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You are here: Home / Music / Andy Williams RIP

Andy Williams RIP

by DougJ|  September 26, 201212:37 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: Music, Get off my grass you damned kids

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A lot of the olds who comment here are talking about Andy Williams, who died yesterday.

I always admired the way he stood by Claudine Longet after she shot Spider Sabitch.

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Previous Post: « The girl that I marry
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Reader Interactions

56Comments

  1. 1.

    shortstop

    September 26, 2012 at 12:41 pm

    Now you’re going to get about 100 outraged outbursts from superannuated commenters, which was your intent, of course. Carry on.

  2. 2.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 26, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    Dude could sing.

  3. 3.

    Cris (without an H)

    September 26, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    You know how you hear a lot of Andy Williams on the radio every Christmas? Just wait ’til this year.

  4. 4.

    Dork

    September 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Andy who? Did he do any covers of Gangnam Style?

  5. 5.

    shortstop

    September 26, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    Just remember, Ethel Kennedy wouldn’t marry him because she wanted to be eternally linked with Bobby. Uh huh.

  6. 6.

    Bubblegum Tate

    September 26, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    Claudine Longet does an amazing cover of “God Only Knows.” Just puttin’ that out there.

  7. 7.

    Napoleon

    September 26, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Moon River was my favorite song when I was a little kid. I loved Andy’s voice.

  8. 8.

    Ron Thompson

    September 26, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    I didn’t know until a couple years ago that he was part of a four-man brother act. Then I saw a tape from his TV show of the four of them singing a song, all dressed alike.

    Gives me the heeby-jeebies jest thinkin’ about it.

  9. 9.

    rlrr

    September 26, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Williams being a birther, it’s obvious Barack Obama had him eliminated…

  10. 10.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    September 26, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    That’s a good point about his loyalty. And expect a very Williamsish Christmas.

  11. 11.

    Napoleon

    September 26, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    PS, his TV show was great as well.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    September 26, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Andy Williams had this recurring sketch on his TV show from the 1960s: a bear (well, a guy in a bear suit) would knock on his cabin door in the middle of a snowy night. Andy’d answer the door in his long nightshirt, and after the bear pestered him for a cookie would reply indignantly, “Not now, not tomorrow, NEVER!” That, and him having the Osmond Brothers on the show when they were in their early teens and Donny was, like, 10 years old.

  13. 13.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 26, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    He stood up for John Lennon, telling both Nixon and Hoover that they should go get fucked and stop trying to get the man deported.

    I don’t think a lot of people know that. Good guy. Good vocal delivery – always made me relaxed and sleepy, in a very good way, sort of like aural marijuana.

  14. 14.

    Surreal American

    September 26, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    @rlrr:

    Wait, here I thought that Andy Williams only called Obama a Marxist. Did Williams also go full Pat Boone on us as well?

  15. 15.

    flukebucket

    September 26, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    @rlrr: I didn’t know Andy was a birther. But it makes sense when you think about it. Rich, old, White. All of the ingredients are there. RIP Andy. Paddle slowly across that Moon River.

  16. 16.

    kindness

    September 26, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    Speaking of the ‘Olds’ here, who here watched the Saturday Night Live when they ran The Spider Sabich Ski Tournament?

    It was completely tasteless and hysterical.

    Yes I saw it then. Original cast & all.

    SNL/NBC in their wisdom has erased it from Youtube so no linkies, sorry.

  17. 17.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 26, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    I think this is a person whose peak celebrity I just missed. Like how I had no idea Richard Dawson had a TV career before “Family Feud” until, like, two years ago.

  18. 18.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    September 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm

    If you don’t listen to Nat King Cole’s “Christmas Song”, The Temptations “Silent Night” and Andy Williams “O Holy Night” every holiday season, you’re letting the terrorists win.

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm

    @kindness: They’ve shown that clip on various sports-themed specials relatively recently. I never had any idea what they were talking about.

    ETA: And I’m 40, which I thought would qualify me for Olds status.

  20. 20.

