Songstress Peggy Lee has always liked the old (1932) Rodgers & Hart waltz Lover ("Lover, when I'm near you," etc.). She gets a picture in her head when she hears it: "The French Foreign Legion is riding out into the desert. They start off at a moderate speed. Then the leader raises his whip and swings it in the air. and they start to go faster and faster."*
Though Peggy's dream leader—brandishing a whip—sounded more like Eddie Arcaro than a spurred cavalryman, Decca was impressed, agreed to let her record the old waltz as a triple-gaited mambo with a 37-piece accompaniment. In...
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