 Something of a late starter, DICK VAN DYKE was already in his mid-30s when he landed the lead role of Albert J. Peterson in the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie, in 1960, following which his career began to take off. The Original Cast soundtrack LP became a massive US hit, across the Spring and Summer of 1960, and Dick won a Tony Award for “Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical”. His TV sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show, premiered in October ’61 and very quickly went on to establish him as a household name. Although not a regular singer, he recorded his first LP, “Songs I Like”, for the Command label, on the back of these successes. This compilation comprises “Songs I Like” (reissued here for the very first time on CD), plus the five tracks from the original Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack LP which audibly feature Van Dyke, plus a rare 45rpm ‘Three Wheels On My Wagon’ b/w ‘One Part Dog, Nine Parts Cat’, from 1961.

• 1. Nice Work If You Can Get It
• 2. Easy Street
• 3. Put On a Happy Face
• 4. Walkin' and Whistlin' Blues
• 5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
• 6. Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home
• 7. Ain't We Got Fun
• 8. They All Laughed
• 9. Wives and Lovers
• 10. Lazybones
• 11. My Baby Just Cares For Me
• 12. When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got
• 13. I've Got a Crush On You
• 14. Three Wheels On My Wagon
• 15. One Part Dog, Nine Parts Cat
• 16. An English Teacher [With Chita Rivera]
• 17. Put On a Happy Face
• 18. Normal American Boy [With Chita Rivera]
• 19. Baby, Talk To Me [With George Blackwell]
• 20. Rosie [With Chita Rivera]