Sammy Davis, Jr. Collection on Letterman, 1985-89

For a Sammy fan.
1. September 16, 1985.
2. May 19, 1987. In Las Vegas. "For Once in My Life."
3. June 9, 1989. Book Why Me and "Can't Get Started With You."

On Sammy's Las Vegas appearance:

Paul Shaffer interview in Fi Magazine, March, 1998 by Bill Mikowski:

Bill: Did you ever meet Sammy Davis, Jr.?

Paul: First time I met him was Motown at the Apollo, a television show to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Apollo. Nile Rodgers put together a band for Rod Stewart and called me. Sammy later appeared on Letterman from Las Vegas. I called him up to ask him, "What are you gonna sing?" He said, "You tell me. Kick around some ideas of what I might do with your band...we can have some fun. Something that cooks." And P.S., he was flying in that day from Boston and wouldn't be able to rehearse. So I had to come up with songs we could do without rehearsal. My idea was "For Once In My Life," the Stevie Wonder arrangement, because he had sung the song many times. But I could never get him on the phone.

So I found myself that morning not knowing what to rehearse with the band. Then miraculously a call came through a backstage number. He was on the plane, and said, "'For Once In My Life' will be cool; this is the key." So I rehearsed the band and put the tune on cassette so he could hear the arrangement. He arrived for the last five minutes of the rehearsal and I said, "Here, listen to the tape." He said, "I don't wanna hear the tape." I said, "What if you don't like it?" He said, "I'll like it, I'll like it." I said, "What if it's in the wrong key?" He said, "OK, play the tape." He starts listening, he's liking it, and then he turns to me and says, "Do you realize how much fun this would've been if I had never heard this tape?" And then I could see he really didn't want to rehearse. He really did want to capture the first take on TV. That's what he liked...the spontaneity of a first performance.