"bobby Darin"

Give a pair of medals and hefty raises to the two fellows at Atlantic who thought of pairing Bobby Darin – then 24 – and Johnny Mercer – then 51 – and backing them with the charts of Billy May. These two singer/songwriters, occupying opposite poles of a yawning generation gap, take some often hoary old Tin Pan Alley tunes and kid and swing the hell out of them, with May providing the same kind of hard-swinging, sly-witted big-band backings that he gave to Sinatra.

Affectionately known as "The Milk Shows", these recordings were made with the sponsorship of the American Dairy Association. Originally broadcast as a five minute, five days a week radio series for the ADA, the recordings have never been officially issued before now, aside from three songs. In conjunction with Bobby Darin's original manager Steve Blauner and his official archivist Jimmy Scalia, the Edsel label is proud to make these recordings available at last.

"I was working as a bellhop in Atlantic Beach, and had just written my first song. One day I was at a candy store near my house in Washington Heights, and a girl I knew walked in with Bobby – who was working as a janitor in the neighborhood. He was impressed because I was big-time; I'd just had my first song 'In All Of My Dreams' published. We walked over to the girl's place, where she had a piano. Bobby proceeded to play me five songs; I said 'Let's team up, and we'll be the biggest thing in the business'."