"Around the World" is the
theme tune
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
from the
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
''
Around the World in 80 Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
''. In the film, only an instrumental version of the song appeared, although the vocal version has become the better known one. The song was
written
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols.
Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
by
Harold Adamson
Harold Campbell Adamson (December 10, 1906 – August 17, 1980) was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early life
Adamson, the son of building contractor Harold Adamson and Marion "Minnie" Campbell Adamson, was born and raised in ...
and
Victor Young
Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor.
Biography
Young is commonly said to ...
; Young died in 1956, several weeks after the film's release, and he received the
Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture posthumously. Young's orchestral version was a #13 hit on the Billboard charts in 1957. The recording by Bing Crosby was the B-side of the Victor Young version in 1957, on Festival SP45-1274 in Australia, and was a joint charting success.
Recorded versions
The song has been
recorded, among others, by:
*
Karen Akers
Karen Akers (born October 13, 1945) is an American actress and singer, who has appeared on Broadway theatre, Broadway, and in cabaret and film.
Early life
Akers was born Karen Orth-Pallavicini in New York City on October 13, 1945. Her immigrant ...
*
John Arpin
John Francis Oscar Arpin (3 December 1936 – 8 November 2007) was a Canadians, Canadian composer, recording artist and entertainer, best known for his work as a virtuoso ragtime pianist.
Born in Port McNicoll, Ontario, Port McNicoll, Ontario A ...
*
Nora Aunor
Nora Cabaltera Villamayor (born May 21, 1953), professionally known as Nora Aunor (), is a Filipino actress, recording artist, and film producer. Aunor has also appeared in several stage plays, television shows and concerts. She is known as Ph ...
*
Brook Benton
Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960 ...
(on the album "Endlessly" - 1959)
*
Stanley Black
Stanley Black OBE (14 June 1913 – 27 November 2002) was an English bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores, recording prolifically for the Decca label (including their subsidiaries ''Lond ...
*
Liam Burrows
Liam Burrows is an Australian musician and singer. He first came to prominence in 2011 when he reached the Grand Final of the fifth season of '' Australia's Got Talent'' in which he was awarded the fifth place in the overall competition in whi ...
*
Alvin and The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...
- in a speeded-up version for their song ''
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a novelty Christmas song written by Ross Bagdasarian (under the stage name of David Seville) in 1958. Bagdasarian sang and recorded the song, varying the tape speeds to produce high-pitched "chi ...
'' (1958).
*
The Chordettes
The Chordettes were an American female vocal quartet, specializing in traditional pop music. They are best known for their 1950s hit songs " Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop".
Career
The group organized in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1946. The origin ...
- for their album ''Never on Sunday'' (1962).
*
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
- recorded August 8, 1957.
*
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
- included in his album ''
Come Fly with Me'' (1958)
*The Columbia Ballroom Orchestra
*
Ray Conniff
Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.
Biography
Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...
- included in the EP ''Ray Conniff Around the World'' (1963).
*
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
- included in his album ''
Songs by Sam Cooke'' (1958)
*
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
(
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
top hit (#25) in
1957
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
, No. 5 hit in UK
)
*
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
(No. 8 hit in UK
)
*
Eddie Fisher
Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
- a 1956 single release.
*
Connie Francis
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937),
known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...
- included in her album ''
Connie Francis Sings "Never on Sunday"'' (1961).
*
Buddy Greco
Armando Joseph "Buddy" Greco (August 14, 1926 – January 10, 2017) was an American jazz and pop singer and pianist who had a long career in the US and UK. His recordings have sold millions, including "Oh Look A-There Ain't She Pretty", " Up, Up ...
- a single release in 1963.
*
Ronnie Hilton
Ronnie Hilton (born Adrian Hill; 26 January 1926 – 21 February 2001) was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'' newspaper, "For a time Hilton was a star – strictly for home consumption – with ...
(No. 4 hit in UK
)
*
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...
*
Joni James
Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop music.
Biography
Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illino ...
- included in the album ''100 Strings & Joni in Hollywood'' (1961).
*
Jonah Jones
Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his w ...
*
James Last
James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015), also known as Hansi, was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist (Last won the award for "best bassist" in Germany in each of ...
