World of Kane continues to dig up brilliant stuff, like this fine pair of posts on British singer, Anthony Newley and his lyrical partner, Leslie Bricusse. Newley, while not technically a great singer, brought a completely over-the-top delivery to songs like "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off", and my favorite, The Joker, which features incredible horn charts over a catchy guitar riff, with Bricusse's overly-maudlin lyrics icing the musical cake:

There's always a funny man in the game
But he's only funny by mistake
But everyone laughs at him, just the same
They don't see his lonely heart break
They don't care as long as there is a jester, just a fool
As foolish as he can be
There's always a joker, that's a rule
But fate deals the hand and I see
The joker is me

Newley's definitely an acquired taste, but his unbelievably melodramatic songs keeps drawing you back like a rubbernecker at a car wreck.

And don't miss the clips of Sammy Davis Jr. smooching Newley's ass along with Hugh Hefner and Bill Cosby on Playboy After Dark. Nobody could get his nose up someone's sphincter farther than Sammy.

[Link: Anthony Newley: the RCA Years]
[Link: Sammy Sings Newley]