"Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)" by Vic Damone

Song 22:

"Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)” by Vic Damone

Peak: 16

Year: 1957

Year end position: NA

Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/2

Chronological Songs by Artist: 2/2

Video?: No

Wikipedia?:  Yes:  https://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/An_Affair_to_Remember_%28Our_Love_Affair%29

Spotify?:  Yes

Lyrics:  http://www.songlyrics.com/vic-damone/an-affair-to-remember-our-love-affair-lyrics/

Wow.  We are 21 songs into the blog, and this is the first song from the 1950s that I am profiling.  Even more, it's only the second song from the pre-Beatles era I am covering (the first was "Abilene" by George Hamilton IV).  This is the first of 36 songs in the "A" section we will get to from the 1950s, so we have a lot to look forward to.

I decided to make the cutoff for this blog 1954 because the reference book that I am using to compile my list started then.  The Billboard charts go back all the way to 1936 and they started publishing a weekly chart in 1940.  I was trying to figure out why the book started in 1954.  From what I could read, the book essentially starts in 1955 when the first mainstream rock and roll #1 song reached the top of the charts ("Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & the Comets) , but any songs that were still left over from the charts in 1954 were also included.  That makes sense.

The thing about "Rock Around the Clock" that makes it somewhat different than other benchmarks in the Rock Era, is that while there is a clear demarcation between songs before and after chronologically, there is not a wealth of difference aesthetically between songs prior to "Rock Around the Clock" and songs that came immediately after it.  Today's song is a good example of that.  Despite reaching its peak in the "Rock Era", this song seems right at home in the 1940s or early 1950s.  It wasn't like popular music shifted so much that acts before were no longer popular like the first British invasion in 1963 or the downfall of Disco in the early 80s.

Actually, Vic Damone had the bulk of his career and hits prior to the Rock Era.  If I were to extend this blog concept all the way back to the inception of the weekly Billboard charts, Vic would have 23 songs on the blog instead of the 2 that he has.  I wasn't familiar with Vic Damone prior to writing this blog.  He was born Vito Farinola in 1928 in Brooklyn, New York.  Apparently, he never graduated high school but continued to take voice lessons (he received his degree in 1997 when his school gave him credit for "life experiences") .  He got his big break by winning a talent search on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" in 1947.  A year later, he was hosting his own radio show, "Saturday Night Serenade".

This was the last time Vic Damone hit the top 20 in his career, and this song comes from the movie "An Affair to Remember".  When I looked at the lyrics for this song, I was surprised at just how few of them there are.  I think that songs from the 50s tend to be shorter in length anyway, but this song just feels longer to me.  I think that is mostly due to the way that Vic Damone sings it.  He seems like he is crooning in this song, which may be true given that he was heavily inspired by Frank Sinatra.  As I mentioned above, this song seems like it would have been at home in the 1940s.  Vic Sounds like he's singing with the backing of an orchestra.  The bridge of the song is a muted trumpet and a chorus of "Aaahs", but it's all very smooth.

I've never actually seen "An Affair to Remember", but according to the American Film Institute, it was ranked the 5th best love story in movie history.  This song doesn't do anything to remove from that.  The strings in the background sound like they could easily be the score for a movie.  There is also a big crescendo at the end that seems to fit right in with a closing scene just before the credits roll.

There is no video for this song.  You'll have to be satisfied with the movie if you are a fan of the song.  All in all, it's a pretty good song.  There will be a lot of songs like this one that come up that might make you scratch your head and wonder why I am covering them.  I think that they are great for knowing the history of the charts.  There aren't so many that they take away from the blog, but they make an interesting point when you look at the evolution of popular music.  Honestly, Vic Damone does have a really good voice.  This type of song may not be your cup of tea, but as Sinatra once said, "Vic Damone has the best pipes in the business".