the arranger of his "Pussycat" (possibly Joe Guercio, but the arranger isn't listed separately) also deserves some credit. It opens like a Gordon Jenkins ballad chart for Sinatra, and when it first shifts into Kurt Weill territory, the brass has a mariachi vibe that's fun. The way it goes back and forth between that rigid oom-pah beat and pure swing is fun, and pulls it out of Tom Jones' shadow. And like the original, it doesn't wear out its welcome (a little of this tune goes a long way!)...they are 2:18 and 2:19 respectively.
