Bobby Darin
Beyond the Sea...Beyond the Music

The Capitol Years

"When his [recording] contract was up with Atco, I conned him into coming to Capitol, where I was," said Venet, who had moved to L.A.  before Darin and was already producing the Beach Boys, among other acts. "And we made some hit records there. But I was more of a friend that hung out with him during that period. Even when I was his producer, I was actually hanging out with him. Nobody really produced him. He did it all. I'm being real frank with you. His instincts were amazing. Any success he had in his life, no matter who was with him, if you weren't with him, it would've taken him an extra 15 minutes to do it alone," Venet insisted with a laugh.

"I'm serious.  And you won't find many people to take a back seat, but I'm telling you the truth. All you did was, from A to B, shorten that time when you worked with him. He would've gotten there himself. There are not many people you can say that about. But even though he could get there himself, he still took you along, which was great! And you had a good time doin' it."

Darin's first Capitol single was "If A Man Answers," the title song he wrote for the second film he starred in with wife Sandy.  By the time that movie appeared at the end of 1962, Darin had acted in three others: the aforementioned State Fair, the war movie Hell Is For Heroes with Steve McQueen and the Stanley Kramer drama Pressure Point with Sidney Poitier and Peter Falk.

Darin's first Capitol LP was Oh! Look At Me Now, another of his big band album projects, with familiar standards like the Irving Berlin songs "Always," "All By Myself" and "Blue Skies." Those who are particular fans of this style of Darin music should also note that Capitol this year issued a CD of his recordings for the label as part of its Spotlight On ... series (Great Gentlemen Of Song). Darin's 20-track collection (which followed a previous 20- track CD of Capitol recordings that was part of the 1989 Collectors Series) includes 10 of the tracks from Darin's first Capitol LP, plus five previously unreleased tracks and five later recordings.

Darin was pleased to be recording for the label for which Sinatra had done so much of his classic work, and used Billy May as his arranger and conductor on his initial Capitol sessions in July. Nonetheless, by September Darin was in a country bag, and Venet is credited with producing the lovely Darin original "You're The Reason I'm Living," which turned out to be his biggest hit for the company. More than likely influenced by the Ray Charles recording of "I Can't Stop Loving You," Darin's attempt at MOR country n' western was released on New Year's Eve 1962 and the record reached the #3 position in early 1963.

Darin, his wife and son lived in Hollywood and it didn't take long for him to travel to work at the recording studio, the movie studio, his publicist's office, or wherever else he needed to be. Although he wasn't doing the L.A. nightclub scene like he had been in 1959 and '60, Darin still liked to stop in at a Sunset Boulevard club, right down the hill from his house, if one of his favorites was performing. Some time in this period, the tortured yet brilliant comedian Lenny Bruce was booked at Gene Norman's Crescendo on the strip, and Darin came down to catch Bruce's act. This is where he spotted a young guitar player named Jim McGuinn, whose musical skills (McGuinn was working with the folk group the Chad Mitchell Trio) he immediately took a liking to.

"We were opening up for Lenny Bruce," McGuinn recalled.  "I didn't know it at the time, but Bobby Darin was out in the audience to see Lenny. After our set, Bobby came backstage and said that he liked my guitar playing. He explained that he wanted to add a folk segment to his show and wondered whether I would like to back him up on guitar and sing harmony. I wasn't sure. He asked, "How much are these guys paying you?' I told him and he said, 'I'll double it!' I accepted his offer, and gave the Chad Mitchell Trio two weeks notice."

"18 Yellow Roses" was a song that Darin reportedly wrote and recorded for Sandra Dee's mother. It was also a hit for him in 1963, going to #10, while also making the U.K. Top 40, (This song was arranged for Darin by Jack Nitzsche, who, was already working for Specter by this time.) McGuinn was touring with Darin in this era, before there was any thought of forming a group called the Byrds.

