"How Important Can It Be?" is a

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 ...

written by

Bennie Benjamin Claude August "Bennie" Benjamin (November 4, 1907 – May 2, 1989) was a Virgin Islands-born American songwriter. He had particularly successful songwriting partnerships with Sol Marcus, with whom he wrote "I Don't Want To Set The World On F ...

and

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

, and published in 1955.

Background

The lyrics of the song find the narrator asking her lover why her indiscretions with other boyfriends before him matter at all, now that she loves him so and vows to be true to him.

Joni James recording

It was popularized in 1955 by

Joni James Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop music. Biography Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illino ...

. The song was first presented to James by the music publisher Tommy Valando, according to her international fan club president Wayne Brasler of the

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab or Lab Schools and abbreviated as UCLS though the high school is nicknamed U-High) is a private, co-educational day Pre-K and K-12 school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with ...

. James recorded it at her first session in New York City, after moving from her hometown of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, with arranger David Terry. However, after listening to the playback she and her career director and future husband

Tony Acquaviva Anthony "Tony" Acquaviva (May 10, 1925 – September 27, 1986

felt, in her words, "something was missing." She came up with the idea of a shuffle beat and male chorus in the style of

The Four Aces The Four Aces are an American male traditional pop quartet popular since the 1950s. Over the last half-century, the group amassed many gold records. Its million-selling songs include " Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", " Three Coins in the Fo ...

, and she re-made the song at her next session. When released as a single in 1955, it reached No. 2 in the Billboard charts during a 16-week stay and became a

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 ...

re-recorded the song in 2009 on her

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''Essential Masters''.

Other recordings

*There was also a successful recording of this song by Sarah Vaughan in 1955 which reached the No. 12 position in the Billboard charts. The Vaughan version was just about to come out when James recorded her second version, which MGM Records rush-released. *

Teresa Brewer Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...

's recording the same year was popular too. * Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1955 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set ''The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)'' issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009. *

Dick James Dick James (born Leon Isaac Vapnick; 12 December 1920 – 1 February 1986) was a British music publisher and singer. He and Brian Epstein established the Beatles' publisher Northern Songs. Later, with his son Stephen, James founded the DJM re ...

- a single release in 1955. *

Lou Monte Lou Monte (born Louis Scaglione; April 2, 1917 – June 12, 1989) was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Victor and Reprise Records in the late 1950 ...

also recorded the song in 1956. *

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

- included in her album '' Love Me Forever'' (1963).

Popular culture

*The 1950s version by Joni James was used in the Academy Award-winning motion picture, '' LA Confidential''.

References

{{authority control 1955 singles Songs written by Bennie Benjamin Songs written by George David Weiss 1955 songs Sarah Vaughan songs