Mention Caribbean immigrants to the UK in the context of the 1950's and like as not the music usually associated with the notion is the indigenous Ska, Calypso and Mento that they introduced to British culture. West Indies born Ford however had moved to the UK well before the Empire Windrush set sail and his sole UK number one looked the past and a different culture altogether than the one he emerged from.
Originally an American tune from 1916, 'What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?' in 1959 comes dressed up in a swinging big band persona with side helpings of R&B and doo-wop. Or rather, as big a big band persona as three jobbing musicians can make, but the cocky strut of Ford's humour-filled vocal is big enough to fill any gaps and gloss over the repetition with the good natured smile of a man who knows he's being led on but who also knows he's going to get the last laugh ("Well that's all right, I'll get you alone some night. And baby you'll find, you're messing with dynamite"). There's a confidence about 'What' that blazes a comet-like trail from start to finish - there's not a lot going on here, but it's put to good use with nothing spread too thinly, and the sheer bonhomie of Ford's rolling swagger would have fired up any Christmas party reveller who had the mistletoe handy.
Originally an American tune from 1916, 'What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?' in 1959 comes dressed up in a swinging big band persona with side helpings of R&B and doo-wop. Or rather, as big a big band persona as three jobbing musicians can make, but the cocky strut of Ford's humour-filled vocal is big enough to fill any gaps and gloss over the repetition with the good natured smile of a man who knows he's being led on but who also knows he's going to get the last laugh ("Well that's all right, I'll get you alone some night. And baby you'll find, you're messing with dynamite"). There's a confidence about 'What' that blazes a comet-like trail from start to finish - there's not a lot going on here, but it's put to good use with nothing spread too thinly, and the sheer bonhomie of Ford's rolling swagger would have fired up any Christmas party reveller who had the mistletoe handy.
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