I Stumped Google! World’s Biggest Search Engine Had No Mention of 1970s’ Vic Damone Record

 

Vic Damone during the 1970s 

By Nicholas Stix

I’m in a 1970s time warp. Last weekend, my chief of research and I watched The Godfather (1972), and today I’m musing about the New York radio station, WNEW-AM, that I listened to from the early 1970s until its demise in 1992.
 

 

During the mid-1970s, I used to frequently hear the following song on ‘NEW. It was sung by Vic Damone, and probably played by disk jockey Julius LaRosa, a fellow paisan who had also been professional singer. (LaRosa, by the way, is also still around, and is due to turn 85 on June 2.)

The song is an exercise in narcissism, possibly a spin-off of “My Way,” but Damone did an excellent job with it. When he was younger, he’d had a stunning voice, considered the best in the business, and had had any number of hits, but at the time, WNEW-AM didn’t play that material, so I always wondered what the big deal was about Vic Damone’s voice. In fact, it was only this evening, when I hunted down Damone’s personal Web site, in search of this song, that I got to hear samples of the young Damone, in all his splendor.

Vic Damone retired from performing in 2001, following a stroke the previous year, but is still around, and will turn 87 on June 12.

I haven’t heard the song in 40 years, so I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the lyrics, and can’t vouch for the order of the stanzas.
 

Lifestyle
Composer and lyricist unknown

Why do people
Criticize my lifestyle,
Can’t I live my own life,
My own way?...

Just like the gypsy,
Living my own lifestyle,
Tie me down one day,
And I would die,
I love a song and fun,
What’s wrong with that?

Why do all the others,
Tell me what to do?
I must be what I am,
Why change myself,
For you?

If honesty’s a virtue,
As long as I don’t hurt you,
Let me live and love,
As I choose.

Give me a break,
The road I take,
My destiny was meant to be
My own,
My own lifestyle
Suits me fine.

Why do all the others,
Tell me what to do?
I must be what I am,
Why change myself,
For you?

If honesty’s a virtue,
As long as I don’t hurt you,
Let me live and love,
As I choose.

Give me a break,
The road I take,
My destiny was meant to be
My own,
My own lifestyle
Suits me fine.