Herb Lance’s boozy, bongo-laden, somewhat Latin-styled take on the Bernice Petkere chestnut “Close Your Eyes” from 1957, which is very different from the several versions he had already recorded for various labels starting in 1949. I prefer this one by far, the chorus and flute adding a sweet and slightly cheesy sheen, Herb’s crooning conjuring a casino scene from the collective memory of technicolored cinema’s golden age.
Lance was a jazz, blues and gospel singer, songwriter, record producer, recording studio owner and radio DJ. As well as recording several hits himself in the late 1940s, he co-wrote Ruth Brown’s signature song, “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean.”
Chicagoan Bernice Petkere, a composer, songwriter and very young vaudevillian at the age of 7, was called the “Queen of Tin Pan Alley” by Irving Berlin himself.
Time Travel at 78rpms 