End of the World

This is weird. Singer Skeeter Davis died at age 72, and I was just listening to her Pop Hits Collection CD last night. Skeeter is one of my favorite singers - possibly the coolest '60s performer to bridge the Country and Pop genres. Her signature hit was 1963's "The End of the World", a compelling performance but not very indicative of the bouncier, Girl Groupy stuff collected on the Pop Hits disc. Much of her material was recorded in Nashville, and Skeeter sings with a lovely, honeyed twang -- yet her producers (Chet Atkins and Anita Kerr among them) strove for a state of the art Pop sound using Brill Building songwriters and the best session musicians. What resulted was a real hybrid: grand melodies polished off with a jewel-like sheen.

All righty, for the first time I'm gonna post an mp3 of one of Skeeter's songs. From The Pop Hits Collection (really an excellent, all-killer-no-filler disc), here's her 1966 single "Don't Anybody Need My Love". I picked this one for its striking, almost Byrds-like arrangement - and of course, Skeeter's fabulous vocal.

Skeeter Davis - Don't Anybody Need My Love (2.8MB)
Posted by mhinrichs at September 22, 2004 12:01 PM