Today, for the first time, I walked with my wife and younger daughter into a legal cannabis emporium in Seattle. This got me to thinking how, back in the day, Susan and I, about once a week, would smoke some grass or maybe drop acid and then seat about 20 people knee-to-knee in our tiny rented sunroom. We were preparing for The Great Tenor Sing-Off. Also many people were saying that Paul McCartney was dead, believe me.
I told the young fellow in the Seattle emporium who waited on us that it had been a long time since I had smoked any dope. He thanked me rather fervently for my early pioneering work—I am not making this up.
In The Great Tenor Sing-Off we, the 20 judges, would listen to records by various tenors and then decide at the end which one was best. I don’t remember all the contestants. One was a country western guy named Yodeling Slim Whitman, I believe. He piled up a lot of votes. Other contestants who did well included the following:
Bunny Berrigan singing “I Can’t Get Started.”
Chuck Berry singing, “Memphis, Tennessee.”
Peggy Lee singing “Why Don’t You Do Right?”
Credence performing, “Bad Moon Rising.”
Offenbach’s “Barcarolle.”
Janis Joplin singing “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Ian and Sylvia singing “Satisfied Mind.”
A trio from Paraguay performing “Malaguena Salirosa.”
Some judges complained at the time that not all of the contestants were actually tenors, but we decided they were close enough. Here’s the really odd true thing. No matter who joined us in the jury, the winning tenor was always the same guy: bass-baritone Bing Crosby singing “Sweet Leilani.” The only three who came close to him were Helen O’Connell singing “Green Eyes,” Artie Shaw playing “Begin the Beguine” and Vaughn Monroe performing “Racing with the Moon.”
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