popular
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group.
Popular may also refer to:
In sociology
* Popular culture
* Popular fiction
* Popular music
* Popular science
* Populace, the total ...
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
, introduced by
Art Jarrett
Arthur L. Jarrett Jr. (July 20, 1907 – July 23, 1987) born to stage actor and playwright Arthur L. Jarrett Sr. (1884–1960). Art Jr. was an American singer, actor, and bandleader in the 1930s and 1940s.
Early career
Near the end of the 19 ...
in the 1933 film '' Sitting Pretty.''
The music was written by
Harry Revel
Harry Revel ( Glaser; 21 December 1905 – 3 November 1958) was a British-born American composer, mostly of musical theatre, working with various lyricists, notably Mack Gordon. He is also seen as a pioneer of " space age pop".
Early life and c ...
, the lyrics by
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler; June 21, 1904 – February 28, 1959) was an American composer and lyricist for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times in 11 years, including five consecutive years betwee ...
. The song was originally published in 1933 and there were charted versions in the USA that year by
Eddy Duchin
Edwin Frank Duchin (April 1, 1909 – February 9, 1951), commonly known as Eddy Duchin or alternatively Eddie Duchin, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early career
Duchin was born on April 1, 1909 in Cambri ...
(No. 1 in the charts),
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer.
Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and oth ...
(#2), Bing Crosby (#5), and Meyer Davis (#6). Since then, there have been many covers of the song, including Henry Hall's 1933 cover,
Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African– British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs.
His most popular songs includ ...
with
Ray Noble
Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United ...
and his Orchestra (1933),
Matt Monro
Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons, 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the m ...
(1957),
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...
(1957),
Michael Holliday
Norman Alexander Milne, known professionally as Michael Holliday (26 November 1924 – 29 October 1963) was a British singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He had a number of chart hits in the UK, including two number one si ...
(1959),
Max Bygraves
Walter William Bygraves (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves (adopted in honour of Max Miller), was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, s ...
(1960), and a version by
Frankie Avalon
Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...
for the 1960 album ''Summer Scene.'' Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album ''
On the Sentimental Side
''On the Sentimental Side'' was intended to be a long-playing vinyl album and it was recorded in June 1962 by Bing Crosby for his own company, Project Records at United Recording, Hollywood. The album is in a “sing-along” style and Crosby o ...
'' (1962).
In popular culture
* An instrumental version is used in the 1934
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.A Dream Walking.
* The Bing Crosby version of the song was used as a plot point in the
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
The Locusts
The Locusts, also known as the Peter Eltinge House, is a 19th-century brick Federal style house built in 1826 located on Plains Road in the Town of New Paltz, New York, United States, two miles (3 km) south of the village of New Paltz. It ...
'' (1997)
* The
Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for ...
version of the song was featured in the 1999 film '' The Green Mile.''
* A version of the song performed by Sunny Gale was featured in the 2009 film '' Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire''.
* In the fan film ''The Confession of Fred Krueger'', the character of Freddy sings it to himself, while starting a fire.
* In the Laverne & Shirley episode: "Why Did the Fireman..." (Season 5, Episode 18 – original air date: February 4, 1980), Laverne sings the first line of this song when thinking about her fireman boyfriend, who dies in a fire just before proposing marriage to her.