Harman Patil (Editor)

I Remember You (1941 song)

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Published
  
1941

Lyricist(s)
  
Johnny Mercer

Composer(s)
  
Victor Schertzinger

"I Remember You" is a popular song, published in 1941. The music was written by Victor Schertzinger, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Contents

History

The song was one of several introduced in the film The Fleet's In (1942). It was sung in the film by Dorothy Lamour (with harmony by Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell and featuring the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra) and is one of the songs most associated with the singer/actress. Schertzinger, who co-wrote all the film's songs with Mercer, was also the director of the movie.

According to the TCM documentary Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me, Mercer wrote the song for Judy Garland, to express his strong infatuation with her. He gave it to her the day after she married David Rose.

Recordings

English singer Frank Ifield recorded the song in a yodeling country-music style on 27 May 1962, and his version went to number one on the UK Singles Chart selling 1.1 million copies in the UK alone. The recording stayed at No.1 for seven weeks. It also reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the U.S. Easy Listening chart. American country singer Slim Whitman, known for his yodeling, later recorded the song in a similar fashion. The song is now something of a country standard as well as a jazz standard.

Glen Campbell covered the song on his 1987 album Still Within the Sound of My Voice. His version peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1988.

The tune was featured as background music in the film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It was also used, with slightly modified lyrics, in a Republican Party (U.S.) TV campaign commercial in 1988. In 1998s, More Tales of the City, Colin Ferguson sings part of the lyrics in a scene with Laura Linney. The song was recorded on the album, UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis (2001). Slim Whitman's recording of the song was used in a scene of Rob Zombie's 2003 horror film House of 1000 Corpses. It was also sung with great effect by Lainie Kazan as Fran's Aunt Frieda on an episode of the 1990s television series The Nanny.

In 2010, Australian entertainer Nicki Gillis worked with Frank Ifield and Ifield's long-time music director, Bob Howe, to record a duet version of the song that included the original first verse that was not recorded in the 1962 version. The accompanying video clip included old footage of Ifield and new footage of Gillis and Ifield working with Howe.

Other renditions

  • Harry James - (1942 - Columbia 36518)
  • Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings and Plays With Bud Shank, Russ Freeman and Strings (1955)
  • Four Freshmen - Four Freshmen And Five Trombones (1955)
  • Doris Day - Day By Day (1956)
  • June Christy - The Song Is June! (1958)
  • Sue Raney - When Your Lover Has Gone (1958)
  • Dinah Washington - What a Diff'rence a Day Makes! (1959)
  • Lee Konitz - Motion (1961)
  • Frank Ifield (1962)
  • Sarah Vaughan - Snowbound (1963); Live version later included on Live in Japan
  • Bob Asklöf - Vous souvenez vous (1963) french version
  • Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook (1964)
  • Slim Whitman - Traveling Man (1966)
  • The Beatles - Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 (1977)
  • John Denver - One World (1986)
  • Mulgrew Miller - Wingspan (1987)
  • Jessica Elbert (2006)
  • Bette Midler & James Caan - For the Boys (1991)
  • Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Venus as a Boy single (1993)
  • Kenny Rogers released his version as the opening track on his 1994 album Timepiece, produced by David Foster
  • Tal Farlow - Jazz Masters 41 (1995)
  • Jeri Southern - The Very Thought Of You: The Decca Years, 1951-1957 (1999)
  • George Michael - Songs from the Last Century (1999)
  • Freddy Cole - Merry-Go-Round (2000)
  • Diana Krall - The Look of Love (2001)
  • The SuperJazz Big Band of Birmingham (2001)
  • Tony Bennett - The Art of Romance (2004)
  • Roseanna Vitro - Tropical Postcards (2004)
  • Art Garfunkel - Some Enchanted Evening (2007)
  • Shaun Micallef - His Generation (2009)
  • References

    I Remember You (1941 song) Wikipedia