"I played on some sessions around the '18 Yellow Roses' time," McGuinn recalled. "I'm not sure what songs I'm on, and there is no credit given for those recordings. [On live gigs] Bobby would sing his hits for about 15 minutes, then he he'd take off his tie and bring me out. We would do three songs together with the rhythm section and my 12-string guitar and harmony. After I left the stage, Bobby would sing standards. Bobby was an excellent singer and instrumentalist.  He played piano,  drums, the vibes and guitar very well. Bobby taught me a show business ethic that's hard to find these days.  He was extremely professional. He was always well-groomed, in tune and on time."

It was McGuinn who turned Darin on to the songs of Bob Dylan, whose first few albums were just starting to circulate.  Darin would wind up recording several  Dylan tunes ("Blowin' In The Wind," "Don't Think Twice" and later "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight") and sing the songs during his live gigs until he stopped performing,

"I had been hanging out in Greenwich Village and had seen Dylan play at Gerde's Folk City," McGuinn said. "When I told Bobby about Dylan, he hadn't heard of him. He thought that was just some kid trying to copy his name." (Strangely enough, Darin would be taken to task later in the '60s for copying Dylan's name—as well as his image and early musical style—when he threw himself into folk and protest music and began billing himself as "Bob Darin.")

McGuinn had nothing but good thing to say about Darin as a bandleader, as an artist and as a human being. "As far as I could see," McGuinn commented, "Bobby commanded a great deal of respect from everyone with whom he had contact.  I learned many valuable lessons from him during the two years we worked together.  It was an honor and a privilege to have worked for such a great and talented performer."

Capitol has a live Darin album from his McGuinn period that was recorded at the Flamingo in Vegas but never released. It still may come out, but meanwhile several tracks from those shows are included in the Rhino box.

As Blauner had predicted he would, Darin copped an Oscar nomination for his dramatic supporting role in the movie Captain Newman, M.D.  Darin wanted the award badly, but had to settle for the distinction of being nominated. He thought that, after this outstanding screen performance, more choice roles would be offered to him, but it wasn't to be. Despite showing great initial promise, Darin's motion picture career never really took off. And, especially after his breakup with Dee, he seemed to lose interest in actively pursuing movie roles, preferring to concentrate instead on his music and live performing.

Darin did make some records at Capitol that would qualify as rock n' roll, but they were the type of big productions Spector was famous for, not the kind of New York rock 'n' roll he was doing in 1958.  According to Venet, Darin would not book a rock 'n' roll session unless he could first be assured that crack New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer would be available for the date. Such an occasion was July 2,1963, when Darin cut a pair of his originals, "Treat My Baby Good" and "Be Mad Little Girl," the latter perhaps written with his wife in mind. Jimmie Haskell, who is still active today and lately been working with Spector on sessions for singer Celine Dion, was the arranger and conductor on this date.)

"Treat My Baby Good" failed to make the Top 40 when it was released the next month (#43). "Be Mad Little Girl" petered out at #64 in the fall. After "18 Yellow Roses," that's kind of how things went for Darin during his final two years with Capitol.

There were some good records, like the soulful Rudy Clark song "Since You Been Gone" (cut at a rare New York date on October 15, 1963), "Wait By The Water" from 1964 and "When I Get Home" from '65, but not much chart action.

One of Darin's former managers, Joe Csida, was by now an executive at Capitol and was one of the main reasons Darin had signed with the label. Darin struck a deal with Csida and Ed Burton to purchase their interest in Trinity Music for $500,000.  Now Darin would also wear the hat of music publisher.

Trinity, which Darin renamed T.M. Music, had published other tunes by Rudy Clark such as "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" and Darin would write a number of songs with Clark that his firm would also publish. (After Kirshner, Clark is the one Darin with whom wrote the most songs.) Darin also had Terry Melcher on board as a writer (the Rip Chords tunes "Hey Little Cobra" and "Three Window Coupe") and Darin wrote some tunes with Melcher as well, including "Hot Rod U.S.A." for the Rip Chords of which Melcher was lead singer. Obviously, since McGuinn was also a staff writer at T.M. for a while, and Melcher ended up producing the Byrds later, Darin is partially responsible for laying the foundation, at least business-wise, for the career of the Byrds.

