ModernBingFan0377 wrote:

ModernBingFan0377 wrote:

A Southern Memoir was the smuggled one, but could Bingo Viejo been the Anahuac release or were they both smuggled?

I shudder at this message of mine from when I was 14, really, what did I mean by "smuggled"??

Anywho, I've just done some relistening to this album and I have really been finding it quite enjoyable. Of course, to me, the highlight is "Cuando Calienta El Sol." Beyond it being a joyous performance, I've also always been a fan of Bing's English lyrics for the proceedings. Sunny Skylar is credited for the English lyrics, yet the only lyric shared from his original translation was "just promise me this." I cannot for the life of me now find where this came from (and if someone could come to the rescue with a source, I would be very grateful!), however I remember either an excerpt from a letter or an interview of some sort where Bing mentions that he used his knowledge of the Spanish language to tweak some of the translations of songs. Due to the fact that "Cuando Calienta El Sol"'s set of English lyrics are entirely unique to Crosby's recordings, and that comment which I cannot find, it has always led me to think that the majority of the lyrics for Bing's version were written by him

That's interesting regarding the English translation. I don't have the LP, only digital transfers that David Currington and Rod Poynter made.

My phone has mp3 versions of all my music and mostly I listen to this in alphabetical order while driving. Bing and Perry Como's version of Eres Tu played back-to-back a month or so ago and I noticed they both sing different English lyrics. The meaning was the same, just different words. I just figured that Bing had done a quick translation in the studio. So, maybe not.  

ModernBingFan0377 wrote:

Ah ha! It was in one of the letters that Bing wrote to Ken Barnes. Bing said, “I have a Mexican album which I just finished. I wonder if you want to listen to it. I don’t think it’s really the kind of thing that United Artists cares about, but I don’t know. They might.
It’s Paul Smith again with some rather clever arrangements of Mexican standards. One chorus in English and one in Spanish. A couple of the English choruses I wrote myself. My idea being I wanted to have the English lyric come in some degree close to the Mexican lyric. At least the title and the content of the song in English to be something like its original Mexican conception.”

I just looked up Sunny Skylar. He was a real person and not a pen name for Bing. Among his lyrics was the English version of Besame Mucho. 

So maybe "Bingo Viejo" has a combination of Sunny and Bing's translations. From Bing's letter to Ken Barnes, he only takes credit for a couple of translations anyway.

I must say - the English of Bing's Eres Tu was better than Perry's version (not sure who did the translation here) - so as always Bing's gift with English is on superb display.

Who owns the rights to "Bingo Viejo," anyway? It seems like a great candidate for digital remastering and release on streaming but it's nowhere to be found.

That said - I've been disappointed in a lot of the remastering jobs on digital releases of Bing's albums. "El Señor Bing" sounded terrible, and the version of "Incurably Romantic" that was put out has none of the warmth and depth from the single. It feels like whoever is doing the remastering isn't really listening to the final product. Bing deserves better!

tedn wrote:

Who owns the rights to "Bingo Viejo," anyway? It seems like a great candidate for digital remastering and release on streaming but it's nowhere to be found.

That said - I've been disappointed in a lot of the remastering jobs on digital releases of Bing's albums. "El Señor Bing" sounded terrible, and the version of "Incurably Romantic" that was put out has none of the warmth and depth from the single. It feels like whoever is doing the remastering isn't really listening to the final product. Bing deserves better!

They are owned by the estate, I’ve been wishing for an expanded remaster at some point as well. The issue with “El Señor Bing” is that the stereo version, I believe, is sourced from an LP, as the original tapes either couldn’t be found. The mono mix is an unreleased mono tape and sounds much better to me. “Incurably Romantic” is one that sounds good to me, though I’ve always wondered if there was a better source for the 1957 single of “Straight Down the Middle,” the two selections from that sessions have always sounded a bit muddy to me and I don’t know if that is due to the source used, or if the recording just sounded like that.