This interview with Bobby comes from a Promotional LP for the organization Vista, which was produced by
the Office of Economic Opportunity. This record was distributed to radio stations in the mid 1960's and contained tracks
which appeared on the Atlantic albums Bobby Darin Sings: The Shadow of Your Smile and In a Broadway
Bag. Willis Conover was the interviewer.
Conover: Bobby how do you go about selecting your songs? Do you do it yourself?
Bobby: Well, as I must tell you this, that the final decision has to be made by me,
obviously, because I have to sing the song. Therefore, I have to be comfortable with it. I must say this though, that there
are many people who look for material for me. For example, the fella that runs my publishing house, in addition to having chores
as a Vice President and a General Manager, runs around, well I shouldn't say runs around, that's not correct, but makes phone
calls, let me put it that way, to various publishers and lets them know when I'm due for a record date. There's also some people
on the west coast that dial the phone every week or so and say, "What's new from a picture?" or "What's new from a Broadway show?"
BECAUSE good material naturally is always, you know, difficult to find, and if you don't have somebody looking for it, you find
that your competition has found it first.
Conover: I suppose there are people who bring you a lot of their own songs.
Bobby: There is a great deal of material from which I must select. I wish it were all good, but
unfortunately, it's not. Yes, there are many people who assume that they are songwriters. No, they are not songwriters in most
cases. But the professional managers of the big firms as well as the independent firms usually come through, you know, with the
best of the material from which to pick. Once again, it goes back to the word comfort. It may be the greatest song ever written,
but if I'm not comfortable singing it, then it's just something that has to remain out of my record repertoire.
Conover: The next one is in your repertoire, of course, so tell us, Bobby.
Bobby: Well, this is, believe it or not, we are talking about outside material and here is a tune
that I penned one morning about 3 or 4 o' clock in the AM. I was sitting playing the guitar and foolin' around and along came these
chords to me, which are not new chords by any means, and this thought about raining and raining and raining ... and that happens
to be the title of the tune ... "Rainin.'"
