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The changing popular culture of the late 1960s saw traditional pop singers of Sammy Davis, Jr.’s ilk struggle to find material that worked for them both artistically and commercially. Dean Martin had settled into a country-pop niche but recorded rarely, concentrating on his TV show, while Frank Sinatra tried both soft rock and concept albums (such as A Man Alone and Watertown). Sammy felt he should be recording more R&B/soul music, but he had difficulties making that work in the recording booth.

Sammy’s previous Reprise album I’ve Gotta Be Me had met with commercial success during 1969, despite its content being mostly show tunes and standards, so Reprise doubtless felt Sammy’s next album could continue to draw largely from a similar wellspring, with a sprinkling of more funky and rock-tinged numbers thrown in. An exception would be the title track, which instead had its genesis from somewhere completely different: an advertising campaign.

In late 1967, composer Stan Applebaum was engaged by Pan American Airways to make something of a slogan developed by ad executive Wilson Seibert, Jr: “Pan Am makes the going great”. The jingle Applebaum wrote was the centrepiece of Pan Am’s 1968 ad campaign and quickly became iconic (even forming the basis of a three-part ballet – a futuristic fantasy on airport procedures – staged by famed choreographer George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet in 1971). The jingle was later developed further and honorary ‘Rat Pack’ lyricist Sammy Cahn was asked to put words to the music: “The Goin’s Great” was born. Pan Am subsequently used Sammy’s recording in its marketing materials.

Sammy recorded “The Goin’s Great” and two further sides with I’ve Gotta Be Me’s principal arranger Richard Wess, and an additional three sides in a session arranged by Sammy’s own musical director George Rhodes. Three of these six recordings originated – typical for Sammy – from the Broadway stage: “I Have Dreamed” from The King And I (which Rhodes gives an unusual swinging arrangement), “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha (which sees Sammy deliver an impassioned reading befitting the famous showstopper) and “What Became Of Me?” from the West End production of Sammy’s own musical Golden Boy.

Reprise also included some sides they had once hoped would have more commercial appeal. “I Have But One Life To Live”, “Break My Mind” and “Bein’ Natural Bein’ Me” had all already been released as singles, to little acclaim. Ironically for the latter recording, Sammy didn’t always sound entirely convincing with the hipper, more happening arrangements. Nonetheless, The Goin’s Great remains a rewarding listen and a time capsule of how Sammy attempted to insert more soul into his sound.

In the original LP’s liner notes, arranger Ernie Freeman is quoted as saying the session at which “I Have But One Life To Live” was recorded was “one of the most exciting dates I was ever associated with … three tunes in 45 minutes. Boom, boom, boom! It was done and it was perfect”. The great fast-paced drum break at the beginning heralds Sammy giving his absolute all on a number for which the lyrics had more than a little autobiographical relevance. Sadly for us, one of the other two songs recorded at the session, “All This World And The Seven Seas”, remains unissued.

The recordings made for The Goin’s Great – billed as being accompanied by The Jimmy Bowen Orchestra and Chorus – were the last recordings Sammy made for Reprise that were released on the label. The ultra-psychedelic album cover certainly fit the zeitgeist, and gives some indication of the nature of the times in which Sammy made his decision to leave the label he’d been with for almost a decade.