Released May 1959 Length 2:10 Writer(s) Meredith Willson | Genre Pop Label Carlton Records 512 | |
B-side "Little George (Got the Hiccoughs)" | ||
"Till There Was You" is a song written by Meredith Willson for his 1957 musical play The Music Man, and which also appeared in the 1962 movie version. The song is sung by librarian Marian Paroo (Barbara Cook on Broadway, Shirley Jones in the film) to Professor Harold Hill (portrayed by Robert Preston) toward the end of Act Two. It became a hit for Anita Bryant in 1959, reaching number 30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and spending two weeks at number 14 on Cash Box. "Till There Was You" was later covered by the Beatles in 1963.
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History
The first recording of this song to be released was produced by Nelson Riddle and featured his orchestra and 17-year-old vocalist Sue Raney. Promotional copies of the 45 rpm single, Capitol P3847, were released on November 26, 1957, even before the Broadway production had premiered on December 19, 1957 and a month ahead of the original cast album. An earlier version of this song, "'Til I Met You", was first recorded by Eileen Wilson in 1950 and later appeared on the January 14, 1951 edition of The Big Show, performed by Fran Warren.
Anita Bryant version
In 1959, American singer Anita Bryant recorded the song "Till There Was You" and released it as a single. Her version reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 14 on the Cashbox Top 100.
The Beatles version
"Till There Was You" was included on the Beatles albums With the Beatles (UK release, 1963) and Meet the Beatles! (US release, 1964), the song was the only Broadway tune that the English rock group ever recorded.
Paul McCartney was introduced to Peggy Lee's cover of the song by his older cousin, Bett Robbins, who would occasionally baby-sit the two McCartney brothers. McCartney said: "I had no idea until much later that it was from The Music Man." "'Til There Was You" was part of the Beatles' repertoire in 1962 and performed at the Star Club in Hamburg. It became illustrative of the Beatles' versatility, proving they could appeal to all sections of an audience, moving easily from softer ballads to harder rock and roll, as in their appearance on November 4, 1963 at the Royal Variety Performance when they followed this song with "Twist and Shout".
The band had previously performed "'Till There Was You" as part of their failed audition for Decca Records in London on January 1, 1962, and it was the second of five the group sang during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.
Live versions of the song were released on Live at the BBC (1994) and Anthology 1 (1995). A live performance of "'Till There was You" by Paul McCartney appears on his DVD The Space Within US.
In 2016, the BBC announced that a "holy grail" Beatles record would be auctioned in March of that year. A private pressing; it features two songs, "Hello Little Girl" and "Til There Was You" and was valued at over £10,000. The disc eventually sold for well over its estimated value - £77,500.