Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think)

"Enjoy Yourself" is a popular song published in 1949, with music written by Carl Sigman and lyrics by Herb Magidson.^[1]

Well known recorded versions

The most popular version of the song, recorded by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, was made on November 27 (some sources give November 28), 1949. The recording was released by Decca Records as catalog number 24825. The record first reached the Billboard record chart on January 13, 1950, and lasted 19 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 10.^[2]

Another recording, by Doris Day, was made on January 13, 1950, and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 38709.

Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra made a recording on February 2, 1949, which was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-3375.

In 1963, Prince Buster recorded a ska version which was released by Blue Beat Records as a B-side.

Other notable recorded versions

• Bing Crosby^[3]
• Barry Martyn
• Donald Peers (with The Cherokeys)
• Prince Buster
• Louis Prima & Keely Smith
• Todd Snider on East Nashville Skyline in 2004
• Maxine Sullivan^[1]
• Wingless Angels
• Eric Allandale
• The Busters
• The Specials^[4]
• Manu Chao
• Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra^[5]
• Jolie Holland^[6]
• Australian jazz/folk group Flap! on their second album A Great Day for the Race (2012)^[7]

In popular culture

• The 2003 recording by Jools Holland and Prince Buster^[8] is used by Simon Mayo as the opening theme to his Drivetime show on BBC Radio 2. The show also occasionally uses the Guy Lombardo recording as an opening theme to the second hour.
• A group of ghosts dance to this song in a scene in the Woody Allen film Everyone Says I Love You.
• The recording by Rising Sun Steel Band featured in the film Surf's Up.
• The cover version by The Specials is used as the theme tune to both the radio and television versions of the BBC program, I've Never Seen Star Wars.
• A Cantonese version of the refrain was used as the opening theme to Enjoy Yourself Tonight (歡樂今宵), a popular, long-running variety show in Hong Kong.
• Anne Dudek briefly performs the song in Season 5, Episode 23 of the television series House, "Under My Skin"; the Louis Prima version is featured at the end of the series finale episode, "Everybody Dies".
• A rendition of the song was used to close the first two series' of The Brian Conley Show, whilst an instrumental version was used for the third.
• The song is repeatedly referenced by the end of the first episode of the British series Party Animals.
• A ukulele version of this song accompanies a scene in the BBC biopic of Neil Baldwin "Marvellous"
• On October 31, 2015, the Trey Anastasio Band performed the song at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas.^[9]

References