The Gaylords “Tell Me You’re Mine” / “Aye Aye Aye”

The last of The Gaylords records I have—I found three in a box, somewhere, awhile back—a gift from this popular vocal trio. Everything’s in threes. The B-side, “Aye Aye Aye,” is pretty interesting because it turns on a dime halfway through—completely different tempo and rhythm, even—it goes from a bouncy “Aye Aye Aye”—with vibes, to a swinging version, with jazzy piano—and then kind of blends the two. At least I think that’s what it’s doing—it’s very complex, genius, musically. The A-side, “Tell me You’re Mine,” is a lovely romantic ballad, which also turns on dime halfway through and goes from one singer to several, and switches from English to Italian. Very nice. And then it doubles back to a dramatic finale. It’s a great song—this was their biggest hit and eventually sold a million copies, you know, give or take a few—how is that even figured? That’s a massive hit, for that time, 1952, and without the help of social media. They were from Detroit. These records were a nice surprise, I mean finding them, and checking them out. They put out tons of singles, and a few albums as well. I’ll keep an eye out for the LPs—I never see them, and you’d think, in Milwaukee, you might. I’m guessing the old-timers hold on to them. A few have Italian themes, like “That’s Amore.” The one I’m really looking out for is “Let’s Have a Pizza Party”—great cover, classic theme, and as they say, you can’t go wrong with pizza.

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