Mr. Spock’s Illogical Song

Jeopardy had a clue about Star Trek’s Spock over 10 years ago on May 30, 2003 in the category FEELING “ILL” valued at $600: “Spock knows it means something that makes no rational sense.” But we wonder if they know about Leonard Nimoy’s recording career and his 1967 track “Highly Illogical” from his first album “Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space.” Yes, we said his first album. Nimoy went on to record four more albums. In his second, he recorded one side as Spock and the other as himself, then he made three more albums as himself, singing folk songs, including a rendition of the Johnny Cash song “I Walk the Line.”

William Shatner aka Captain Kirk also recorded an album, albeit spoken-word, in 1968. It was called “The Transformed Man” on which he delivered interpretive versions of such hits as “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and more.

The Nimoy and Shatner forays into the recording industry were by no means unique. Popular TV and movie stars were often sent off to record a hit to capitalize on their popularity well before Star Trek. There was Lorne Green aka Bonanza’s Ben Cartwright. In his single “Ringo”, he tells the story of a gunslinger and he is the lawman. Greene does the talking while a chorus of men sing “Ringo” after each stanza. The record was a No. 1 hit in the USA and Canada. He also recorded “Ringo” in French and sang the “Bonanza” theme song with lyrics. Leonard Nimoy, by the way, had a role on “Bonanza” before he became famous as Spock.

Here are some more songs by actors and TV stars:

• 1957 “Start Movin’ (in My Direction)”, a No. 9 hit for Sal Mineo (Rebel Without a Cause)
• 1961 “Let’s Get Together”, a No. 8 hit for Hayley Mills (The Parent Trap)
• 1962 “Johnny Angel”, a No. 1 hit for Shelley Fabares of The Donna Reed Show
• 1962 “My Dad”, a No. 6 hit for Paul Petersen of The Donna Reed Show
• 1963 “All I Have to Do is Dream”, a No.14 hit for Richard Chamberlain (Dr. Kildare)
• 1965 “Don’t Just Stand There”, a No. 8 hit for Patty Duke (The Patty Duke Show)
• 1967 “Little Ol’ Man (Uptight—Everything’s Alright)”, a No. 4 hit for Bill Cosby (I-Spy)
• 1969 “Little Woman”, a No. 3 hit for Bobby Sherman (Here Come the Brides)
• 1972 “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” a No. 1 hit for Vicki Lawrence of The Carol Burnett Show
• 1977 “Don’t Give Up on Us”, a No. 1 hit for David Soul (Starsky & Hutch)
• 1978 “Toto (Don’t It Feel Like Paradise)” by Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman)
• 1984 “I’ve Been Around Enough to Know”, a No. 1 hit for John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard)
• 1984 “They Don’t Know”, a No. 8 hit for Tracy Ullman (before The Tracy Ullman Show)
• 1988 “A Little Bit Closer”, a No. 18 hit for Tom Wopat (Dukes of Hazzard)

Some of those named, like Bobby Sherman and John Schneider, had more than one hit record. Some believe that Bobby was more successful as a singer than as an actor, and the same can be said about Ricky Nelson. He was born into to his TV role as part of the Nelson family but singing was his true vocation.