I’ve posted this before, but I love it so much here it is again. Bobby Darin singing “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” on the Judy Garland TV show, with some crazy abstract “Poor Judd is Dead” set, dramatic lighting, and Darin’s unbelievable intensity (look at his hands, his jaw, his fists) – sex, sex, sex, is what he exudes (the clap at the 1:18 mark? It’s so angry, and yet so held-back, he makes “Halleluia” sound almost like a “fuck you”). Watch how he commands the back-up singers to start, (“sing”), and then the next gesture, a wiping-out gesture, quickly, telling them to stop, – how specific, how tightly coiled he is, it’s a crazy neurotic performance if you really examine it (and believe me, I have) – and it’s all the more powerful because it seems so … strangely personal. The ferocity of his last moment – the flailing arm, the final scream “MICHAEL”. Television just doesn’t look this anymore. There’s a rawness to it. A stripping away of all that is extraneous so that the performer himself can shine. Bobby Darin just owns it here.
It’s that walk through the tunnel thingy that gets me. His arms, the finger clicking. So super agitated. He’s hot. And then there’s the voice.*swoon*
“super agitated”
Yeah, that’s it perfectly. He seems like he’s about to kill you. Or … ehm … kiss you.
Supremely weird and awesome. It is as if he is singing a different song. One that he wrote. Not some old spiritual. So so strange. Love this.
I don’t think he really wants Michael to row the boat ashore. I think he wants to kick Michael’s ass.
And that “Poor Judd is Dead” set is NUTS. Like, what’s it supposed to be??
I think that set is supposed to be the inside of Bobby Darin’s mind.
And Tracey …. I get the feeling he might want to do something else to Michael when he comes ashore … if ya know what I mean.
No, Sheila, we don’t know what you mean.
Bren – yeah. It’s this angry sort of aggressive neurotic energy he’s putting out there – I love this clip. I love his stance, his gestures, his clenched jaw … It’s all totally bizarre.
Tracey, “that poor Judd is dead set,” ha-ha-ha. That is going to become my new adjective of choice – how can I describe this (…whatever…) with a line from an Rogers and Hammerstein song! I think Judy may have been feeding Bobby some of her uppers back stage before the number? That’s the most driven folk song I have ever heard. Or maybe he just got Weaver-envy?
…or I guess it’s you, sheila, I should credit with the descriptor.
Ted – hahaha
a friend on Facebook reminded me of a similar clip of Harry Belafonte singing this song, and suggested that perhaps Darin was channeling Belafonte.
Only, because it’s Bobby Darin, the version comes out as this intense pscyho-sexual drama of submerged neurosis and anger – at least that’s what I see. It’s not spiritual, it’s not about social justice and equality and freedom – it’s about the pentup sexual rage of Bobby Darin, and I am in love with it.
I find it riveting.
I can’t describe how much I love it when he claps.
I think he only does it twice. Now THAT’S how you do a gesture. Hold it back. Don’t do it too much. Decide when you’re gonna do it, and make it count.
Also, Ted – notice how we only see the set for about 2 seconds and then it goes black. LIke – WHAT is going on with that?
Is that a corral of some sort in some Biblical barnyard? WHAT does that have to do with Michael rowing a boat ashore?
I love the randomness of it, and also – yes. The Poor Judd is Dead ambiance. And then – we see it for 2 seconds, and then never see it again.
Live TV at its most loopy!!!