"A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia)
Sarah Vaughn, Broken-Hearted Melody. I loved this song when I was nine and I love it today. The guitar fills are just right: simple, tasteful and unobtrusive.
Ketty Lester, Love Letters
Roy Orbison, In Dreams
Lenny Welch, Since I Fell for You
Timi Yuro, Hurt
Billie Holliday, The Very Thought of You
Etta James, At Last
Gogi Grant, The Wayward Wind (1956). Made the #1 Billboard position. The tune has haunted me since I was six years old.
Toni Fisher, The Big Hurt (1959). Made the Billboard #3 slot. The first verse hints at the origin of 'torch song':
Now it begins,
now that you've gone
Needles and pins, twilight till dawn
Watching that
clock till you return
Lighting that torch and watching it burn.
Is this the first recording to use a phase shifter? Pretty far-out for the 'fifties. While we're on the topic
of special effects, the first fuzz tone occurs as far as I know in Marty Robbins' Don't Worry About Me (1961).
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