The 2nd Grammy Awards, Revisited: Sinatra's 'Come Dance With Me' and Bobby Darin's Double

Oct 15

3 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQkec8ggGuI

On November 29, 1959, NBC's "Sunday Showcase" aired a Grammy special, making the 2nd Grammy Awards the first to reach television. Winners had been announced at private dinners in Los Angeles and New York, and guests then watched the broadcast, hosted by Meredith Willson. The awards covered recordings released between January 1 and August 31, 1959, barely half a year after the first ceremony in May.

This was also the year Best New Artist was added, so the General Field had four categories for the first time — the start of what became the "Big Four." Here is a look at each of them and the nominees around the winners.

Album of the Year: Frank Sinatra, 'Come Dance With Me'

Six months after two of his albums came up short at the first Grammys, Frank Sinatra won Album of the Year with 'Come Dance With Me,' a swing set arranged by Billy May. Sinatra also won Best Vocal Performance, Male, for the title track, and May took Best Arrangement for the album — three awards for one record.

★ Frank Sinatra — 'Come Dance With Me'
Harry Belafonte — 'Belafonte At Carnegie Hall'
Henry Mancini — 'More Music From Peter Gunn'
Van Cliburn, Kiril Kondrashin — 'Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3'
Robert Russell Bennett — 'Victory At Sea, Vol. I'

Last year's winner Mancini returned with a Peter Gunn sequel, Van Cliburn was nominated for a second straight year, Belafonte with a live album, and Bennett with music from the TV documentary series 'Victory At Sea.' Once again the field crossed live, classical and television music.

Record of the Year: Bobby Darin, 'Mack The Knife'

Bobby Darin's 'Mack The Knife' began life in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's 1928 German stage work 'The Threepenny Opera.' Sung in English in a swing arrangement, Darin's version became one of 1959's biggest hits.

★ Bobby Darin — 'Mack The Knife'
Elvis Presley — 'A Fool Such As I'
Frank Sinatra — 'High Hopes'
Andre Previn — 'Like Young'
The Browns — 'The Three Bells'

'The Three Bells' was also an English version of a French song, 'Les trois cloches.' Two of the five nominees were European songs re-sung in English — a different route across the language barrier from last year's Italian-language 'Volare.'

Song of the Year: 'The Battle Of New Orleans' (Jimmy Driftwood)

The songwriters' award went to Jimmy Driftwood for 'The Battle Of New Orleans,' a song about the 1815 battle. Johnny Horton's recording of it won Best Country & Western Performance the same night.

★ 'The Battle Of New Orleans' — Jimmy Driftwood
'High Hopes' — Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen
'I Know' — Edith Lindeman, Karl Stutz
'Like Young' — Andre Previn, Paul Francis Webster
'Small World' — Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne

Best New Artist: Bobby Darin, the first winner

The new category's first winner was also Bobby Darin, so the first Best New Artist took Record of the Year on the same night. The other nominees were Edd Byrnes, Mark Murphy, Johnny Restivo and Mavis Rivers.

The GAJ view: more than one way across the language barrier

The first Record of the Year was sung in Italian; the second year's race featured European songs re-sung in English. Japanese songs have both routes open too.
The winning album also won for its arrangement. The whole production team, not just the singer, is part of what gets recognized.
Best New Artist created a place to introduce new talent, not only to reward finished work.

With its first broadcast and its first new-artist award, the 2nd Grammys began turning an industry prize into one the public watched — and the songs it honored had already crossed borders and languages.