Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1936
Pennies from Heaven (song)
Buy Pennies from Heaven (song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Pennies from Heaven
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Bing Crosby and the Georgie Stoll Orchestra
| album =
| B-side = Let's Call A Heart A Heart
| written =
| published = , Select Music Publications, Inc., New York
| released =
| recorded =
| studio = Recordings Incorporated Studios, 5505 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California
| genre = Popular music
| length =
| label = Decca 947
| writer = |
| composer = Arthur Johnston
| lyricist = Johnny Burke
| producer =
}}
"'Pennies from Heaven'" is a 1936 American popular song with music by Arthur Johnston and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby with Georgie Stoll and his Orchestra in the 1936 film of the same name.
Background
It was recorded in 1936 by Billie Holiday and afterwards performed by Doris Day, Arthur Tracy, Tony Bennett, Dinah Washington, Clark Terry, Big Joe Turner, Lester Young, Dean Martin, Gene Ammons, The Skyliners (a hit in 1960), Legion of Mary, Guy Mitchell, and Harry James.
The July 24, 1936, recording by Bing Crosby and the Georgie Stoll Orchestra topped the charts for ten weeks in 1936 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. He recorded another version on August 17, accompanied by Louis Armstrong, Frances Langford and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. Crosby recorded the song again for his 1954 album 'Bing: A Musical Autobiography'.
The recording by Louis Prima on the soundtrack of the 2003 movie 'Elf' helped bring the song to prominence to new generations.
Other versions
On July 21, 1936 at Victor's Hollywood Studio, Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra made the first recording of "Pennies from Heaven." It was released on October 14, 1936 on Victor 25431 and rose to number 2 on the Billboard charts. Jimmy Dorsey also recorded it on August 4, released on Decca 951 in October, and made the chart for one week in December. Then Crosby and Dorsey, along with Louis Armstrong and Frances Langford, made another recording for Decca on August 17, released in October on a 12" Shellac pressing only.
* Louis Armstrong (1947)
* Count Basie with Jimmy Rushing (1937)
* Polly Bergen and Gordon MacRae sang a medley which included "Pennies from Heaven" on her 1958 NBC variety show, 'The Polly Bergen Show'.
* Dave Brubeck Quartet- " Brubeck Time " (1954)
* Marty Robbins- "Marty after Midnight" (1962)
* Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall' (1963)
* Richard 'Groove' Holmes - Get Up & Get It! (1967)
* Stan Getz with Oscar Peterson Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio (1975)
* Billie Holiday's version was used in the 1994 film 'Corrina, Corrina' (1994) and appears on the soundtrack.
* Seth MacFarlane - Sing
* Regis Philbin sang this song for the soundtrack to the game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'
* Louis Prima 'The Call of the Wildest' (1957)
* Jimmy Raney with Sonny Clark 'Jimmy Raney Quartet' (1954)
* Marc Secara recorded the song on 'You're Everything'
* Frank Sinatra recorded two versions, the first one in 1956 with a Nelson Riddle for the "Songs For Swinging Lovers " LP and a second one with Count Basie 'SinatraBasie: An Historic Musical First' (1962)
* The Skyliners (1960) - In the US, this version reached #24 on the Hot 100.
* Arthur Tracy - 1937 recording.
* Led Zeppelin included several lines of the song during live performances of "Dazed and Confused", most notably during their 1971 tour of Japan.
See also
*List of 1930s jazz standards
References
Category:Film theme songs
Category:1936 songs
Category:1930s jazz standards
Category:Pop standards
Category:Songs written for films
Category:Songs with lyrics by Johnny Burke (lyricist)
Category:Songs with music by Arthur Johnston (composer)
Category:Bing Crosby songs
Category:Billie Holiday songs
Category:Louis Armstrong songs
Category:Tony Bennett songs
Category:Dinah Washington songs
Category:Big Joe Turner songs
Category:Frank Sinatra songs
Category:Dean Martin songs
Category:The Skyliners songs
Category:Guy Mitchell songs
Category:Shirley Bassey songs
Category:The Muppets songs
Category:Andy Williams songs
Buy Pennies from Heaven (song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1936