The follow-up to the high school trio’s “Come Softly to Me,” “Mr. Blue” was a Top 5 hit in January 1960. To the overproduced music of the twenty-first century, this is quite a contrast to the purposeful flat response sounds. Why drench the vocals in reverb when it can sound this clear? By the way, one of our neighbors had a 1958 Chevy Impala, which was a deep-seated blue. Yes, he called it, “Mr. Blue.” This song harkens back to a simpler, optimistic, more scrubbed-up time. Of course, our parents had experienced sixteen years of stress between the Great Depression and World War II, so they were more than allowed to put their collective heads in the sand for a spell. After all, it felt good.
I was in the 3rd grade when our teachers miss Callahan and her intern miss Phalen used to play this song for us kids. It brings back such deep memories of those sweet days with my classmates and all the wonderful fun we had learning and the love these teachers showed us was incredible. It all happened so beautifully. And then it all went away.