THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

775-Chris Montez-The More I See You.

1966-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 1.22. It is said that until people actually saw a photograph, they thought it was a female singer.

Chris Montez was born Ezekiel Christopher Montañez, on January 17th, 1943, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He began his music career as a ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ performer, but once the hits dried up he was persuaded by Herb Alpert (see also best songs 815) the co-founder of ‘A&M’ records, the label he was signed to at that time, to move in to a more ‘middle of the road’ and ‘easy listening’ musical direction. In the early 1960’s Chris Montez toured with artists of the calibre of Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, (1931-1964) and The Patters, and while in England, the Beatles opened for him in London, Northampton, and York. Chris Montez commented at the time,’Who are these guys The Beatles? I try to keep up with the British scene, but I don’t know their work.’ During that tour, it is said that Montez and John Lennon (1940-1980) got into an argument, which led to a fistfight between the both of them.

The rendition of ‘The More I See You’ by Chris Montez can be filed under the genre of ‘Easy Listening’ music, which is a sub-genre of ‘Middle of the road,’ music, which is also known by its acronym ‘MOR.’ ‘Easy Listening’ music encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, non-Rock vocals, and instrumental covers of selected popular Rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the Rock and Roll era, characteristically on music from the 1940’s and 1950’s. ‘Easy Listening’ music is often confused with ‘Lounge Music,’ but while it was popular in some of the same venues, it was meant to be listened to for enjoyment rather than as background sound.

The discography of Chis Montez includes seven Albums released between 1963-1983, and 20 singles issued between 1960-1972. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, five of his tracks have made the top 40, with ‘Let’s Dance’ from 1962, peaking the highest at Number 4, and ‘The More I See You’ reaching Number 16. In the UK, Chris Montez has reached the top 40 on three occasions, with ‘Let’s Dance’ being the most successful, when making Number 2. He has also had seven of his singles chart on the Billboard ‘Adult Contemporary’ chart, and had two of his Spanish language songs reach the top 10 in the Netherlands in the early 1970’s.

‘The More I See You’ was originally written for the 1945 musical film ‘Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe,’ starring Betty Grable, (1916-1973) and Dick Haymes, (1918-1980) (see also best songs 842) who first introduced the song in the film. ‘The More I See You’ which was written by the legendary songwriting team of Mack Gordon, (1904-1959) and Harry Warren (1893-1981) (see also best songs 877-396 and 321) has been covered on many occasions over the years, with artists as diverse as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Marvin Gaye recording their renditions.

It was at the suggestion of Herb Alpert, that Chris Montez recorded ‘The More I See You’ for his 1966 second Album of the same name, with Alpert arranging and producing the track. This was the first of four Albums that Herb Alpert worked on with Chris Montez between 1966-1968. ‘The More I See You’ was the second of three singles released from the Album, with the first ‘Call Me,’ making Number 22 on Billboard, but not charting in the UK, and the other, ‘There Will Never Be Another You,’ reaching Number 33 on Billboard, and Number 37 in the UK.

‘The more I see you, the more I want you, somehow this feeling just grows and grows. With every sigh, I become more mad about you, more lost without you and so it goes.’