Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Rosemary Clooney

Hey, Look Me Over

First performed by Lucille Ball & Paula Stewart (1960).
Popular versions by Peggy Lee (1963), Rosemary Clooney (1963), Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney (1963), Judy Garland (1963), Louis Armstrong (1964).

From the wiki: “‘Hey, Look Me Over’ was from the 1960 Broadway musical Wildcat, and was first performed by comedy actress Lucille Ball in what was the only Broadway appearance of her career.

“Co-producer and writer N. Richard Nash had envisioned the main character of Wildy as a woman in her late twenties, and was forced to rewrite the role when Lucille Ball expressed interest not only in playing it but financing the project as well. Desilu, the company co-owned with Ball by her (soon-to-be ex-) husband Desi Arnaz, ultimately invested $360,000 in the show in exchange for 36% of the net profits, the rights to the original cast recording (ultimately released by RCA Victor), and television rights for musical numbers to be included in a special entitled Lucy Goes to Broadway, a project that eventually was scrapped. Ball also was permitted to choose her leading man. Kirk Douglas’s salary demands and heavy film schedule eliminated him from the running. Gordon MacRae, Jock Mahoney, and Gene Barry were also considered before Ball selected Keith Andes.

One Less Bell to Answer

First recorded by Keely Smith (1967).
Hit versions by Rosemary Clooney (MOR #28 1968), The 5th Dimension (US #2/MOR #1/R&B #4 1970).

From the wiki: “‘One Less Bell to Answer’ is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David (“The Look of Love“, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again“, “Alfie“), originally written for and recorded in 1967 by Keely Smith (‘I’m a Gigolo‘, with Louis Prima).

“The song was rediscovered in late 1969 by Bones Howe, the producer for the 5th Dimension, and the song was included on the group’s 1970 debut album for Bell Records, Portrait. Rosemary Clooney had, a year earlier, in 1968, first charted the song on the Billboard Easy Listening chart – one of her two last recordings before leaving show business.”

This Ole House

Written and first recorded by Stuart Hamblen (1954).
Hit versions by Rosemary Clooney (US #1/UK #1 1954), Billie Anthony (UK #4 1954). Shakin’ Stevens (UK #1 1981).

From the wiki: “Stuart Hamblen was supposedly out on a hunting expedition when he and fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across a tumbledown hut in the mountains, many miles from civilization. They went into the hut and there, lying amongst the rubbish and rubble of a crumbling building, was the body of a dead man. The man’s dog was still alive and, although starving, guarding his dead master’s home.

Blues in the Night

First performed by William Gillespie (1941).
First released by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (US #10 1941).
Other hit versions by Woody Herman & His Orchestra (US #1 1941), Dinah Shore (US #4 1942), Cab Calloway (US #8 1942), Rosemary Clooney (US #29 1952).
Also recorded by Judy Garland (1941), Chicago (1995).

From the wiki: “The song was first performed by William Gillespie, in the movie Blues In The Night, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

“Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote the entire score for Blues in the Night. When they finished writing ‘Blues in the Night’, Mercer called a friend, singer Margaret Whiting, and asked if they could come over and play it for her. She suggested they come later because she had dinner guests — Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, and Martha Raye. Instead, Arlen and Mercer went right over. Margaret Whiting remembered what happened then: