"Confess" is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

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 ...

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 f ...

. The song figures in the early careers of two important female singers: # In

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

was making a transition from a

Big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

singer, most recently with Les Brown, to a solo vocalist. Her first major record away from the band was a duet with Buddy Clark, with this song on one side and " Love Somebody" on the other.Columbia Records in the 38000 to 38499 series
/ref> The record became a two-sided hit, the first two of a string of hits for Day that made her one of the top female singers in popular music. # About the same time,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

was planning to record the song as a vehicle for

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

. They were persuaded instead to give the song to a young female singer, who had not, at the time, a single hit:

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

. Page's manager, Jack Rael, succeeded in getting Mercury to let her record the song, but because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so guitarist George Barnes (musician), whose trio accompanied Page on the record, and who had been experimenting with multi-track recording with engineer Bill Putnam, suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record probably contributed to the song becoming a

top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

hit for her. This became not only the first of many hits for Patti Page, but the first song on which a singer did more than one track. For Patti Page, multi-tracking became a trademark of her style, while others, such as

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

and

Mary Ford Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers; July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) was an American guitarist and vocalist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hi ...

, as well as Jane Turzy, took up this practice too. The Day/Clark recording was recorded on November 21, 1947, and issued by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

as catalog number 38174, and first reached the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

chart on June 26, 1948, lasting 11 weeks and peaking at #16 on the chart. The Page recording was recorded on December 3, 1947, and released by

as catalog number 5129, with the flip side “Twelve O'Clock Flight” (also later as catalog number 5511), and first reached the

chart on July 2, 1948, lasting 10 weeks and peaking at #12.

Other recordings

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

and the King Cole Trio, recorded on November 6, 1947, and released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

as catalog number ETB-391 *

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peopl ...

and his orchestra (released by

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

as catalog number 10194, with the flip side “If I Were You”) * The Four Tunes (released by Manor Records as catalog number 1131, with the flip side “Don't Know”) * Tony Martin (recorded on November 20, 1947, released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-2812, with the flip side “Bride and Groom Polka”) *

The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed The Four Mills Brothers and originally known as Four Boys and a Guitar, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and g ...

(recorded on December 23, 1947, released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

as catalog number 24409, with the flip side “Someone Cares”) *Jimmy Valentine orchestra (vocal: Barbara Brown) (released by Varsity Records as catalog number 106, with the flip side “ Twelfth Street Rag”Varsity Records listing
/ref>)

References

{{authority control 1948 songs Songs written by Bennie Benjamin Songs written by George David Weiss Doris Day songs Patti Page songs Male–female vocal duets