Johnnie Ray - "Soliloquy of a Fool" 45 rpm single, 1957 (Columbia)

 

Johnnie Ray is one of my favorite figures in 20th-century pop music. He's the bridge between icon Frank Sinatra and icon Elvis. Visually I love his hair, and even more important, he would wear a bulky hearing aid on stage for one of his ears. Vulnerable, handsome, and intense. Ray can convey misery and loneliness like no other being. There is something alien about him, probably why David Bowie wanted to play him on the big screen. Johnnie Ray has done many magnificent recordings, but nothing as brilliant and special as "Soliloquy of a Fool." 

It's a song of regret and sorrow, but what makes it unusual is the music's production and arrangement. It is credited to Ray Conniff and his Orchestra, which means 'middle-of-the-road' arrangements typically. The instrumentation is basically Johnnie's echo-laden voice, a minimal electric organ, and some electronic or heavy echo percussion that is even more minimal. It's an extraordinary record as well as being truly beautiful. 

I'm dying to know the history of this song, but especially the recording. Conniff co-wrote the song, and I'm guessing he wrote the music. I suspect that it wasn't a hit, and in fact, it's the b-side of the single, with the A-side being "Miss Me Just A Little." Nevertheless, a small but stunning masterpiece. 

January 10, 2014

January 10, 2014

I arrived in Tokyo late last night, mostly due to the bus trip to the Meguro Hotel than the flight itself. The Narita Airport is about one and a half hours away from Tokyo, so the additional travel time is the thing that really knocks you out. It's bad enough to be in a plane for ten hours, but then having to take a bus for more travel time is the point where one says to themselves "I had enough." Nevertheless I am here because I wanted to surprise my friend Dennis Cooper on his birthday. Him and a friend of his are in Japan for the next two weeks, and I thought "wouldn't it be a good surprise if I just showed up in Japan to see him for his birthday."

From Meguro where I normally stay, I went to a coffee shop in Shibuya, where I heard that he goes to every morning at exactly 10:15. He's been to Tokyo /Japan once, and is a well disciplined figure with respect to scheduling. As a creature of habit he always shows up at this particular coffee shop every morning he's in Tokyo.

My plan was to wait around the cafe as a lurking Rasputin, maybe behind an over sized potted plant. And once he gets in line for his coffee I would just appear behind him in that line, and bingo, tell him happy birthday.

But odd enough, while I was waiting at the Doutor Coffee shop, he doesn't show up. First of all many of the customers here was looking at my way and wondering why I was hiding behind the potted plant for a half n' hour or so. I was so puzzled, because I know Dennis spent time in Hawaii, and Doutor Coffee has a plantation on that island just for the purpose of supplying coffee to this shop and its chain in Japan. A change of plans made me purchase a cup of coffee and I found a vacant seat by the water sculpture, which is one of my favorite spots to sit and drink coffee. As I have mentioned I am not a big fan or 'real' nature, but I greatly admire 'fake' nature. This sculpture represents nature to me, without being really nature and I love that.

At this time it seemed obvious that he won't appear, so after drinking my coffee I walked down to Tower Records, which is only a block away from the coffee shop. I went on the third floor, where they have American music, and I thought I should buy Dennis a CD. For whatever reason I thought it should either be a Johnnie Ray or Max Roach CD. For the life of me, I couldn't really analyze the reason why I would focus on those two artists for Dennis. I don't think he even likes that type of music. But I'm known in the free world as the worst gift giver ever. God knows that most people return my gifts, and usually I am pretty happy about that, because my gifts are normally what I would want as gifts.

I bought a compilation of Ray's recordings called "Cry" which is put out by Bear Family, a great label out of Germany, and Max Roach's "We Insist," which is normally a very hard album/CD to find. I can only hope he'll like it, if not, he will just return it back to me. Which is perfectly OK because I don't have either album in my collection.

TamTam Books Tribute to Johnnie Ray

The second song he sings here  is "Soliloquy Of a Fool" which is my all-time favorite Johnnie Ray recording.  Great version here, and to my ears, the orchestration is almost from another part of the world. 


His ability to match up emotion with the weather is simply amazing to me.  And you can clearly see his hearing aid in his right ear.


Great song


Again the mixture of nature and high emotional state.