"Catch a Falling Star" is a song written by

Paul Vance Joseph Paul Florio (November 4, 1929 – May 30, 2022), known professionally as Paul Vance, was an American songwriter and record producer, primarily from the 1950s until the 1970s. His most successful song compositions, all written with Lee Po ...

and

Lee Pockriss Lee Julian Pockriss (January 20, 1924 – November 14, 2011) was an American songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life and career Born in ...

. It is best known and was made famous by

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signin ...

's hit version, recorded and released in late 1957.

Background and chart performance

The song's melody is based on a theme from

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

' ''

Academic Festival Overture ''Academic Festival Overture'' (german: Akademische Festouvertüre), Op. 80, by Johannes Brahms, was one of a pair of contrasting concert overtures — the other being the ''Tragic Overture'', Op. 81. Brahms composed the work during the su ...

''.

's version features the

Ray Charles Singers Ray Charles (born Charles Raymond Offenberg; September 13, 1918April 6, 2015) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and conductor who was best known as organizer and leader of the Ray Charles Singers who were featured o ...

, who sing the refrain as a repeated round. It was Como's last number one hit in the US, reaching number 1 on the ''Billboard'' "Most Played by Jockeys" chart but not in the overall top 100, where it reached number 3. It was the first single to receive a

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

certification, on March 14, 1958. Overseas, in 1958, the song also topped the Australian charts. In the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, "Catch a Falling Star" peaked at number nine, whereas its B-side "

Magic Moments "Magic Moments" is a popular song with music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David, one of the first compositions by that duo. The song was published in 1957. The song was recorded by Perry Como as the B-side of his "Catch a Falling Star". I ...

" topped the charts.

Accolades

The single won Como the 1959

Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

In popular culture

The song has been featured in several films, including: *''

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'' *''

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'' *'' Everybody's Fine'' *'' Welcome to Me'' *''

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'' *It was often featured in the TV series ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', and was most often associated with

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and her baby, Aaron. *It is also featured in an episode of the FX black comedy ''

Mr Inbetween ''Mr Inbetween'' is an Australian black comedy- crime drama television series which premiered on FX on 25 September 2018 in the United States, followed by Fox Showcase in Australia on 1 October 2018. The series is a serialisation of the 2005 f ...

''. *A musical phrase from the song appears in

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

's score for ''

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is a 2008 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and the fourth installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' series. Released and taking place 19 years after the previous ...

'' during the motorcycle chase through the college."A Whirl Through Academe" track title,

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...

, Concord Records, 2008 *It was also in the musical ''

Forever Plaid ''Forever Plaid'' is an Off-Broadway musical revue written by Stuart Ross, and first performed in New York in 1989 and now performed internationally. Overview The show is a revue of the close-harmony "guy groups" (''e.g.'' The Four Aces, The F ...

References

Perry Como songs 1957 songs 1957 singles 1958 singles Number-one singles in the United States Songs written by Lee Pockriss Songs written by Paul Vance Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance 1950s ballads RCA Victor singles {{1950s-single-stub