999,800: Louis Prima - Banana Split for my Baby

Louis Prima shares a lot in common with the boys in the famous Rat Pack: talented singer, Italian-American, had a long running Vegas show, drank/smoke a ton, and loved the ladies. However, what separated him from the bunch was the fact that he just doesn't come off as COOL. The Rat Pack have endured as the coolest group of swingin' cats some 50+ years later. Louis Prima endures as....the orangutan from "The Jungle Book"? Definitely not hip, but lovable!

In "Banana Split", Louis describes the big ice cream delight that the soda jerk must conjure for his baby, including precious lines like "stack her up with crazy goo...cause that's the stuff she likes to wade right through." In this jam, Prima joyfully sings to his co-star and wife, Keely Smith (who he snapped up when she was a not-legal teen... Jerry-Lee-Lewis-y much?) in 1959's film "Hey Boy! Hey Girl!" Songwriter Stan Irwin asked Prima for a song title and he shouted off the top of his head, "Banana Split for my Baby!" Growing up in New Orleans, one could easily imagine little Louis lapping up a delicious ice cream and loudly proclaiming its goodness. That's the thing that makes me like Louie better than all those cool cats. He wasn't afraid to make a complete fool of himself. Yet at the same time he was a brilliant singer and horn player. His vocal phrasing never ceases to please. And don't tell me Dean Martin was funny. He may have made jokes while sipping his martini and smoking his cigar, but he wasn't a FUNNY guy. Louis mugged for the camera while saying "Give her two spoons, she'll eat it with both hands" in a way that's sounds completely innocent and completely dirty at the same time. That, my friends, is comedic genius.