“Don’t Smoke in Bed” (1962) – Jack Teagarden * Written by Willard Robison * Produced by Creed Taylor * Arranged by Bob Brookmeyer * LP: Think Well of Me * Label: Verve
Willard Robison was among the noir-est of classic songwriters but with an American Gothic twist, thanks to his rural imagery. Jack Teagarden, the singular trombonist and vocalist from very rural Vernon, Texas, released a collection of Robison songs called Think Well of Me late in his career, and it comes off as something that had to happen. Bringing his own country-to-city boy background to the material, his weary voice sounds like what Robison may have had in mind during the writing process for each song. (The opener, strangely, is “Where Are You,” the only one in the twelve-cut lineup not written by Robison.) “Don’t Smoke in Bed” is a song that had been done previously by Peggy Lee in the late forties (with strings and an echoing/fading goodbye phrase near the end) and Nina Simone in the late fifties (with lonely piano and voice). They’re effective versions, but Teagarden’s is the odd standout in voicing the perspective (male) of the one who has been left, rather than the perspective (female) of the one leaving. Bob Brookmeyer’s string arrangements fill the air with foreboding harps and, whenever the title phrase gets uttered, violins rise upward like flames. You feel resigned when listening that not only will there be smoking in bed, but a match will also be struck and dropped on the sheets outright. (Bob Dylan almost certainly found inspiration in this entire album when he got working on his moody Americana-tinged standards collection Shadows in the Night.)