5 Feet of Fury

Mark Steyn: ‘Rat’s-ass-wise, I’m with Kathy’

Mark Steyn on the death of Bob Crewe:

But the Walker Brothers decided to out-Righteous the Righteous Brothers and, with a Phil Spectoresque Wall of Sound echo chamber, big strings and a phalanx of ooh-ing and ah-ing backing vocalists, Scott Walker’s more-Righteous-than-thou baritone turned those words into a slab of authentic ache. The string figure in the fill after “coat you wear” seems inserted expressly to dare you not to believe. And then the chorus:

The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore
The moon ain’t gonna rise in the sky
Tears are always clouding your eyes
When you’re without love…

No other version quite matches the otherworldly angst of the Walker Brothers.