"Go Slow" by Julie London from the album Make Love to Me. 1957.
You know those artists who consistently put out stellar music and yet just as consistently fall into the category of "under-appreciated"? (At the moment I'm blanking on a perfect example, but Sister Hazel and Jimmy Eat World seem to fit the bill a little too much.) Admittedly, I wasn't even close to alive in the 1950s, but from what I can see, Julie London surely was one of those singers from her era who deserves much more recognition than she has. In her heyday, Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist three years in a row. Again, I wasn't there, but when comparable singers like Patti Page are still mentioned quite often today, I would imagine the way I discovered her would be through the songs she performed and not her acting gig on the 1970s' TV show Emergency!
Nowadays, her genre might be called "Traditional Pop" or disappointingly even "Easy Listening" (I never liked that blanket name). Back in the day, though, her smooth, jazzy vocals might as well have been the female counterpart to Crooners like Dean and Frankie. The tender and sultry tone of her voice weaves a common thread across most of her work. This song in particular boasts a blatant sexual intimacy, enhanced by the quality of the lyrics. Besides the less-common rhymes (such as curves/nerves), phrases without much cliche strengthen the song's meaning, my favorites being "Take it easy on the curves" and "How the mercury does climb." My only complaint deals with the song's length: just a bit over two minutes. The slow and steady pace seems to extend the duration a tad, but when the end comes, like any loving embrace, you're just left wanting more.
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