I'll Never Smile Again

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"I'll Never Smile Again"
Ill never smile again.jpg
Single by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra
Released1940
RecordedApril 23, 1940
GenreJazz
Length3:12
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Ruth Lowe

"I'll Never Smile Again" is a 1940 song written by Ruth Lowe.[1] It has been recorded by many other artists since, becoming a standard.

The most successful and best-known million selling single version of the song was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, with vocals provided by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers.[2] This recording was released as a Victor 78, 26628A, in 1940. This version was number one on Billboard's first "National List of Best Selling Retail Records"—the first official national music chart—on July 27, 1940, staying at the top spot for 12 weeks until October 12, 1940.[3] The tune was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.[4]

Cover versions[]

  • The Ink Spots covered the song in August 1940,[5] which was just a few months after the first release of the song.
  • The song appears on the 1954 Dave Brubeck Quartet live album Jazz at the College of the Pacific.
  • Sarah Vaughan recorded the song on the 1955 In the Land of Hi-Fi.
  • Billie Holiday recorded the song in 1959, the last year of her life, on the posthumous album Last Recording.
  • The Platters brought the song back to the top 40 in 1961, where their version went to #25 on the Hot 100 and #17 on the Hot R&B Sides chart.[6]
  • Al Hirt released a version in 1962 on his Trumpet and Strings[7]
  • Bill Evans on the 1963 Interplay[8]
  • Frank Sinatra included it on his 1959 No One Cares album. He also re-recorded the song in 1965 for the double album A Man and His Music, complete with faithful reproduction of the celeste and choral accompaniment which characterized the 1940 recording.
  • Italian-American crossover artist, Sergio Franchi covered this song on his 1967 RCA Victor album, From Sergio - With Love.[9]
  • The song was also covered by popular Australian rock group Daddy Cool—they scored an Australian Top 20 hit with their version, which was released as a single in July 1972, shortly before the group broke up; they also performed it at their farewell concert in Melbourne, Australia in August 1972, which was recorded and subsequently released as a double-album in 1973.

See also[]

  • List of number-one singles of 1940 (U.S.)

References[]

  1. ^ According to Peter Levinson in the Tommy Dorsey biography, Livin In A Great Big Way, "I'll Never Smile Again" was recorded May 23, 1940.
  2. ^ https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633231/m1/#track/4
  3. ^ Hoffmann, Frank (May 23, 2016). Chronology of American Popular Music, 1900-2000. London; New York: Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-415-97715-9. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  4. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". Grammy.org. The Recording Academy. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Cover versions of I'll Never Smile Again by Ink Spots | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 463.
  7. ^ Al Hirt, Trumpet and Strings Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  8. ^ Bill Evans, Interplay. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  9. ^ http://www.discogs.com Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine Sergio Franchi

Sources[]

  • Peter J. Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: a Biography (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005). ISBN 978-0-306-81111-1
  • Robert L. Stockdale, Tommy Dorsey: On The Side (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995). ISBN 978-0-8108-2951-0


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