Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Jerry Orbach

1960s, Broadway/Movies/Television

Try to Remember

First performed by Jerry Orbach (1960).
Hit versions by Ed Ames (US #73/MOR #17 1965), The Brothers Four (US #91/MOR #10 1965), Roger Williams (US #97 1965), New World Trio (AUS #11 1968), Gladys Knight & the Pips (US #11/MOR #2/R&B #6/UK #4 1975).

From the wiki: “‘Try to Remember’ was written for the musical comedy The Fantasticks, sung as the introductory song in the show to get the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests.

“Its lyrics, by author and lyricist Tom Jones (not the singer), famously rhyme ‘remember’ with ‘September’, ‘so tender’, ’ember’, and ‘December’, and repeat the sequence -llow throughout the song: verse 1 contains ‘mellow’, ‘yellow’, and ‘callow fellow’; verse 2 contains ‘willow’, ‘pillow’, ‘billow'”; verse 3 contains ‘follow’, ‘hollow’, ‘mellow’; and all verses end with ‘follow’. Harvey Schmidt composed the music.

“In 1965, five years after its Broadway debut, ‘Try To Remember’ made it into the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart three times with versions by Ed Ames, Roger Williams, and the Brothers Four. ‘Try to Remember’ has since been covered by many artists over the years and has become a popular standard in the American songbook.

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1960s, Broadway/Movies/Television

I’ll Never Fall in Love Again

First performed by Jill O’Hara & Jerry Orbach (1968).
First charted by Johnny Mathis (MOR #35 1969).
Other hit versions by Burt Bacharach (US #98/MOR #18 1969), Bobbie Gentry (UK #1/IRE #1/NOR #5 1969), Dionne Warwick (US #6/R&B #17/MOR #1 1969), Deacon Blue (IRE #2 1990).

From the wiki: “Originally written for the 1968 musical Promises, Promises, it soon became one of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s most enduring songs. It was introduced in the musical by Jerry Orbach and Jill O’Hara, and was nominated for Song of the Year in the 1969 Grammy awards. (The soundtrack album did win the 1969 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.)

“The first recording of ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’ to reach any of the charts in Billboard was by Johnny Mathis, whose cover debuted on the magazine’s Easy Listening chart in the issue dated May 17, 1969, and reached #35 over the course of three weeks there. Bacharach’s own version, which was sung by a female chorus, overtook the Mathis release after a May 31 debut on that same chart and got as high as number 18 during its nine-week stay. It also peaked at #93 on the Hot 100 during the two weeks it spent there in July.

“Bobbie Gentry entered the UK singles chart with the song the following month, on August 30, and enjoyed one of her 19 weeks there at #1. She also peaked at #1 in Ireland. The most successful version of the song to be released as a single, however, was by Bacharach-David protégée Dionne Warwick, whose recording made its first appearance on the Hot 100 in the issue dated December 27, 1969, to start an 11-week run that took it to #6 (Warwick’s her last Top-10 solo hit until 1979).”

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