    Raven

    September 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm

    While close friends with the Democratic Kennedys, Williams was a lifelong Republican.[22] On September 29, 2009, he was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as accusing President Barack Obama of “following Marxist theory” and “wanting the country to fail”.[23][24] He gave Rush Limbaugh permission to use his recording of the song “Born Free” for the theme to the “Animal Rights Update” on his Limbaugh’s radio show – in which a portion of the song is then followed by gunfire – saying “Hey, it’s fine with me. I love what you’re doing with it.” The record company later blocked Limbaugh’s use of the recording.[25]

  21. 21.

    Cris (without an H)

    September 26, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    @rlrr: Williams being a birther

    what

  22. 22.

    Chyron HR

    September 26, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    Ron Howard must be devestated.

  23. 23.

    kindness

    September 26, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Well it was in 1976. I suspect many here weren’t even a sparkle in their parents eyes yet.

  24. 24.

    Raven

    September 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    Claudine Longet set the pace for Nouvele Vague – Dance With Me

  25. 25.

    Maude

    September 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    Spider was a wild man. He was a great skier and I saw him in Olympic trials.
    I am four years old.

  26. 26.

    Raven

    September 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    @kindness: And some of us were roarin like, well, we wouldn’t be here today.

  27. 27.

    Bobby Thomson

    September 26, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    My favorite cover of an Andy Williams song.

  28. 28.

    pete

    September 26, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    “Claudine” shoulda been on Some Girls, the first time around. Lyrics & comments here; explanation and excellent bootleg version here.

  29. 29.

    red dog

    September 26, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    Well I’m 70 and qualify for the OLDS status, too bad a lot of you multi-tasking whippersnappers won’t make it this far ’cause you never just kick back and watch the rats race…it’s fun.

  30. 30.

    shoutingattherain

    September 26, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    “Obama is following Marxist theory,” he told The Radio Times, a British magazine. “He’s taken over the banks and the car industry. He wants the country to fail.”

    I grew up liking Andy Williams. Now I hate him instantly because I hate his politics. I’ll never be able to listen to him again. It didn’t used to be like this. It really doesn’t have to be like this.

  31. 31.

    kindness

    September 26, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    OK, guess I’m bored at work. The actual sketch was Saturday Night Live Season 1, 4/24/76 episode 18 and it was called ‘The Claudine Longet Invitational’ and both NBC and youtube refuse to have the clip available. Anyway, back to work.

  32. 32.

    Howlin Wolfe

    September 26, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    @shoutingattherain: I like how the Times obit writer characterized that as being an “outspoken” Republican. So, that’s what the Times calls sheer nuttery?

  33. 33.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    September 26, 2012 at 1:28 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate: I LOVED Claudine Longet – still have one of her albums. My husband and I drove through Wall Lake, IA just a few days ago, which made me think of Andy.

  34. 34.

    hhex65

    September 26, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    @kindness: Checked the Netflix version and it still has that skit in it there. Raquel Welch with musical guests Phoebe Snow & John Sebastian. They really do cut those shows up and throw things down the memory hole, episodes from 1981 are around 30 minutes long with no musical guests.

  35. 35.

    catclub

    September 26, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    @shoutingattherain: That IS your problem. Ty Cobb was a complete asshole, but he could play. No need to find recent examples, but Curt Schilling
    with a bloody sock jumps right up atcha.

    Similarly, I might well _agree_ with Kobe Bryant’s politics, but I hate what he does (did?) so well on the basketball court.

  36. 36.

    Thoughtcrime

    September 26, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    The best Claudine Longet music video ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cak9bZpn4uQ

  37. 37.

    bobbo

    September 26, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    my favorite thing about Andy Williams is that he dubbed Lauren Bacall in “To Have and Have Not.” Though the Times obit says she really did sing, at least some of it. Whoever it was certainly sounded like her.

  38. 38.

    CarolDuhart2

    September 26, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Sigh. Another part of my childhood gone. First it was the folks from the Fifties (except a few survivors), the the folks from the tv shows I used to watch in the 1960’s. RIP Andy Williams. You were a good singer despite your politics.

