''Never Be Afraid'' is an LP album by Bing Crosby made for children by
Golden Records
Golden Records was a Simon & Schuster record label based in New York City. It was conceived and founded in 1948 by the Grammy Award-winning children's music producer, Arthur Shimkin, then a new recruit in the S&S business department. Shimkin ...
in 1957. It is a musical adaptation of ''
The Emperor's New Clothes
"The Emperor's New Clothes" ( da, Kejserens nye klæder ) is a literary Folklore, folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 l ...
Lew Spence Lew Spence (June 29, 1920, Cedarhurst, New York – January 9, 2008, Los Angeles) was an American songwriter.
Spence received little formal musical training, and led a dance band in his hometown as a teenager.Alan Bergman and Marilyn Keith.
The album has never been issued on commercial CD. The song "Never Be Afraid" was issued as a single by Kapp Records (KAPP195) in October 1957.
Background
In April 1957, Golden Records recorded a number of new children's records. Bing Crosby was enlisted to read and sing four of the stories and in addition to ''Never Be Afraid'' there were ''
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who hear ...
'', ''
A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
The album was positively reviewed by '' Billboard'' magazine upon its release, who described it as "A warm, musical version of the famous Hans Christian Andersen story narrated and sung delightfully by Bing Crosby. The music adds much to the story, and it ends up pointing a moral for the kids. Second side contains a medley of the musical score."
Track listing
Side one
# "The Best Dressed Man in the World (opening chorus)"
# "The Best Dressed Man in the World"
# "Never Be Afraid"
Side two
# "Medley of musical score"