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Sunday, May 13, 2007
Perry Como, "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes"
(January 10, 1953)
The record starts with a male chorus singing "pa-pa-pa-PA-ya" and variations; it is emphatic and ridiculous, and would probably undercut any lyric following it unless the lyric was itself ridiculous. Which it's not. It's a nice little thing where a journeyman soul who's logged in "too many miles, too many days, too many nights to be alone" warns against his lover of the night and its carnival-like powers to upend the certainties of love. An easier touch to the music -- a simpler polka, say -- could queer the lyric's pitch rather fetchingly, and matched with Como's easy touch, render it light-hearted, but those papayas (and the horn blatts that punctuate the rhythm) keep this record a weird pop platypus. I can't hate it (it's hard to hate polkas) but it defies any attempt of mine to explain why anybody would've liked it much in '53. 3
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