I'll Never Smile Again
| "I'll Never Smile Again" | |
|---|---|
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers | |
| Published | November 27, 1939 by Sun Music Co., Inc., New York[1] |
| Released | June 7, 1940 |
| Recorded | April 23, 1940 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 3:12 |
| Label | Victor 26628 |
| Songwriter(s) | Ruth Lowe |
| "I'll Never Smile Again" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
R&B | ||||
| Length | 2:53 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ruth Lowe | |||
| The Platters singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"I'll Never Smile Again" is a
standard
.
The most successful and best-known million selling single version of the song was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, with vocals provided by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers.[3] This recording was released as a Victor 78, 26628A, in 1940. This version was number one on Billboard's first "National List of Best Selling Retail Records"—the first official national music chart—on July 27, 1940, staying at the top spot for 12 weeks until October 12, 1940.[4] The tune was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.[5]
Versions
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2020) |
- The Ink Spots recorded the song in August 1940,[6] which was just a few months after the first release of the song.
- The song appears on the 1954 Dave Brubeck Quartet live album Jazz at the College of the Pacific.
- Sarah Vaughan recorded the song on the 1955 In the Land of Hi-Fi.
- Billie Holiday recorded the song in 1959, the last year of her life, on the posthumous album Last Recording.
- Hot 100 and #17 on the Hot R&B Sides chart.[7]
- Al Hirt released a version in 1962 on his Trumpet and Strings[8]
- Bill Evans on the 1963 Interplay[9]
- Frank Sinatra included it on his 1959 No One Cares album. He also re-recorded the song in 1965 for the double album A Man and His Music, complete with faithful reproduction of the celeste and choral accompaniment which characterized the 1940 recording.
- Italian-American crossover artist, RCA Victor album, From Sergio - With Love.[10]
- The song was also covered by popular Australian rock group double-albumin 1973.
See also
- List of number-one singles of 1940 (U.S.)
References
- ^ a b Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1940). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1940 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 35 Pt 3 For the Year 1940. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
- ^ According to Peter Levinson in the Tommy Dorsey biography, Livin In A Great Big Way, "I'll Never Smile Again" was recorded May 23, 1940.
- ^ "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #2". 1972.
- ISBN 978-0-415-97715-9. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
- Grammy.org. The Recording Academy. Archived from the originalon 26 June 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
- ^ "Cover versions of I'll Never Smile Again by Ink Spots | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 463.
- ^ Al Hirt, Trumpet and Strings Retrieved April 8, 2013.
- ^ Bill Evans, Interplay. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ http://www.discogs.com Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine Sergio Franchi
Sources
- Peter J. Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: a Biography (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005). ISBN 978-0-306-81111-1
- Robert L. Stockdale, Tommy Dorsey: On The Side (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995). ISBN 978-0-8108-2951-0
