1. “Don’t Smoke In Bed”

Peggy Lee: Rendezvous With Peggy Lee (Capitol, 1948) and Is That All There Is? (Capitol, 1969); Julie London: Around Midnight (Liberty, 1960); composed by Willard Robison, Dave Barbour and Peggy Lee

If Willard Robison really did write this song, rather than (as is rumored) Peggy Lee solely, then it might well stand as the only significant tune that the composer of “Old Folks” ever wrote specifically about sex. Peggy Lee is best known for it, anyway, and the knowingness of both her 1947 and 1969 versions (latter on Is That All There Is? – oh, perfect) is even more bracing than its subject: fondly kissing off an underperforming husband. In both versions, Lee’s persona wraps around the pseudo-apologia as if walking out was easier than picking up the dry cleaning, just as necessary, and, frankly, no more regrettable. Because she knows you knew it was coming, even if He did not. But the most affecting version for me is Julie London’s. Not half the singer Lee was, and encumbered by titles (and themes) like Nice Girls Don’t Stay For Breakfast, nonetheless her husky sexiness made her sound too unmistakably vulnerable to be as mercenary as she pretended to be. In fact, her 1960 version makes the kiss-off sound more like “Gloomy Sunday.” Melodramatic, maybe. But even though you might have “seen it coming,” you feel no assurance that she did.

Note: 25 secular essays (each one exactly 200 words long) about 25 songs, appearing one per day during Advent (or so) from Nov. 27 through Dec. 21.