Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Category: 1940s

1940s, Pop

Red Roses for a Blue Lady

First recorded by John Laurenz (1948).
Hit versions by Vaughn Monroe & The Moon Men (US #3 1949), Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (US #8 1949), Bert Kaempert (US #11/MOR #2 1965), Wayne Newton (US #23/MOR #4 1965), Vic Dana (US #10/MOR #2 1965).

From the wiki: “‘Red Roses for a Blue Lady’ was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, and first recorded in 1948 by John Laurenz. The best-selling recording was produced in 1949 by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra Vocalists: Vaughn Monroe and The Moon Men. The song was revived three times in 1965: By vocalists Vic Dana and Wayne Newton, and by instrumentalist Bert Kaempfert. Dana’s version was the most successful of the three, peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Easy Listening chart.”

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1940s, Swing

A Sunday Kind of Love

First recorded by Fran Warren w. Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra (1946).
Hit versions by Jo Stafford (US #15 1947), Jan & Dean (US #95 1962), Lenny Welch (US #96/MOR #21 1972), Kenny Rankin (MOR #28 1976), Reba McEntire (C&W #5 1988).
Also recorded by Louis Prima (1947), The Harptones (1953), Etta James (1961).

From the wiki: “‘A Sunday Kind of Love’ was composed by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima. It was first recorded in 1946 by Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra, becoming the signature-song for his vocalist, Fran Warren. Jo Stafford had the first charted recording of ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’, in 1947, the same year that co-writer Louis Prima recorded an arrangement with his orchestra.

“In 1953, the Harptones (‘Since I Fell For You‘), a group who never had a Top-40 pop hit, or even charted any of their 29 singles nationally on the Billboard R&B chart, covered ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’ – an arrangement that would have a strong influence on subsequent popular recordings of the song including covers by Etta James, Lenny Welch, and Kenny Rankin.”

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1940s, Swing

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

First recorded by Ray Noble & His Orchestra (US #15 1940).
Other hit versions by Vera Lynn (1940), The Glenn Miller Orchestra (US #2 1940).

From the wiki: “‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ is a romantic British popular song written in 1939 with by Eric Maschwitz and Manning Sherwin, composed in the then-small French fishing village of Le Lavandou. The song had its first performance in the summer of 1939 in a local bar, where the melody was played on piano by Sherwin with the help of the resident saxophonist. Maschwitz sang the words while holding a glass of wine, but nobody seemed impressed.

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1940s, R&B

Twilight Time

First recorded by The Three Suns (1944).
Also recorded by Les Brown & His Band of Renown (1944).
First vocal version recorded by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra f. Teddy Walters (1945).
Hit version by The Platters (US #1/R&B #1/UK #3 1958).

From the wiki: “‘Twilight Time’ is a popular song with lyrics by Buck Ram and the music by The Three Suns, and first recorded as an instrumental by The Three Suns in 1944. Les Brown’s instrumental recording was released in early 1945 as the B-side of ‘Sentimental Journey’ (Doris Day).

“The first vocal version of the song on record was also released in 1945, by bandleader Jimmy Dorsey with Teddy Walters on vocals.

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1940s, Swing

Tuxedo Junction

Co-written and first recorded by The Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (US #7 1940).
Other hit version by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (US #1 1940).
Also recorded by The Andrews Sisters (1940).

From the wiki: “‘Tuxedo Junction’ was co-written by Birmingham, Alabama, composer and band leader Erskine Hawkins, and saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson. The song was first introduced by the orchestra led at the time by Hawkins – a college dance band previously known as the Bama State Collegians, made up of students from Alabama State University, who, in 1934, traveled to New York City and became the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, working also with the NBC Orchestra, the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Louis Armstrong and others.

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1940s, Country

Tennessee Waltz

First released by Cowboy Copas (C&W #6 1948).
Other hit versions by The Golden West Cowboys (C&W #3 1948), Erskine Hawkins (R&B #6 1950), Patti Page (US #1/C&W #2/AUS #1 1950).

From the wiki:”Pee Wee King, and most of his group,the Golden West Cowboys, were riding in a limousine in 1946 when he and vocalist Redd Stewart co-wrote the song. They were on their way to a Grand Ole Opry appearance in Nashville when they heard Bill Monroe’s new ‘Kentucky Waltz’ on the radio. Stewart immediately began writing the lyrics on a matchbox while King and the other musicians hummed King’s theme song, ‘No Name Waltz’. King and Stewart presented ‘Tennessee Waltz’ to music publisher Fred Rose the next day. The Golden West Cowboys were not able to record ‘Tennessee Waltz’ until December 1947. Meanwhile, Cowboy Copas, who still occasionally performed with The Golden West Cowboys, recorded the song for King Records just after the Cowboys, with Copas’ version released just prior to that of the Cowboys.

