"Ramona" is a 1928 song with lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert and music by

Mabel Wayne Mabel Wayne (born Mabel Wimpfheimer, July 16, 1890 – June 19, 1978) was an American musician, composer, and screenwriter. She is noted for being one of the first female composers to write successful hit songs. Her music career spanned from the ...

. Composed for the 1928 feature film ''

Ramona ''Ramona'' is an 1884 American novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson. Set in Southern California after the Mexican–American War and annexation of the territory by the United States, ''Ramona'' explores the life of a mixed-race Scottish– Native ...

'', it was the first theme song written for the movies. The original lyrics and music of the song entered the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

in the United States in 2024.

History

It was created as the title song for publicity to the 1928 silent adventure film-romance ''

'' (based on the 1884 novel ''

'' by

Helen Hunt Jackson Helen Hunt Jackson (pen name, H.H.; born Helen Maria Fiske; October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885) was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She de ...

). The song was used again in the 1936 remake of the movie. ''Ramona'' was recorded in 1928 by

Dolores del Río María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...

for the film.

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 ...

's 1928 version charted for 17 weeks, with eight weeks at No. 1, and easily topped a million in sales.

Recordings

*On record it was a popular hit, usually performed as a romantic ballad, sometimes with a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

inflection by "Whispering" Jack Smith and, in an idiosyncratic arrangement recorded on 4 January 1928, the

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

Orchestra. The Paul Whiteman version, Victor 21214-A, featuring

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

on cornet, was No. 1 for 3 weeks on 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 ...

'' charts in 1928.

's recording was No. 1 for 8 weeks the same year.

Ruth Etting Ruth Etting (November 23, 1896 – September 24, 1978) was an American singer and actress during the 1920s and 1930s, who had over 60 hit recordings and worked in stage, radio, and film. Known as "America's sweetheart of song", her signature tu ...

also recorded a version, which reached No. 10. *

Les Brown and His Band of Renown Lester Raymond Brown (March 14, 1912 – January 4, 2001) was an American jazz musician who for over six decades (1938-2000) led his big band, later called Les Brown and His Band of Renown. Biography Brown was born in Reinerton-Orwin-Muir, Pen ...

recorded "Ramona" in 1953. *In 1958,

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

recorded "Ramona" for his album ''Girls I Have Known''. *It was a German, and Dutch number one hit in 1960 for the

Blue Diamonds Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace impurities of boron within the crystalline lattice s ...

, arranged in an upbeat style similar to

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

recordings of that period. *In 1964 it was a UK hit for

The Bachelors The Bachelors were a popular music group from Dublin, Ireland, but based primarily in the United Kingdom. They had several international hits during the 1960s, including eight top-ten singles in the UK between 1963 and 1966. The Bachelors spli ...

who reached the No. 4 spot in the charts during a 13-week stay. *Singer Billy Walker revived the song for the country market in 1968, reaching the top 10 of the US country charts, peaking at No. 8. *

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Coal M ...

released an instrumental version in 1965 on his Instrumentally Yours album. *This song was covered by the late

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an singer/

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

Su Yin (舒雲) in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

language with Chinese lyrics written by Li Tian (黎天) and given the title name of蕾夢娜, appearing on his LP album
黃昏放牛＊一片青青的草地
', and released by

EMI Columbia Records Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a managem ...

in 1967.

Popular culture

*It has been used on the soundtracks of several other films, most recently by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a retiredhttps://variety.com/2024/film/global/ken-loach-retirement-the-old-oak-jonathan-glazer-oscars-speech-1235956589/ English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist views ar ...

in '' Land and Freedom'' (1995) and in the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

-nominated '' Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien'' (2000).

References

1928 songs Number-one singles in Germany Songs with music by Mabel Wayne Songs written by L. Wolfe Gilbert Billy Walker (musician) songs The Bachelors songs {{1920s-song-stub