ARE YOU LONESOME TO-NIGHT

Created on 20/05/2004
Latest update on 23/10/2023

Artist: Charles Hart
Author: Roy Turk/Lou Handman
Label: Harmony
Year: 1927

Introduced by the composers (vocal: Handman's sister Edyth) in their own vaudeville act Are You Lonesome Tonight, at first unrecorded for fear of hitnapping. The eponymous instrumental cut in 1926 by Bob Haring for Cameo/Lincoln (and under his alias The Dixie Daisies for Romeo) is a different song (foxtrot). Still Roy Turk earned co-credits on that one too.

Covers:

1927:

Ned Jakobs

1927:

Vaughn DeLeath

1927:

Lou Handman [author on piano; vocal: his sister Edyth on Gennett]

1927:

Colonial Club Orchestra [again with 'radio girl' Vaughn Deleath]

1927:

Henry Burr [more 1927 versions by Franklyn Baur (Victor), Frank Munn (Brunswick), Joe Wilbur (Perfect), Irving Kaufman (Harmony), Oscar Grogan (Columbia), Elliott Stewart (Gennett) en Lew White (Brunswick)]

1936:

Carter Family

1940s:

Ink Spots

1950:

Al Jolson

1950:

Blue Barron Orch. [version that inspired Elvis' arrangement; original spoken word part by Franklyn MacCormack]

1950:

Five Red Caps

1950:

Don Cornell [with the Hugo Winterhalter orchestra]

1959:

Jaye P. Morgan

1960:

Elvis Presley [n°1 US, UK & B]

1960:

Linda Lee

1960:

Dodie Stevens

1960:

Ricky Page

1960:

Thelma Carpenter [all four with answer song Yes I'm Lonesome Tonight]

1961:

Peter Alexander [as Bist du einsam heut' Nacht]

1961:

Wilma Lucini [answering Peter Alexander as Ja, Ich bin einsam heut' Nacht]

1961:

String-A-Longs

1962:

Frank Sinatra

1962:

Helen Shapiro

1969:

Elvis Presley [the famous "laughing version"; triggered by his own wit, pills and a slightly out of key backing vocalist; inspired by the gentleman right in front of him at his International Hotel dinner table, El sang: "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair" instead of the standard "Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there"]

1973:

Donny Osmond

1977:

Merle Haggard

1979:

Zangeres Zonder Naam [as Ben Je Eenzaam Vannacht]

1980s:

François Valery [as Qu'est-ce que je fous sans toi]

1992:

Bryan Ferry [in film Honeymoon In Vegas]

2002:

Helmut Lotti

2003:

An & Jan [as Ben Jij Ook Zo Alleen]

2007:

Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette [The Bluegrass Elvises]

It was Col. Parker who came up with the idea to give this old waltz to Elvis. Are You Lonesome Tonight was the all time favorite of the Col.'s wife, who remembered Gene Austin's version since her husband had managed this country singer. The spoken part (as in Jolson's and Elvis' versions) comes from Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII.

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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