    All that great Christmas Music will live on.

  39. 39.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    September 26, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    @shoutingattherain:

    I think a lot of ugliness and absurdity emerged from old white guys that even they weren’t expecting. Clint Eastwood has never, as far as I know, had never spoken out against a presidential candidate before. Chuck Norris never used to make pronouncements about “a thousand years of darkness.” Kelsey Grammer, as far as I know, never campaigned for any presidential candidates until McCain.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    September 26, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    @kindness:

    I saw that.

  41. 41.

    Porco Rosso

    September 26, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    @kindness:

    Wasn’t it the Celebrity Ski Jump and Skeet Shoot?

  42. 42.

    dSmith

    September 26, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    There was a young girl named Longet
    Who went down to Aspen to play
    Along came a spider
    who sat down beside her
    And she blew the poor Sabitch away.

  43. 43.

    Schlemizel

    September 26, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    I can never forgive him for foisting the Osmond family upon an suspecting nation.

    Nice voice – good for his time and place, certainly successful & well loved.

  44. 44.

    Cassidy

    September 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    @Shawn in ShowMe: All three had waning careers beforehand. Even Eastwood, his last movie was 2008? Apparently, you get older, slow down, and go fuckin’ crazy.

  45. 45.

    SBJules

    September 26, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    I saw the Sabitch skit on SNL. And more recently the Ann romney skit. I only liked moon river in Breakfast at breakfast in tiffany’s. I didn’t like his TV show.

  46. 46.

    Dennis SGMM

    September 26, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    I recall my parents watching Andy Williams’ show. This was during my extreme Young Gearhead phase so I spent most evenings working on cars. I do recall thinking that the Osmonds were the weirdest outift that I’d seen up to then.

  47. 47.

    kindness

    September 26, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @Porco Rosso: I went through the SNL archives and they called the sketch ‘The Claudine Longet Invitational’. I had thought it was The Spider Sabich Ski Tournament. Hey, it’s been 36 years. I will give my brain cells a pass on it.

  48. 48.

    joes527

    September 26, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    @flukebucket: Dude was 85. Anyone over 70-something gets a total pass for saying crazy shit as far as I’m concerned.

  49. 49.

    notoriousJRT

    September 26, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Whatever Williams’ politics, I love his Moon River and many of his versions of Christmas songs (particularly It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year)

    RIP Andy

  50. 50.

    BenA

    September 26, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Nelson Muntz is quietly weeping in a corner somewhere.

  51. 51.

    catclub

    September 26, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    @joes527: Pete Seeger is about 90. And still sharp as a tack.

    Hope I have not jinxed him.

    ETA: 93

  52. 52.

    stephen benson

    September 26, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    i played with andy more than once during my vegas days. he was a genuinely kind man, a great performer.

    during that same time i also met and got to know claudine. i can assure you that she is a captivating, beautiful, and enchanting soul who can easily be forgiven trivial things like gut shooting a ski bum.

  53. 53.

    Scott

    September 26, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    Everything doesn’t have to be about politics. I grew up watching his Christmas show and listening to his music, and those memories are indelible. That was a different time, very few viewing choices on TV, and the Christmas Specials were, well, special. Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Andy.
    I will never feel as excited, or comforted, about Christmas as I was then.
    Thanks, Andy.

  54. 54.

    kindness

    September 26, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    @stephen benson:

    enchanting soul who can easily be forgiven trivial things like gut shooting a ski bum.

    What a good little liberal you are. Tell me, got any exs?

    Sorry ’bout the snark but I sure hope that comment was an over the top one & not serious. I was kind of a ski freak at the time and so Spider meant a lot to me then. He was a bad ass skier. Claudine? She was cute but she shot Spider in the stomach and let him die. The whole thing sucked. Won’t give Claudine a pass, sorry.

  55. 55.

    Evap

    September 26, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    @kindness:
    I remember that! Good times

    Rumor has it he did the singing for Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not. Or am I miss-remembering?

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  1. 'Moon River' crooner Andy Williams dies at age 84 says:
    September 26, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    […] Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Andy Williams RIP […]

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