The fantastic actor Robert Mitchum was born today in 1917. Mitchum appeared in over 110 movie and television roles over the course of his career. The American Film Institute places him at #23 on their list of 50 Greatest American Screen Legends of All Time. He was in so many great films like the noir classic Out of the Past (1947), the noir thriller Night of the Hunter (1955), the psychological thriller Cape Fear (1962), the western 5 Card Stud (1968), the World War II film Midway (1976), and the holiday favorite Scrooged (1988) just to name a few.
So why am I writing about Robert Mitchum in a blog about music? One of the lesser-known aspects of Mitchum’s career was his foray into music as a singer. Critic Greg Adams writes, “Unlike most celebrity vocalists, Robert Mitchum actually had musical talent.” Even Frank Sinatra had nice things to say about him. Frank said, “For anyone who’s not a professional musician, he knows more about music, from Bach to Brubeck, than any man I’ve ever known.”
Many films will overdub an actor with a professional singer’s voice when the character has to sing. Mitchum’s voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his character sang in his films. He can be heard singing in Night of the Hunter, One Minute to Zero, The Sundowners, and he sang the theme to the film Young Billy Young.
Robert Mitchum recorded two albums. The first was recorded after he heard some calypso music while filming in the Caribbean. In 1957, he released “Calypso – Is Like So,” on which he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style’s unique pronunciations and slang. Personally, I didn’t care for this album. He has such a cool voice and by singing this way, it just sounded like a joke to me.
In 1958, he starred in the movie Thunder Road and sang the title song, “The Ballad of Thunder Road.” It was included on the rerelease of Calypso – Is Like So as a bonus song. The song never cracked the Top 40, but it did get to #62 on the charts. Although Mitchum continued to use his singing voice in his film work, he waited until 1967 to record his follow-up record, That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings.
The album featured songs that had a country feel to them. His first single from the album, “Little Ole Wine Drinker Me” (which has a minor hit for Dean Martin) was a top-10 hit on country radio, reaching number 9 there, and crossed over into mainstream radio, where it peaked at number 96.
When I worked at Honey Radio in Detroit, my partner Rob would bring in songs sung by various celebrities. He’d play a clip of a song sung by William Shatner, Sebastian Cabot, Telly Savalas, and folks like that and have listeners call and guess who it was. One day he brought in Robert Mitchum’s version of My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms. At the time, I had no idea that he’d ever cut an album! Once I listened to it, I loved it. I couldn’t believe it was him!
The song was first recorded by a group called the Virginians in 1922. There have been many cover versions of the song since then. Bing Crosby, Barbara Streisand, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, Kay Starr and (I think) Jeff Healy have all recorded the song. It is interesting to hear the various takes on the song to be sure.
As far as Mitchum’s version, it’s just …fun. It’s got simple instrumentation and some harmonious background singers and when it all comes together with Bob’s voice it just makes me smile. I remember the first time I heard the background singers sing “Doodly-op” before Mitchum comes in with his vocal. I lost it. I thought it was kinda corny, but as the song went on, I liked it more and more.
I would certainly not classify Mr. Mitchum as a great singer, but he does alright on this one. Happy Birthday, Robert!!
My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms
I love your lovin’ arms,
They hold a world of charms,
A place to nestle when I am lonely.
A cozy Morris chair,
Oh, what a happy pair!
One caress,
Happiness
Seems to bless my little honey.
I love you more each day,
When years have passed away,
You’ll find my love belongs to you only,
‘Cause when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.
I love your lovin’ arms,
They seem to hold a world of charms,
A place to nestle when I am lonely.
A cozy Morris chair,
Oh, what a happy pair!
One caress,
Happiness
Seems to bless my little honey.
I love you more each day,
When years have passed away,
You’ll find my love belongs to you only,
‘Cause when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.
Oh, when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 