The Manhattan Transfer/Depeche Mode -- (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66

 

It's time for a special holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth and it's a bit of a doozy this time. I was hoping that I would get a scene of a particular character on an old program that I used to watch as a kid, "Emergency!", which involved the life of a Los Angeles fire station and a hospital. The character that I wanted to show was Dr. Joe Early, played by the late Bobby Troup, but instead of the usual scenes, I've had to settle for bloopers.

What I wouldn't realize for some years after "Emergency!" had finished its five-year run in 1977 is that Troup and co-star and wife Julie London had been jazz and standard singers from way back when. What actually felled me was that Troup was the guy behind this famous standard.

"(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" was a song that I got acquainted with over the radio and various music-variety shows on the telly for years and years, but I had no idea that Troup was the guy who created this standard that has been covered by so many other singers and bands. One of the most famous versions was the 1946 version by Nat King Cole.

However, the gold standard for me will always be the cover by The Manhattan Transfer which got its time in the sun in 1982 as a single. Just that arrangement and the usual scintillating harmonies by the guys will always do it for me. It didn't get too high on the Billboard rankings, scoring in at No. 78, but it won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. And it will always be one of my favourites among favourites by the group. 

I knew that I would be talking about "Route 66" sooner or later on Reminiscings of Youth so the byline would have both The Manhattan Transfer and Depeche Mode. Still, I get quite a kick (ha, ha) on seeing those two groups side by side. Depeche Mode is another one of my beloved bands from the 1980s as you know, and I was surprised back then to find out that even these guys were willing to take on "Route 66" as a rollicking part of their "Behind the Wheel" single when it was released on December 28th 1987. With The Manhattan Transfer's version, I think of sophistication and class within a top-floor hotel party room, but regarding Depeche Mode's grinding and rocking take, I imagine this fronting the soundtrack of a David Lynch or Quentin Tarentino movie. I think I may have even been dancing to this at one of the JCSA parties back then.

So, what was at the top of the December 28th 1987 Oricon chart when Depeche Mode's "Route 66" was released? I have Nos. 1 and 2.

1. Hikaru Genji -- Glass no Juu-dai （ガラスの十代）

2. Yukari Morikawa -- SHOW ME