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Rags to Riches (song)

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Wikipedia article




"'Rags to Riches'" is a 1953 popular song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.

Background



It is based on a famous Russian tune called "Volga Melody" by Yuri Shchetkov sometimes known as "Samara My Lovely Town." The bridge passage or middle 8 was inserted by the composer.

Tony Bennett recording



The best-known version of the song, recorded by Tony Bennett with Percy Faith and his orchestra, was number one for eight weeks on the 'Billboard' chart in 1953 and became a gold record. In 2012, he recorded a Spanglish version with bachata singer Romeo Santos for his album 'Viva Duets'.

Other versions



*Later in 1953, a version by David Whitfield reached number three in the British charts

*Another version in 1953, by Billy Ward and his Dominoes with Jackie Wilson singing lead made number two on Billboard's Most Played in Juke Boxes chart.

*Later recordings by Sunny & the Sunliners (#45 in 1963) and Elvis Presley (#33 in 1971) also made the Billboard charts.

*On June 17th 2021, Geordie Greep of Black Midi performed the song for the "Black Midi Variety Hour" on NTS Radio.

In popular culture



*Tony Bennett's version was featured in the opening sequence of the 1990 film 'Goodfellas'.

*The opening line of the song was sung regularly and exuberantly by the character Carmine Ragusa on the television series 'Laverne & Shirley', typically when he had good news.

*The song was also used in an episode of 'Columbo'.

*Jackie Wilson's version of the song is featured in the 2010 video game 'Mafia II'.

See also



*List of number-one singles of 1953 (U.S.)

References



Category:1953 songs

Category:Tony Bennett songs

Category:David Whitfield songs

Category:Songs written by Richard Adler

Category:Songs written by Jerry Ross (composer)

Category:Number-one singles in the United States

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