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1940s, Latin

Besame Mucho

First recorded by Emilio Tuero (1941).
Hit versions by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra (US #1 1944), Lucho Gatica (1953), The Coasters (US #70 1960), The Beatles (1962|1969).

From the wiki: “‘Besame Mucho’ (‘Kiss Me Much’) was written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. According to Velázquez herself, she wrote this song even though she had not yet ever been kissed at the time; she’d heard kissing was considered a sin. ‘Besame Mucho’ has since become of the most famous boleros, and was recognized in 1999 as the most sung and recorded Mexican song in the world. Emilio Tuero was the first to record the song, but the Lucho Gatica recording in 1953 made the song world-famous.

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1940s, Broadway/Movies/Television

Taking a Chance on Love

First performed by Ethel Waters (1940).
First commercial recording by Ella Fitzgerald (1940).
Popular versions by Helen Forrest (US #1 1943), Ethel Waters (1946), Frank Sinatra (1954), Anita O’Day (1957).
Also recorded by Dinah Shore (1958), Liza Minnelli (1977).

From the wiki: “‘Taking a Chance on Love’ was written by Vernon Duke with lyrics by John La Touche and Ted Fetter, and has gone on to become a standard recorded by many artists. It was first performed in the Broadway musical Cabin in the Sky which opened at the Martin Beck Theater on October 25, 1940. (‘Taking a Chance on Love’ was added only three days before the New York opening, but it turned into the hit of the show.)

“The show was choreographed by George Balanchine and was a ground-breaking musical with an all-black cast. The leads were played by Ethel Waters as Petunia, Dooley Wilson (‘As Time Goes By‘) as her husband Little Joe, and Katherine Dunham as the temptress Georgia Brown.

“Waters introduced ‘Taking a Chance of Love’ as a show-stopping solo, reprising it at the end of Act I with Little Joe, and would reprise her performance in the 1943 motion picture release of Cabin in the Sky.

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1940s, Pop

Stormy Weather

First recorded by Ethel Waters (US #1 1933).
Also recorded by Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra (1933), Frances Langford (1933).
Other popular versions by Leo Reisman & His Orchestra (US #1 1933), Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (US #2 1933), Lena Horne (1941|US #21 1943), Kay Starr (1945), Billie Holiday (1952), Fats Comet (UK #17 1985).

From the wiki: “‘Stormy Weather’ was a 1933 song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 as part of The Cotton Club Parade of 1933 where, according to her autobiography, she ‘sang ‘Stormy Weather’ from the depths of the private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated.’

“When I got out there in the middle of the Cotton Club floor, I was telling things I couldn’t frame in words. I was singing the story of my misery and confusion, of the misunderstandings in my life I couldn’t straighten out, the story of wrongs and outrages done to me by people I had loved and trusted.”

“Leo Reisman’s orchestra arrangement was one of the biggest hit on records in 1933 (with co-author Arlen himself as vocalist); Waters’ recorded version was also a top-seller. And it was Waters’ recording that would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, with the Library of Congress additionally honoring the song by adding it in 2004 to the National Recording Registry.

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1940s, Swing

The More I See You

First recorded by Dick Haymes (1945).
Also recorded by Nat King Cole (1958), Bobby Darin (1961), Doris Day (1965).
Hit version by Chris Montez (US #16/MOR #2/UK #3 1966).

From the wiki: “‘The More I See You’ was originally recorded by Dick Haymes in 1945, and sung by Haymes in the film Diamond Horseshoe (1945). Other early recordings were made by Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin and Doris Day before the song hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.

“Chris Montez grew up in California, influenced by the success of Ritchie Valens. In 1962, Montez recorded the single ‘Let’s Dance’, a #4 Billboard Hot 100 hit in the US. With the advent of Beatlemania, Montez searched for the same rock and roll formula that would replicate the success of ‘Let’s Dance’. Instead, during a 1965 recording session, A&M Records label co-founder Herb Alpert (who would also go on to arrange and co-produce Montez’s 1966 album, The More I See You) suggested that Montez try a different approach: a middle-of-the-road, soft ballad sound.