Melcher and Bruce Johnston (soon to join the Beach Boys) collaborated on the song "Beach Girl" for T.M. and Pat Boons had a soft hit on it in 1964. T.M. also had "Under the Boardwalk" (a smash for the Drifters) and "Good Lovin'" which the Young Rascals turned into a #1 classic. Clearly, Darin's song publishing company had plenty of solid bedrock to build on, and there was ample reason to think that T.M. could set him up for life, even if he never had another hit record of his own.  But Darin got caught up in bad stock maneuvering involving ownership of the company, and by the early 70s he ended up with virtually nothing from his efforts in this area.

One entertainer who benefited greatly from Darin's involvement in so many parts of the music business was singer Wayne Newton, who was performing with his brothers in the early '60s. Paul Anka told Darin he should go check out Newton and when in New York Darin went to the Copa to catch the act.  Darin signed Newton to a T.M. deal (his company doing the same for Jesse Colin Young, later of the Youngbloods, when the singer/songwnter was still an unknown) and later gave him a song to record that he had intended to (and had told Venet he would) put out as his own record, "Danke Schoen." Darin wanted Newton to have a hit record, and this proved to be it. Newton never looked back, and apparently learned a few things from Darin about how to play to Las Vegas audiences.

The late Steve Douglas, former sax player with Duane Eddy's Rebels and a friend of Darin's, wound up as Newton's producer (at least on paper) and is also credited with producing Darin's Venice Blue album. Douglas was somewhat frustrated that he couldn't get Darin interested in doing a rock 'n' roll album, but he also worked for Darin on stage and they were buddies who had lots of laughs together.

One of the most interesting records Darin made in the '60s was of his original tune "We Didn't Ask To Be Brought Here," which has a veiled lyric, but is actually an anti-Vietnam protest song. Venet, who made the record with Darin, points to this track (also on the Rhino box) as a prime example of his old friend's desire to leap off the fence and speak out, whether or not doing so clashed with his conservative image.

"I poisoned his mind and turned him into a bomb-throwing leftist." Venet said, only half-joking. "Next thing you know, he ended up with the rest of us on the left, trying to change the world. I was the worst influence ever on him. He kind of saw that 'other side.' It was really his side, it's just that he had started his career in the way that we thought your career had to start in those days.

"Darin got caught in the world's biggest music transition—from what it was, to what it was going to become," Venet said. "He was born at the end of one era, and became aware and talented into the new era. He bridged it. He bridged the gap, that chasm, successfully. But at the same time, he bridged it honestly. Darin could talk about Louis Armstrong and also talk about Elvis Presley, and understand both of them, and their success, and their music, and their styles. And appreciate both of them. Not say, "I like that better than this.' Appreciate both of them just as much. It's quite a thing. That's an amazing situation.

"He didn't [bridge any gap] because it was happening, he did it because it was him. Yeah, I know, we've got Sinatra and Tony Bennett.  But I'm talking about the 3,000 other acts that were selling from that '40s period that were tapering off in the '50s. Darin came out of that, into this I certainly didn't see Sinatra or Tony Bennett marching [for civil rights] or protesting the war."

Dick Clark agrees that Darin's versatility came naturally, that he didn't switch styles because it was the thing to do, but because he loved all kinds of music. "I saw him do everything," Clark said. "He was a musical chameleon.  He could do heavy-duty rhythm 'n' blues, he could do big band vocal stuff, nightclub stuff, country stuff, folk stuff or kid rock n' roll. He could do any of it. He was always anxious to do it all. He was driven."

"Nice To Have You Back..."

By the end of 1965, Darin was through recording for Capitol and was back with Ertegun, this time on Atlantic. He started off his new tenure there sticking with the tried-and-true ballads, show tunes, movie themes ("The Ballad Of Cat Ballou," "What's New, Pussycat?") and pop love songs. But Darin's mood was changing in 1966 and he was restless for a hit after more than three years, Darin's marriage was ending during this time as well (the divorce becoming finalized in March 1967.)

