You Belong to Me (1952 song)

"You Belong to Me" is a romantic popular music ballad from the 1950s.

"You Belong to Me"
Song
Published1952 by Ridgeway Music
GenrePop
Songwriter(s)Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart

Conception and composition

"You Belong to Me" is credited to Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, and Redd Stewart.

Price, a songwriting librarian at WAVE 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 in World 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" and changing the title to "You Belong to Me". Price had previously had success with another hit which she had written, "Slow Poke", under a similar arrangement with the two men.[1][2]

History

The first recording of the song, in February 1952, was by Joni James. She had seen the sheet music in the Woods Building in Chicago 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 to MGM it was reissued as her second single on that label on August 5, 1952, after Jo Stafford, Patti Page and Dean Martin had covered it. James' version also was issued on M-G-M Records for national distribution. The best-known early 1952 version of the song was recorded after James' recording by Sue Thompson on Mercury's country label as catalog number 6407.[3] It was soon covered by Patti Page, whose version was issued by Mercury as catalog number 5899, with "I Went to Your Wedding" (a bigger Patti Page hit, reaching No. 1) on the flip side. It entered the Billboard chart on August 22, 1952, and lasted 12 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 4.[4]

A cover version by Jo Stafford became the most popular version. Issued by Columbia Records as catalog number 39811, it was Stafford's biggest hit, topping the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom (the first song by a female singer to top the UK Singles Chart).[5] It first entered the US chart on August 1, 1952 and remained there for 24 weeks.[4] In the UK, it appeared in the first ever UK chart of 14 November 1952 (then a top 12) and reached number 1 on 16 January 1953, being only the second record to top such chart,[5] remaining in the chart for a total of 19 weeks.[6] Another cover version, by Dean Martin, released by Capitol Records as catalog number 2165, was also in play at that time. This version first entered the chart on August 29, 1952, and remained on the chart for 10 weeks, reaching No. 12.[4] All the versions were combined in the rankings on the Cash Box charts, and the song reached No. 1 on those charts as well, lasting on the chart for more than half a year.

The song figures prominently in the 1953 movie Forbidden starring Tony Curtis, Joanne Dru and Lyle Bettger. The melody is used for the opening credits. In a scene reminiscent of "Casablanca", Eddie (Tony Curtis) asks Allan (Victor Sen Yung), the Lisbon Club pianist, why he plays a somber tune every time Eddie appears at the club. He answers that Christine never comes when he is there. But in that moment, seeing that Christine (Joanne Dru) has just entered he plays the melody. It is followed by the club singer (Mamie Van Doren) singing the first verse (dubbed by Virginia Rees).[7]

In 1958, the song crossed over into rock for the first time on the Capitol album Gene Vincent Rocks and the Blue Caps Roll. A later version of the song, by the Duprees, also made the Billboard Top 10, reaching No. 7 in 1962. It was recorded by many other pop vocalists, including Patsy Cline and Bing Crosby. A solo acoustic version was recorded by Bob Dylan for the 1992 album Good as I Been to You but was eventually left off as an out-take; the recording surfaced two years later in the soundtrack for the 1994 film Natural Born Killers.

A loop of Jo Stafford's introduction was used by Caviar in "The Good Times Are Over" repeatedly throughout the song.

The song has also appeared on many soundtracks. Vonda Shepard's cover was used frequently on the TV series Ally McBeal alongside romantic scenes of Ally McBeal and Billy Thomas. A version by Jason Wade was part of the soundtrack to the 2001 animated film Shrek. Singer Tori Amos also recorded the classic for the Julia Roberts film Mona Lisa Smile in 2003. Actress Rose McGowan sang it on the soundtrack for the Planet Terror segment of the 2007 film Grindhouse.

In 1980 Matchbox recorded the song in part as a section of the medley single Over the Rainbow/You Belong to Me on the Magnet label.

Mary Higgins Clark referenced the song throughout her novel of the same name, which was published by Pocket Books on April 1, 1999.

In the British film The Deep Blue Sea (released 2011), directed by Terence Davies, the drinkers in a London pub perform the song which later modulates into Jo Stafford's version.

The song was also featured in the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite as part of its Burial at Sea story add-on. In the game, the song is performed by the lead character Elizabeth and sung by her voice actress, Courtnee Draper (with fellow actor Troy Baker, who had previously portrayed Booker DeWitt, in said game providing accompanying Acoustic guitar); footage of Draper performing the song in the recording studio is shown during the game's end credits.

The Duprees version of the song is featured in the video game Mafia III, usually on the in-car radio stations but can also be heard as the musical accompaniment to several key cut-scenes. A hard rock cover version by Misfits also plays towards the end of the game (despite that version not being recorded until 35 years after the games' 1968 setting).

The song is featured in the 2018 gothic horror film The Nun, a spin-off of The Conjuring 2, when Fr. Burke and Sister Irene sit down to dinner, and again moments later when a demon uses the radio to wake up Fr. Burke.


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See also
  • List of number-one singles from the 1950s (UK)
  • List of number-one singles of 1952 (U.S.)

References
  1. Hall, Wade (1996). Hell-Bent For Music: the life of Pee Wee King. University Press of Kentucky.
  2. Clooney, Nick (2002-09-27). "To Chilton goes all the credit". The Cincinnati Post. E. W. Scripps Company. Archived from the original on 2005-08-17.
  3. "MERCURY 6000 series 78rpm numerical listing discography". 78discography.com. 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
  4. Joni James re-recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios in London in 1960, with a symphony orchestra and a soft rock beat.Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top Pop Records 1940-1955. Record Research.
  5. Rice, Jo & Tim, Gambaccini, Paul and Read, Mike(1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 7. ISBN 0-85112-250-7
  6. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  7. "Forbidden (1953) - IMDb".


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