If you missed Mark's Song of the Weeklast Sunday on Serenade Radio, here's a chance to hear it at SteynOnline. This month our Song of the Week is marking the centenary of Bert Kaempfert - born in Hamburg on October 16th 1923. Kaempfert was a Teutonic bandleader whose distinctive arranging style was one of the defining sounds of the Sixties. That would be enough surely for any Teutonic bandleader. But, as I explain in this week's show, Bert Kaempfert has a further achievement: He's the only Teutonic bandleader to have played a critical role in the careers of the three superstar anglo pop acts of the mid-twentieth century: Elvis, the Beatles, and Sinatra.
So, on the eve of the Kaempfert centennial, here is the story of a blockbuster hit all around the world that nearly didn't happen - until Jimmy Bowen, a hugely successful producer from Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra to Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks, saved the day with a bunch of twenty-dollar bills and some obliging air stewardesses.
Click above to listen.
Bert Kaempfert died suddenly and rather young in 1980. So I never met him. But I have met, over the years, his widow, one of his daughters, and many of his amazing musicians, and we will celebrate more of his work in the weeks ahead.
This is a Serenade Radio show that has not been heard before here at SteynOnline. All these episodes were produced by my friend and colleague Brian Savin, who died last month after a truly terrible and debilitating illness. Brian's contribution to all these shows was immense. For example, on this week's edition, he felt my story of the "bell tone" necessary to get Sinatra through the session would benefit from illustration. So he went to the piano and played a bell tone. And then, listening back to it in context, he decided to pan the piano so it was at the exact same spot on the spectrum as Michel Rubini's piano was at that 1966 recording session in Los Angeles.
I doubt one in a million listeners notice things like that, but cumulatively such details are what turn an okay show into a great show. This episode was one of Brian's favourites - not because he especially cared for the song, but because he liked the way all the storytelling came together.
Thank you for all your kind comments on our "Autumn Leaves" show, also produced by Brian. From William Thomson in the beautiful English county of Gloucestershire:
An enchant
y:
This iin.
~This airing of Steyn's Serenade Song of the Week is a special presentation of The Mark Steyn Club. We do enjoy your comments on the show. Steyn Clubbers are welcome to leave them below - or anybody can leave them over at Serenade Radio, where they love hearing from listeners.
Steyn's Song of the Week airs thrice weekly on Serenade Radio in the UK, one or other of which broadcasts is certain to be convenient for whichever part of the world you're in:
5.30pm Sunday London (12.30pm New York)
5.30am Monday London (4.30pm Sydney)
9pm Thursday London (1pm Vancouver)
Whichever you prefer, you can listen from anywhere on the planet right here.