Darin had met a young singer/songwriter named Tim Hardin whose work he admired. He decided to record two of Hardin's tunes, "Reason to Believe" (this being five years before Rod Stewart recorded his well known version of the song) and "If I Were a Carpenter." At the same time that Charles Koppelman and Don Rubin (a producing team who had started out working for Kirshner) were pitching Hardin's songs to Darin, they were also trying to interest him in the songs of Lovin' Spoonful lead singer John Sebastian. Darin turned down their offer of Sebastian's tune "Daydream" (the Spoonful's version ended up going to #2 that year) but he decided to record "Sittin' Here Lovin' You." Ertegun was well aware of Darin's earlier folkie efforts (Earthy and Golden Folk Hits, both from 1963), didn't see any commercial potential, and wanted him to stay with his swinging big band style. But Darin was set on doing a laid-back folk-rock album, and "If I Were a Carpenter" was the key song.

Darin, of course, was right on again, even though it would be the last time in his career that he'd be so in-step musically with the times. His album If I Were a Carpenter was released in December and the title song, released as a single, went to #8 (#9 in England), which would prove to be Darin's final Top 10 hit. A few months later, "Sittin' Here Lovin' You" went to #32 on the singles chart, the last time a Darin record would crack the Top 40.

For his next album, Inside Out (1967), Darin recorded another Hardin tune, "The Lady Came From Baltimore," and another Sebastian gem, "Darling Be Home Soon." The album also featured "Back Street Girl," a Mick Jagger/Keith Richards composition. The Darin version of "Reason To Believe" (which came out as a B-side as well as an album track) is superb, and some will rank it above Stewart's version, as good as that one is. All of the named Hardin and Sebastian tunes, as well as the Jagger/Richards song, are included on disc 4 of the Rhino box.

Although Darin's career seldom took him out of the country, British fans had embraced his records from the beginning. British pop bands also liked Darin's songs and occasionally recorded something of his, Darin's song "I'll Be There," which he'd recorded in 1959 and was used as the B-side of "Bill Bailey," was recorded by Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1965 and became one of their more successful records, going to #12 in England, #14 here. The same year, the Searchers had a U.K. hit covering "When I Get Home," written by Darin with Russell Alquist.  Darin himself also loved British pop and rock, as evidenced by his inclusion of a Beatles medley (Live At the Desert Inn) in his nightclub act.

"The thing I remember—and it's just vivid, even today—is the absolute control he had over a nightclub showroom, the excitement that he could generate," commented Dodd Darin. "He was truly, as much as anyone ever has been, a master performer. Not a great singing voice, like a Mathis or a Presley. Certainly not a physically appealing person, like a Fabian or a Rick Nelson. Not classically-trained like other performers. But what he had was a certain charisma, a certain raw sexual energy that all came together when he was on a floor.

"I remember being at the Las Vegas Hilton. This happened to be his last engagement ever. And just sitting back and being so proud, just getting off so hard on the way he could control the room. To make people laugh with impressions, to rock with Beatles tunes, to swing with 'Mack'—just watching the human interaction. It was something very special,

"You know, I was a kid," Dodd said, "and every kid looks up to their dad, for whatever he does. But I can just remember that energy and that excitement. And how much he enjoyed it, I mean, that's what he was brought here to do. The records are fantastic, and you can hear the talent. But if you didn't see him work a room, if you didn't see a second midnight show in Vegas when he was lettin' his hair down, you didn't get all of it.

"What he really was, was a throwback to Jolson, and the great performers before him. You know, nightclubs kind of burned out right as he was comin' onto the scene. That whole era was kind of fading. Even the great years of Vegas—he caught some of 'em, but that was all dying. He just had a very special knack for working a room. I've seen many of the greatest ever—I saw Elvis and Sammy Davis work. And I can honestly say, he was the best. He just had a way to get that group in the palm of his hand."

By the mid-1960s, Dave Gershenson had replaced Blauner as Darin's manager, as Blauner got involved with other show business concerns (such as launching the career of the Monkees), and also became a movie producer. Whether influenced by Darin's political outlook or not, one of the films Blauner eventually co-produced was the award-winning Vietnam documentary Hearts And Minds.