Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris

Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris
Studio album by Bing Crosby
Released 1953
Recorded May 16, 1953 in Paris
Genre Vocal
Label Decca
Bing Crosby chronology

Auld Lang Syne
(1948)		 Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris
(1953)		 Some Fine Old Chestnuts
(1954)
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Le Bing is a 1953 (see 1953 in music) album by Bing Crosby. It was Crosby's first long-playing album, and was released by his longtime label Decca Records. Le Bing is a concept album where all the songs are sung in French.

Crosby recorded the album in Paris on May 16, 1953, during an extended visit to Europe that spring. He had filmed parts of the movie Little Boy Lost in France the previous year.[1] The orchestrations were by Paul Durand, a French arranger who also worked with Édith Piaf, among others.

Le Bing was released later in 1953 as a 10" LP and in December Billboard magazine called it "very nice," saying: "This set could move very well."[2]

Two songs - "Embrasse-Moi Bien" and "Mademoiselle de Paris" - were recorded separately in English at the May 16 session but weren't released on Le Bing. All 10 tracks were released by Sepia Records on the 2010 CD Through the Years: Volume Five (1953).

In 1958, after Crosby had left Decca, the label issued a compilation album titled Bing in Paris, subtitled "Bing Crosby Sings the French Hits." Unlike Le Bing, some songs on Bing in Paris are sung in English.

Track listing

  1. "Mademoiselle de Paris" (Paul Durand, Henri Contet)
  2. "Au bord de l'eau" (Paul Durand, Henri Contet)
  3. "Mon cœur est un violon" (Maria Laparcerie)
  4. "La Vie en rose" (Louiguy, Édith Piaf)
  5. "La Seine" (Guy Lafarge, Flavien Monod)
  6. "Embrasse-moi bien" (André Grassi)
  7. "La Mer" (Charles Trenet)
  8. "Tu ne peux pas te figurer" (Paul Misraki)

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Macfarlane, Malcolm. "Bing Crosby Diary 1950-59". Bing Crosby Internet Museum. Retrieved Feb 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Fare for Patrons With Continental Appetites". Billboard. Dec 5, 1953.