Posted 3:56 PM by Gene

These last several days I've been overcome by another of those songs that will not leave my head. This one is called "My Heart Goes Crazy", and it has a strange CV: the GREAT Burke and Van Heusen wrote it for a 1946 Rank Organisation extravaganza called London Town; despite featuring the 13-year-old Petula Clark it bombed at the box office (nor did it do better stateside seven years later under that song's title); somebody sang it VERY flat. About two months after its release The Modernaires recorded it, with a surprisingly powerful orchestra led by Mitchell Ayres, who accompanied too much glop for Perry Como. Hardly anyone remembers The Modernaires now -- that was Glenn Miller's vocal group. After his death it might have had more success had Columbia's A&R folk hadn't stuck it with some...rank novelty tunes. We can be stupid and say these folks channeled the future Blue Eyes but he is there; then again Alec Wilder wrote that every one of Van Heusen's songs has the unmistakable sound of a pretty good jazz rhythm section. In short, it is a superb track, but because it's from 62 years ago no one would know. Compare it to that whatisit singing on the soundtrack album and you easily behold how a hit song can become tomorrow's archives. I can't stop thinking of it as the title tune to some sort of retro Jayne Mansfield - Frank Tashlin dumb-blonde farce that would have the moviegoers floating out on air, just my latest hopeless daydream.