''Connie Francis and The Kids Next Door'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

recorded by U. S.

Entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers

* Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Barker (occupation), Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Cheerleader * Circus arts, Circus perform ...

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more th ...

Background

Whilst the material of her album '' Connie Francis sings Fun Songs for Children'' (1959) clearly had aimed at toddlers and smaller children of pre-school age, ''Connie Francis and The Kids Next Door'' contained material suitable for older children and youths in their early teens by combining classic songs such as ''

Do-Re-Mi "Do-Re-Mi" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music''. Each syllable of the musical solfège system appears in the song's lyrics, sung on the pitch it names. Rodgers was helped in its creation by long-time ...

'' from the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' with modern

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

s like a rendition of Brian Hyland's 1960 hit ''

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach. It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland ...

''. The orchestral backing track and the vocal contributions of an unidentified children choir were recorded on May 17 and 18, 1966. Francis

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

her vocals to all songs on June 1, 1966. The album was originally scheduled for release on Francis' label

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 ...

with the catalogue numbers E-4412 (mono pressings) and SE-4412 (stereo pressings) but was eventually reassigned to MGM's subsidiary label Leon the Lion and released in stereo only under the catalogue number LES-903 in 1968.Connie Francis: ''Souvenirs'', Booklet of 4-CD-Box, Polydor 1996, Cat.-No. 314 533 382-2 Of the thirteen recorded songs, ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' remains unreleased to this day. Along with her 1960 UK-Single '' Robot Man'' and her 1968 rendition of the

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

classic ''Promises, Promises'', Francis herself calls ''Batman'' "the dumbest song I've ever recorded".

Track listing

Side A

Side B

Not included songs from the sessions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connie Francis and The Kids Next Door Connie Francis albums 1968 albums MGM Records albums