Day In- Day Out- A Rhythmic Gem: In 1939, pianist Rube Bloom wrote a relentlessly swinging song called " Day In- Day Out." Alec Wilder had occasion to write an arrangement for a song like no other he had heard before. H went on to describe a " Melodic line that soared and moved across the page in a lovely brush stroke. It never knotted it self up in cleverness or pretentiousness. And it had, remarkable for any any pop song, passion." The operative word was " passion"since the song does achieve what Wilder also said " great emotional intensity. The lyrics by Johnny Mercer support s the melody matching the emphatic placement of notes that never relent . Mercer's exotic images " That same old voodoo follows me about" " When I awake I get up with a tingle, one possibility in view, that possibility of may be seeing you" and finally " Then I kiss your lips and the pounding becomes an ocean's roar, a thousand drums." are all artfully fitted to the unrelenting intensity of the music which increases with each repetition of the main melody.
There is a particularly fine version performed by Frank Sinatra in a television program that opens with Sinatr surrounded by a bewildering array of drums and exotic percussion instruments. Nelson Riddle's arrangemnt maintains the passion inherent in the song itself and the drums are front and center throughout.
All the elements that make for a great song and performance are in place. The melody perfectly matched by Mercer's lyrics, the arrangement that never relents in its pulsating character, Sinatra's obvious enjoyment in belting out one of his characteristic " swingers" and Riddle's perfect setting for such a an intense songwriting collaboration.
LINK: http://youtu.be/ZdzMPQXK3D8
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