Nancy (with the Laughing Face) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nancy (With the Laughing Face) is a song composed in 1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers. It is commonly believed that the song was written for the birthday of Nancy Sinatra. This was a misunderstanding that eventually led to the song being recorded by Frank Sinatra. Contents [hide] 1 Origin of the Song 2 Notable recordings 3 In Popular Culture 4 References 5 External links Origin of the Song[edit] Former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells the story of the songs inception as related to him by Van Heusen: In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced. Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942) he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century-Fox composing for a film. While Burke was out of their writers bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnnys wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday. Silvers provided the lyrics, later revised by Van Heusen and Burke. At the party they sang Bessie... with the laughing face. It was such a hit that they used it at other female birthday events. When they sang it as Nancy... with the laughing face at little Nancy Sinatras birthday party, Frank broke down and cried thinking that it was written specially for his daughter - the trio wisely didnt correct him. Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia.[1] Notable recordings[edit] Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Percy Heath, Connie Kay - Know What I Mean? (1961) Tony Bennett - Perfectly Frank (1992) Ray Charles - Dedicated To You (1961) John Coltrane - Ballads (1962) The Fleetwoods - Softly (1961) The Four Freshmen - Voices in Standards (1996), Four Freshmen And Five Saxes/The Four Freshmen and Five Guitars (1998) Grant Green - The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (1962) Flip Phillips - Phillips Head (1975) Frank Sinatra - Sinatras Sinatra (1963) Ben Webster - The Warm Moods (1961) In Popular Culture[edit] In the Sopranos episode, Watching Too Much Television, Paulie Walnuts returns from jail to a big welcome back party at the Bada Bing! club. Following a group toast, Silvio cues up some music and Nancy (with the Laughing Face) begins to play. Paulie, lost in emotion for a few moments, finally smiles and says my song. References[edit] Jump up ^ Google Books: Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singers Art External links[edit] Excerpt from lecture Confessions of An Ad Man, by Rick Busciglio telling the story of the creation of the song. Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics This jazz composition-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This pop standards-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories: 1944 songsSongs with lyrics by Phil SilversSongs with music by Jimmy Van HeusenFrank Sinatra songsRay Charles songsThe Fleetwoods songsTony Bennett songs1940s jazz standardsJazz composition stubsPop standard stubs
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 01:23:34 +0000
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