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1940s, Jazz

Beyond the Sea

First recorded (as “La Mer”) by Roland Gerbeau (1946).
Also recorded (as “La Mer”) by Charles Trenent (1946).
First recorded (in English) by Harry James & His Orchestra with Marion Morgan (1947).
Hit versions Roger Williams (US #37 1955), Bobby Darin (US #6/R&B #15/UK #8 1959), George Benson (UK #60 1984).

From the wiki: “‘Beyond the Sea’ is the English adaptation of a romantic love song (‘La Mer’, ‘The Sea’) popularized in 1946 by French singer Charles Trenet, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s. In an era in which it was unusual for a singer to write their own material, Trenet wrote prolifically and declined to record any but his own songs.

“According to legend, ‘La Mer’ was composed by Trenent on-board a train in 1943 as he was gazing out of the window at the Étang de Thau, a lagoon in the south of France. He jotted it down on a piece of paper and in the afternoon he worked out the details with his pianist Léo Chauliac. That evening they performed it in front of an audience without much of an impact. Trenet explained in an interview that he was told that ‘La Mer’ was not ‘swing’ enough to be a hit, and for this reason the song then sat in a drawer for two years before being recorded for the first time in 1945 by Roland Gerbeau. Trenet would record a cover of his own song also in 1946.

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1940s, Country

Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)

Co-written and first recorded by Eddie Miller & His Oklahomans (1950).
Also recorded by Jimmy Heap & the Melody Masters (1953).
Hit versions by Ray Price (C&W #6 1954), Kitty Wells (C&W #8 1954), Little Esther Phillips (US #8/R&B #1 1962), Engelbert Humperdinck (US #4/UK #1/IRE #1 1967).

From the wiki: “‘Release Me’ (sometimes rendered as ‘Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)’), is a popular song written by Eddie Miller, Robert Yount, and James Pebworth (under the pseudonym ‘Dub Williams’). Miller worked as a locomotive engineer before becoming a songwriter. Although he never went beyond high school, he taught songwriting at the University of Tennessee.

“Although Miller later claimed to have written the song in 1946 — only being able to record it himself in December 1949 and releasing it in January 1950 — he actually co-wrote it with Robert Yount in 1949. As they were working at that time with Dub Williams, a pseudonym of James Pebworth, they gave him one-third of the song.

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1940s, Country

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

First recorded by Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys (1947).
Also recorded by Hank Williams (1951), Elvis Presley (1976), Eva Cassidy (2008).
Hit versions by Willie Nelson (US #21/C&W #1 1975), UB40 (ARU #1 2013).

From the wiki: “‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’ is a song written by songwriter Fred Rose, and first recorded by Roy Acuff in 1947. The song was also recorded in 1951 by Hank Williams for the Mother’s Best Flour Hour radio program.

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1940s, Jazz, Pop

Mambo No. 5

First recorded by Pérez Prado y su Orquesta (1949).
Hit versions by Lou Bega (US #3/UK #1/CAN #1/AUS #1/FRA #1/GER #1/IRE #1 1999), Bob the Builder (UK #1/AUS #2/IRE #4 2001).
Also recorded by Radio Disney (1999).

From the wiki: “‘Mambo No. 5’ is a mambo and jive dance song originally recorded and composed by Cuban Dámaso Pérez Prado – the ‘King of Mambo’ – in 1949. The song’s popularity was renewed in 199 by German artist Lou Bega’s sampling and vocal version of the original, released on Bega’s debut album A Little Bit of Mambo.

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1940s, Blues

At Last

First performed by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (1941).
First commercial recording by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (US #9 1942).
Other hit versions by Ray Anthony (US #2 1952), Etta James (US #47/R&B #2/UK #39 1961), Celine Dion (MOR #16 2002).
Also recorded by Beyoncé (2008).

From the wiki: “‘At Last’ was first recorded in 1941 by Glenn Miller for possible inclusion in the film Sun Valley Serenade. The song, sung by Pat Friday with actor John Payne, was going to be a major performance on the soundtrack. But, the song was mostly deleted from the release print.

“A subsequent recording, in 1942, was made and used extensively a follow-up movie, Orchestra Wives (1942), with vocals by Pat Friday (dubbing for actress Lynn Bari) and Ray Eberle. In 1942, a vocal version of ‘At Last,’ sung solo by Ray Eberle, was recorded for commercial release by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in Chicago in May 1942 and first released as the B-side to ‘(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo’.

