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:: 1-45 ::

Nino Tempo and April Stevens are a brother and sister pop act (born Antonio and Carol Lo Tiempo) who I knew from the wonderfully over-the-top 1959 lounge classic "Teach Me Tiger," a song that practically forces a cocktail into your hand and makes you lay on a tacky yet expensive rug made from an animal not from this continent's hide. If you want to read about their history, go to their site, where they'll fill you in from the very early days up to almost current times, like how much an old King EP went for on Ebay recently.

You can't really hear April on this 1964 recording, which is a shame since she purrs so nice. This number was the flipside of the oft-covered Hoagie Carmichael standard "Stardust," and was written and sung by Nino, with sis presumably somewhere amongst the background vocals. As far as gimmick songs go, this one sure goes the full mile -- you may never see the number 145 the same way again. It plays like a late 50's pop country tune, telling a tale and finishing off with a twist at the end. They don't write 'em like this any more, and that's probably okay. Note that on the label, the song is listed as having a playing time of 1:45 + 1:00. WE GET IT.


Tony The Tiger

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