For no particular reason, today I'm giving you one of my very favorite things on YouTube, Eydie Gormé singing "I Wanna Be Around." The story behind his song is pretty amazing. From our friends at Wikipedia:
" 'I Wanna Be Around' is a popular song. In the lyrics, the singer declares that he'"wants to be around' when the woman who spurned him inevitably gets her heart broken. The song is credited to Sadie Vimmerstedt and Johnny Mercer.
"Vimmerstedt was a grandmother and housewife and a beautician in Youngstown, Ohio, who sent Mercer an idea for the song in 1957, as well as giving Mercer the opening line ('I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart'). She was inspired by Frank Sinatra divorcing his first wife in order to marry Ava Gardner, only to then see Gardner leave Sinatra. Not knowing exactly where to send her letter to, Vimmerstedt simply addressed it to 'Johnny Mercer...Songwriter...New York, NY'. The post office forwarded it to ASCAP, who in turn passed it along to Mercer, who was a member of the organization. Mercer wrote the song and agreed to share 1/3 of the royalties and credits with Vimmerstedt."
Classy! Eydie sang it on The Tonight Show in 1966 and we are so lucky to have this video. Love her dress, love her hair (or is it a wig), love the bow in her hair (wig). I'm tickled that in the close-up from the side it looks like she gives a skittish, skeptical look to the camera. Hard to tell with those false eyelashes, but that's what I see.
My very favorite moment happens around 1:01. The band (a stellar arrangement, by the way - - Peter May, maybe?) starts the key change and Eydie takes a few striding steps forward. She'd been moving around a little bit here and there, but not really covering any ground. She saves that for the key change. It seems like a deliberate choice.
Be sure to watch it to the end to see an astonishingly young Johnny Carson.