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1940s, Pop

Blueberry Hill

First performed by Gene Autry (1940 |recorded 1941).
First commercial release by The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (1940).
Hit versions by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (US #1 1940), Louis Armstrong (US #29 1949), Fats Domino (US #2/R&B #1/UK #6 1956).

From the wiki: “‘Blueberry Hill’, written by Vincent Rose with lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis, was first performed in 1940 but is best remembered for its 1950s Rock n’ Roll styling by Fats Domino. The song was recorded six times in 1940, after the original version was sung by Gene Autry in the 1940 movie The Singing Hill and was recorded to disc by Autry a year later, in 1941. The song is purportedly named after a ‘make-out’ spot in Taos, New Mexico.

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1940s, Blues

Blues in the Night

First performed by William Gillespie (1941).
First released by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (US #10 1941).
Other hit versions by Woody Herman & His Orchestra (US #1 1941), Dinah Shore (US #4 1942), Cab Calloway (US #8 1942), Rosemary Clooney (US #29 1952).
Also recorded by Judy Garland (1941), Chicago (1995).

From the wiki: “The song was first performed by William Gillespie, in the movie Blues In The Night, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

“Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote the entire score for Blues in the Night. When they finished writing ‘Blues in the Night’, Mercer called a friend, singer Margaret Whiting, and asked if they could come over and play it for her. She suggested they come later because she had dinner guests — Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, and Martha Raye. Instead, Arlen and Mercer went right over. Margaret Whiting remembered what happened then:

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1940s, Swing

How High the Moon

First recorded by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra with Helen Forrest (1940).
Also recorded by The Les Paul Trio (1944).
Hit versions by Stan Kenton & June Christy (US #27 1948), Les Paul & Mary Ford (US #1 1951).

From the wiki: “‘How High the Moon’ is a jazz standard written by Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis. It was first featured in the 1940 Broadway revue Two for the Show. The earliest version to be recorded was by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra and released by Columbia Records in 1940, with the flip side ‘Fable of the Rose’. The Les Paul Trio recorded a version released as a wartime V-Disc, with a spoken introduction, issued in 1944 by the U.S. War Department. The best-known recording of the song is also by Les Paul, with Mary Ford, completed on January 4, 1951. It spent 25 weeks (beginning on March 23, 1951) on the Billboard chart, nine of those weeks at #1.”

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1940s, R&B

Good Rockin’ Tonight

Written and first recorded (as “Good Rocking Tonight”) by Roy Brown (R&B #13 1947).
Other hit versions by Wynonie Harris (R&B #1 1948), The Honeydrippers (US #25 1984).
Also recorded by Elvis Presley (1954).

From the wiki: “”Good Rocking Tonight” was originally a jump blues song first recorded and released in 1947 by its writer, Roy Brown, and has been covered by many other recording artists.

“The song anticipated elements of rock and roll music (it includes the memorable refrain, ‘Well I heard the news, there’s good rocking tonight!’ . Brown had first offered his song to Wynonie Harris, who turned it down. He then approached Cecil Gant later that night who, after hearing Brown sing it to him, made a 2 a.m. phone call to Jules Braun, the president of DeLuxe Records. Brown sang his song over the phone for Braun who then asked Brown to sing it a second time. Braun then told Gant, ‘Give him fifty dollars and don’t let him out of your sight.’

“Five weeks later, Brown recorded the song for DeLuxe Records. Only after Brown’s record had gained traction in New Orleans did Harris change his mind and decide to cover it. Harris’s version was even more energetic than Brown’s original version, featuring black gospel style hand-clapping. This may have contributed to the composition’s greater success on the national R&B chart. Brown’s original recording hit #13 of the Billboard R&B chart while Harris’ record became a #1 R&B hit and remained on the chart for half a year.

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1940s, R&B

The Hucklebuck

First recorded by Paul Williams & His Hucklebuckers (R&B #1 1949).
Also recorded by Lionel Hampton (1949), .
Other hit versions by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (US #5 1949), Frank Sinatra (US #10 1949), Roy Milton (R&B #5 1949), Chubby Checker (US #14 1960), Coast to Coast (UK#3 1983).

From the wiki: “In his book, Honkers and Shouters, Arnold Shaw credits Paul Williams as one of the first to employ the honking tenor sax solo that became the hallmark of R&B and Rock ‘n Roll in the 1950s and early 1960s. Williams formed his own band in 1947 after first performing with Clarence Dorsey and King Porter. He became best known for his 1949 hit, ‘The Hucklebuck’, a twelve-bar blues that also spawned a dance craze. The single went to #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart … and stayed there for 14 weeks.

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