*
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935) is an American singer, comedian and actor, best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as " Steve and Eydie", and for his performance as Maury Sline, the manager and fr ...
- for his album ''Winners!'' (1963)
*
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only ...
- for her album ''
Emotions
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
'' (1961)
*The
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 29 March 1980) was an Anglo-Italian conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature.
The book ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' stat ...
Orchestra (
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
top hit (#12) in
1957
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
, No. 20 hit in UK
)
*
The McGuire Sisters
The McGuire Sisters were a singing trio in American popular music. The group was composed of three sisters:
* Ruby Christine McGuire (July 30, 1926 – December 28, 2018)
* Dorothy "Dottie" McGuire (February 13, 1928 – September 7, 2012)
* Ph ...
*
Bette Midler
Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
for the live album "
Live At Last" (1977).
*
Matt Monro
Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons, 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the m ...
- included in his album ''From Hollywood with Love'' (1964).
*
Jane Morgan
Jane Morgan (born Florence Catherine Currier; May 3, 1924) is an American former singer of traditional pop. Morgan initially found success in France and the UK before achieving recognition in the US, receiving six gold records. She was a frequen ...
and The Troubadours - included in her album ''Fascination'' (1957).
*
Emile Pandolfi
*
André Prévin
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...
*
Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...
*
George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
*
Calum Scott
Calum Scott (born 12 October 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. In April 2015, he rose to prominence after competing on the ITV talent contest ''Britain's Got Talent'', where he performed his version of Robyn's hit "Dancing on My Own". ...
for the soundtrack of the Hulu miniseries, ‘’
Four Weddings and a Funeral
''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle ...
’’. (2019)
*
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFadd ...
*
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
, in
Come Fly with Me 1958 Capitol LP, arr & cond Billy May
*
Kay Starr
Katherine Laverne Starks (July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016), known professionally as Kay Starr, was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s. She was of Iroquois and Irish heritage. Starr performed multip ...
- in her album ''Movin'!'' (1959).
*
The Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...
- a 1965 recording included in the expanded CD version of ''
There's a Place for Us
''There's a Place for Us'' is an album recorded by Motown girl group The Supremes in 1965, for many years the most famous of the trio's unreleased albums. The album, composed of show-tunes and pop standards, was released by Motown and Hip-O Reco ...
'' (2004)
*
Paul Sullivan
*
The Sundowners
*
Billy Vaughn
Richard Smith "Billy" Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records.
Biography
Vaughn was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, United States, where his father, ...
*
Bobby Vinton
Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...
- for his album ''
Drive-In Movie Time
''Drive-In Movie Time: Bobby Vinton Sings Great Motion Picture Themes'' is Bobby Vinton's twelfth studio album, released by Epic Records. Consisting entirely of songs from films, it was recorded and released to capitalize on Vinton's latest single ...
'' (1965).
*
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, tele ...
and his Orchestra (
The Lennon Sisters
The Lennon Sisters are an American vocal group made up of four sisters. The quartet originally consisted of Dianne (aka DeeDee; born Dianne Barbara, December 1, 1939), Peggy (born Margaret Anne, April 8, 1941), Kathy (born Kathleen Mary, Augu ...
sang it on "The Lawrence Welk Show.")
Popular culture
The Buddy Greco recording was the first piece of music heard in the first episode of the 2012 television series ''
Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
''.
The song is used multiple times in various forms throughout the 2015 Japanese animated film ''
The Anthem of the Heart
, abbreviated as and subtitled ''Beautiful Word Beautiful World'', is an Anime youth drama film produced by A-1 Pictures released in 2015. The film was directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai and written by Mari Okada. Masayoshi Tanaka served as the chief a ...
''.
The song is featured prominently in season 2, episode 6 of ''
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...
''.
References
{{authority control
1956 songs
Number-one singles in Australia
Film theme songs
Jane Morgan songs
Songs with music by Victor Young
Songs with lyrics by Harold Adamson
1950s jazz standards
Nat King Cole songs
Music based on works by Jules Verne
Works based on Around the World in Eighty Days
Gracie Fields songs