Dia do Rock
A 1960 live recording from the Sands in Las Vegas, in which Mr. Cole takes on Rock & Roll. Over the 7+ minutes of this musical routine, Nat "King" Cole lovingly skewers rock & roll conventions and culture, reimagining several of his biggest hits in a more rocking style, both musically and lyrically, along the way. It does help to be familiar with those biggest hits in order fully to appreciate all of the humourous references. While the opening premise is that Cole won't give in to the pressure to sing rock & roll, he does just that, quite convincingly, through much of the track, and even closes with the line "Mr. Cole won't rock and roll...but I could if I wanted to." At least as far back as 1957, with the top 10 pop hit "Send for Me," Cole, proved that he could be a credible rocker, so it's easy to accept his tongue-in-cheek sincerity here, in marked contrast with his contemporary Frank Sinatra's open disdain for the newly-popular form.