Nat King Cole has been one of my favorite artists since I learned to work a turntable. Among his best songs (besides L-O-V-E, about which I recently waxed poetic, sort of), The Frim Fram Sauce displays the sort of playfulness he often displayed in live performances. The song has, of course, been covered by many. I still think the original version stands above the rest.
To be fair, Diane Krall does an admirable version, with a fun little scat section to boot. She simply lacks the smo-oo-oth quality that Nat King Cole demonstrated so ably. The John Pizzarelli Trio offers a competent but comparatively anemic interpretation. Again the voice just can’t compete. And then there’s the song here labeled “Ella Fitzgerald”. It’s Louis Armstrong and Ella. Okay, okay, stop swooning. Two epic voices like these together can’t be left off my list, but I still like Nat better.
If you’re wondering about the Frim Fram Sauce lyrics, you can read through this article for the Guardian that doesn’t actually answer the question except to tell you that they don’t mean a thing (even if it's got that swing). It’s actually just an interesting article about lyrics and language, but I didn’t have any other reason to post it here so I thought I’d include it here.
Buy Nat King Cole's Version
Buy the Diane Krall Version
Buy the Ella and Louis Version
Buy the John Pizzarelli Version
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