It's All in the Game
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| "It's All in the Game" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Tommy Edwards | ||
| B-side(s) | "Please Love Me Forever" | |
| Released | 1958 | |
| Length | 2:36 | |
| Label | MGM | |
| Writer(s) | Carl Sigman, Charles Dawes | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Tommy Edwards singles chronology | ||
| ??? | It's All in the Game (1958) |
Love Is All We Need (1958) |
"It's All in the Game" is a song that was a 1958 hit for Tommy Edwards. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to fit a wordless 1911 composition entitled "Melody in A Major," written by Charles Dawes, who would later become the Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is thus the only #1 pop single in history to have been cowritten by a U.S. Vice President.
The song has become a pop standard, with cover versions recorded by dozens of major artists, some of which have been minor hit singles themselves.
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[edit] Melody in A Major
Dawes, a Chicago bank president and amateur pianist and flautist, composed the tune in 1911[1] in a single sitting at his lakeshore home in Evanston. He modestly played it for a friend, the professional violinist Francis MacMillan, who was so impressed that he secretly took Dawes's sheet music to a publisher. Dawes, who was already well known for his federal appointments and a Senate candidacy, was surprised to find a portrait of himself in a State Street shop window with copies of the tune for sale. Dawes quipped at the time, "I know that I will be the target of my punster friends. They will say that if all the notes in my bank are as bad as my musical ones, they are not worth the paper they were written on." The tune, often dubbed "Dawes's Melody", followed him into politics, and he grew to detest hearing it played wherever he appeared.[2] It was a favorite of violinist Fritz Kreisler, who used it as his closing number for many years, and in the 1940s it was picked up again by swing musicians such as Tommy Dorsey.[3]
[edit] It's All in the Game
In the summer of 1951, the noted songwriter Carl Sigman had an idea for a song, and Dawes's "Melody" struck him as an appropriate base for his sentimental lyrics. (Dawes himself had died in April of that year.) It was recorded that year by Dinah Shore, Sammy Kaye, Carmen Cavallaro and Edwards.[3] The Edwards version did the best, charting at #18.[4] The wide range of the classical melody would have been "difficult to sing", so required rearrangement.[5] A noted jazz arrangement was recorded by Louis Armstrong (vocals) and arranger Gordon Jenkins, with "some of Armstrong's most honey-tinged singing". Jenkins would in 1956 produce a version with Nat King Cole along the same lines.[6]
In 1958, Edwards was having difficulties, and had only one session left on his MGM contract. Stereo recording was just becoming commercially viable, and it was decided to cut a new, stereo version of "Game" with a rock and roll arrangement. The single was a hit, reaching #1 for six straight weeks beginning September 29, 1958. In November, the song hit #1 in Britain to boot. Its success encouraged several other artists to create rock-tinged cover versions of pop hits. The single helped Edwards revive his career for another two years of hits.[4]
[edit] Recordings
"It's All in the Game" has been recorded by many different artists to varying degrees of success. Notable versions include those by these artists:
- Tommy Edwards topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in 1958
- Andy Williams recorded it for his 1959 album Lonely Street
- Robert Goulet released his version on his 1961 album Always You
- Cliff Richard had a number two hit in the United Kingdom in 1963 and a number twenty-five hit on the Hot 100 in 1964
- Also in 1964, The Lettermen included a version on their album She Cried.
- Jackie DeShannon recorded a version for her 1968 album What the World Needs Now Is Love
- The Four Tops had a number five hit in the United Kingdom and a number twenty-four Hot 100 hit with their version in 1970
- Van Morrison included his version in the Side 2 song cycle from the 1979 album Into the Music
- Barry Manilow did a version for his 2006 album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties
| Preceded by: "Little Star" by The Elegants |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single September 29, 1958 |
Succeeded by: "It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty |
[edit] References
- ^ Publication date is 1912.
- ^ Bill Kauffman. "The Melodious Veep", The American Enterprise, June 2004. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
- ^ a b "Veep's Waltz", TIME Magazine, December 17, 1951. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ a b Fred Bronson (2003 (3rd ed.)). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books.
- ^ Carl Sigman's Legacy... (interview with his son). Pianoforte Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Will Friedwald. "The Old Songster", The Village Voice, June 6, 2001. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
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