25 January 1968
I can imagine the showbands and cabaret acts of 1968 Ireland immediately and gleefully slipping chart-topper ‘Am I That Easy To Forget’ into their antediluvian repertoire. Its unctuous blend of country balladry and easy listening—written and first recorded by a singer actually called Country Johnny Mathis!—sounds ready-made for the likes of Dickie Rock, Tony Kenny, Red Hurley and those other homegrown light entertainment crooners I dimly remember from the ’80s on Live At 3 and Play The Game.
Why ‘Am I That Easy To Forget’ topped the charts in the first place is an equally unappealing topic of thought. Engelbert schmoozes his way through another tacky unguent of dreary romantic melodrama, replete with now-requisite climactic key change to sell the heartbreak. And there’s another 1968 Irish number one from him to come! Forgettable and not yet gone.
