You'll Never Know
Encyclopedia
"You'll Never Know" is a popular
song
. The music was written by Harry Warren
and the lyrics by Mack Gordon
, based on a poem written by a young Oklahoma war bride named Dorothy Fern Norris.
The song was introduced in the 1943
movie
Hello, Frisco, Hello
where it is sung by Alice Faye
. It was also performed by Faye in the 1944
film Four Jills in a Jeep
. The song is often credited as Faye's signature song
. However, Faye never made a recording of the ballad and, in later years, frequent covers of the song diminished her association with it.
It was recorded in 1943 by, among others, Frank Sinatra
and Dick Haymes
. Haymes’ version was a number one hit for four weeks on the R&B charts that year.
Sinatra recorded his version at his first recording session at Columbia
as a solo artist. (He had recorded at Columbia in 1939 as a member of Harry James
’s band.) It was arranged and conducted by Alec Wilder
with the Bobby Tucker
Singers providing accompaniment. Sinatra’s version charted for 16 weeks starting July 24 and spent two weeks at number 2.
In Britain
, the recording by Vera Lynn
was popular due to the ongoing Second World War
.
The Sinatra and Haymes records were made during the 1942–1944 musicians' strike, an American Federation of Musicians
strike against the recording companies. As a result, the recordings were made without musicians, with vocal groups replacing the usual instrumental backup. The group backing Haymes, The Song Spinners, was actually given credit on the Haymes record. (The Song Spinners #1 hit, "Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer" held the #1 spot on the charts for three weeks preceding Haymes' "You'll Never Know." Vocalist Margaret Johnson of The Song Spinners did the vocal arrangements for both songs.)
The song won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Song
, one of nine nominated songs that year.
A 1952 recording by Rosemary Clooney
with Harry James is also well known, as well as a version recorded in 1954 by Big Maybelle
. Bette Midler
performed the song for the Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook
.
The song was the first song that Barbra Streisand
ever recorded in 1955. It was the opening song on her 4-CD
box-set Just for the Record (1991). The collection closed with another version of the song, sung as a duet by Streisand at age 45 (recorded April 21, 1988) and herself as a girl at age 13.
Shirley Bassey
reached #6 on the UK charts
with her 1961 version.
Alice Faye's recording is the opening song in Martin Scorsese
's 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
.
Trini Lopez
included "You'll Never Know" on his Reprise Records
album The Sing Along World of Trini Lopez (Reprise 6183).
The Mamas & the Papas
vocalist Denny Doherty
included the song on his 1974 solo album "Waiting for a Song" (Ember-Paramount EMA 0286 - 1974). The single was released with 'Goodnight and Good Morning', from the same album, as the B-side. This version reached the top 15 of Billboard's Easy Listening survey.
Elkie Brooks
recorded it for her 1984 album, Screen Gems.
Lew DeWitt
, formerly of The Statler Brothers, released a version in 1985 on the Compleat label.
Doris Day
recorded a version in her two-album set Hooray for Hollywood
in 1958.
Vocalist Michael Bublé
performs a live recording of the song on his 2004 album, Come Fly With Me.
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
. The music was written by Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
and the lyrics by Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
, based on a poem written by a young Oklahoma war bride named Dorothy Fern Norris.
The song was introduced in the 1943
1943 in film
The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Hello, Frisco, Hello
Hello, Frisco, Hello
Hello, Frisco, Hello is a film starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Jack Oakie. The film was made in Technicolor and released by 20th Century-Fox. This was one of the last musicals made by Faye for Fox, and in later interviews Faye said it was clear Fox was promoting Betty Grable as her...
where it is sung by Alice Faye
Alice Faye
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
. It was also performed by Faye in the 1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
film Four Jills in a Jeep
Four Jills in a Jeep
Four Jills in a Jeep is a 1944 film starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair as themselves, re-enacting their USO tour of Europe and North Africa during World War II.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Herself*Carole Landis as Herself...
. The song is often credited as Faye's signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
. However, Faye never made a recording of the ballad and, in later years, frequent covers of the song diminished her association with it.
It was recorded in 1943 by, among others, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Dick Haymes
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....
. Haymes’ version was a number one hit for four weeks on the R&B charts that year.
Sinatra recorded his version at his first recording session at Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
as a solo artist. (He had recorded at Columbia in 1939 as a member of Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
’s band.) It was arranged and conducted by Alec Wilder
Alec Wilder
Alec Wilder was an American composer.-Biography:...
with the Bobby Tucker
Bobby Tucker
Bobby Tucker was a pianist and arranger during the jazz era from the 1940s into the 1960s...
Singers providing accompaniment. Sinatra’s version charted for 16 weeks starting July 24 and spent two weeks at number 2.
In Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the recording by Vera Lynn
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
was popular due to the ongoing Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The Sinatra and Haymes records were made during the 1942–1944 musicians' strike, an American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
strike against the recording companies. As a result, the recordings were made without musicians, with vocal groups replacing the usual instrumental backup. The group backing Haymes, The Song Spinners, was actually given credit on the Haymes record. (The Song Spinners #1 hit, "Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer" held the #1 spot on the charts for three weeks preceding Haymes' "You'll Never Know." Vocalist Margaret Johnson of The Song Spinners did the vocal arrangements for both songs.)
The song won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
, one of nine nominated songs that year.
A 1952 recording by Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
with Harry James is also well known, as well as a version recorded in 1954 by Big Maybelle
Big Maybelle
Mabel Louise Smith , known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer and pianist. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.-Biography:...
. Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
performed the song for the Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook
Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook
Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook is an album by the American singer Bette Midler. It was produced by Barry Manilow and marked the first time that Midler had worked with Manilow in more than twenty years...
.
The song was the first song that Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
ever recorded in 1955. It was the opening song on her 4-CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
box-set Just for the Record (1991). The collection closed with another version of the song, sung as a duet by Streisand at age 45 (recorded April 21, 1988) and herself as a girl at age 13.
Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
reached #6 on the UK charts
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
with her 1961 version.
Alice Faye's recording is the opening song in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell. It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the American Southwest in search of a better life, along with Alfred Lutter as her son and Kris...
.
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
included "You'll Never Know" on his Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
album The Sing Along World of Trini Lopez (Reprise 6183).
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
vocalist Denny Doherty
Denny Doherty
Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty was a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was most widely known as a founding member of the 1960s musical group The Mamas & the Papas.-Early career:...
included the song on his 1974 solo album "Waiting for a Song" (Ember-Paramount EMA 0286 - 1974). The single was released with 'Goodnight and Good Morning', from the same album, as the B-side. This version reached the top 15 of Billboard's Easy Listening survey.
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
recorded it for her 1984 album, Screen Gems.
Lew DeWitt
Lew DeWitt
Lewis Calvin "Lew" DeWitt was an American country music singer and composer.For most of his career DeWitt sang tenor for The Statler Brothers...
, formerly of The Statler Brothers, released a version in 1985 on the Compleat label.
Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
recorded a version in her two-album set Hooray for Hollywood
Hooray for Hollywood (album)
Hooray for Hollywood was the name of a two-album set recorded by Doris Day, released by Columbia Records. The two-album set was released by Columbia under the catalog number AC2L-5, but each individual LP was also released in both monaural and stereophonic versions as indicated below.-Volume...
in 1958.
Vocalist Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
performs a live recording of the song on his 2004 album, Come Fly With Me.