| "You Belong to Me" | |
|---|---|
| Single byJo Stafford withPaul Weston and his Orchestra | |
| B-side | "Pretty Boy (Pretty Girl)" |
| Published | April 21, 1952 (1952-04-21) by Ridgeway Music, inc., Hollywood, Calif.[1] |
| Released | July 18, 1952 (1952-07-18) |
| Recorded | June 24, 1952 (1952-06-24)[2] |
| Studio | Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California[2] |
| Genre | Ballad,traditional pop |
| Length | 3:06 |
| Label | Columbia 25734[2] |
| Songwriters | Chilton Price,Pee Wee King,Redd Stewart[1] |
"You Belong to Me" is apopular musicballad from the 1950s. It is well known for its opening line, "See the pyramids along theNile".[citation needed][a] The song was published inHollywood on April 21, 1952, and the most popular version was byJo Stafford, reaching No. 1 on both theUK andUS singles charts.[3][4]
"You Belong to Me" is credited toChilton Price,Pee Wee King, andRedd Stewart.[5]
Price, a songwriting librarian atWAVE Radio Louisville, had written the song in its virtual entirety as "Hurry Home to Me", envisioning the song as an American woman's plea to a sweetheart serving overseas inWorld War II. Afforded songwriting credit on the song mostly in exchange for their work in promoting it, King and Stewart did slightly adjust Price's composition musically and lyrically, shifting the focus from a wartime background "into a kind of universal song about separated lovers" (World War II having ended some years previously) and changing the title to "You Belong to Me". Price had previously had success with another hit she had written, "Slow Poke", under a similar arrangement with the two men.[6][7]
The first recording of the song, in February 1952, was byJoni James. She had seen the sheet music in the Woods Building inChicago, and the lyrics attracted her. She recorded the song in Chicago, and it was released in March on the local Sharp Records label. After she signed toMGM, it was reissued as her second single on that label on August 5, 1952, afterJo Stafford,Patti Page,Ella Fitzgerald andDean Martin hadcovered it.[8] James' version was also issued on MGM Records for national distribution. The best-known version of the song in early 1952 was recorded after James, bySue Thompson onMercury's country label as catalog number 6407.[9] It was soon covered byPatti Page, whose version was issued by Mercury (catalog number 5899), with "I Went to Your Wedding" (a bigger Page hit, reaching No. 1) on the flip side. It entered theBillboard chart on August 22, 1952, and lasted 12 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 4.[10] A cover version byDean Martin, released byCapitol Records (catalog number 2165), was also in play at that time. This version first entered the US chart on August 29, 1952, and remained on it for 10 weeks, reaching No. 12.[10] All the versions were combined in the rankings on theCash Box charts, and the song reached No. 1 on those charts as well, lasting on the chart for more than half a year.
In the UK, the song also topped the sheet music sales chart. It first entered the chart on November 1, 1952, peaking at No. 1 on December 27, where it stayed for 7 weeks.Jo Stafford's recording was amongst the first batch to be issued in October 1952. British cover versions were also available by Larry Cross,Alma Cogan with Jimmy Watson (trumpet),Monty Norman,Dickie Valentine withTed Heath and his Music,Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra,Jimmy Young, and Wally Fryer and his Perfect Tempo Dance Orchestra. American recordings by Patti Page,Grady Martin and his Slew Foot Five (vocal by Cecil Bayley), Dean Martin, Joni James,Ken Griffin (organ),Jan Garber and his Orchestra (vocal by Roy Cordell) andMickey Katz (aYiddish parody) and his Orchestra were available in the UK. In all, the song remained in the sheet music chart for 24 weeks.[11] Despite the many recordings issued in the UK, only that by Stafford appeared in the singles sales chart.[12]
| "You Belong to Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byThe Duprees | ||||
| B-side | "Take Me As I Am" | |||
| Released | June 1962 | |||
| Recorded | 1962 | |||
| Genre | Doo-wop | |||
| Length | 2:39 | |||
| Label | Coed | |||
| Songwriters | Chilton Price,Pee Wee King,Redd Stewart | |||
| The Duprees singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
A cover version byJo Stafford became the most popular version. It was recorded on June 24, 1952, when she was several months pregnant.[13] Stafford's husband,Paul Weston, produced the record and provided orchestral accompaniment.[14] Issued byColumbia Records as catalog number 39811, it was Stafford's biggest hit, topping the charts in both theUnited States and theUnited Kingdom (the first song by a female singer to top theUK Singles Chart).[4] The single first entered the US chart on August 1, 1952, and remained there for 24 weeks.[10]
The Stafford version appeared in the first ever UK singles chart of November 14, 1952 (then a top 12) and reached number 1 for a single week on January 16, 1953, its tenth week on chart. It thus became only the second record to top the chart, and remained on it for a total of 19 weeks.[4][15]
Stafford re-recorded "You Belong to Me" twice, both in the 1960s. The first of these later recordings was made on January 13, 1963, and issued in January 1964 on a stereoCapitol LP,The Hits of Jo Stafford. On May 14, 1969, another recording was made, issued byReader's Digest on a various-artistsbox set,They Sing The Songs.[16]
