"Confess" is a

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

written by

Bennie Benjamin Claude August "Bennie" Benjamin (November 4, 1907 – May 2, 1989) was a Virgin Islands-born American songwriter. He had particularly successful songwriting partnerships with Sol Marcus, with whom he wrote "I Don't Want To Set The World On F ...

and

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

. The song figures in the early careers of two important female singers: # In 1947, Doris Day was making a transition from a

Big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

singer, most recently with Les Brown, to a solo vocalist. Her first major record away from the band was a duet with

Buddy Clark Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the Big Band era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in Worl ...

, with this song on one side and " Love Somebody" on the other.Columbia Records in the 38000 to 38499 series
/ref> The record became a two-sided hit, the first two of a string of hits for Day that made her one of the top female singers in popular music. # About the same time,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

was planning to record the song as a vehicle for Frankie Laine. They were persuaded instead to give the song to a young female singer, who had not, at the time, a single hit: Patti Page. Page's manager, Jack Rael, succeeded in getting Mercury to let her record the song, but because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so guitarist George Barnes (musician), whose trio accompanied Page on the record, and who had been experimenting with multi-track recording with engineer

Bill Putnam Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (February 20, 1920 – April 13, 1989) was an American audio engineer, songwriter, producer, studio designer and businessman, who has been described as "the father of modern recording". He was the inventor of the mo ...

, suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record probably contributed to the song becoming a

top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

hit for her. This became not only the first of many hits for Patti Page, but the first song on which a singer did more than one track. For Patti Page, multi-tracking became a trademark of her style, while others, such as Les Paul and

Mary Ford Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers; July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) was an American vocalist and guitarist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hit ...

, as well as Jane Turzy, took up this practice too. The Day/Clark recording was recorded on November 21, 1947, and issued by Columbia Records as catalog number 38174, and first reached the Billboard chart on June 26, 1948, lasting 11 weeks and peaking at #16 on the chart. The Page recording was recorded on December 3, 1947, and released by

as catalog number 5129, with the flip side “Twelve O'Clock Flight” (also later as catalog number 5511), and first reached the Billboard chart on July 2, 1948, lasting 10 weeks and peaking at #12.

Other recordings

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 ...

and the King Cole Trio, recorded on November 6, 1947, and released by Capitol Records as catalog number ETB-391 *

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peop ...

and his orchestra (released by MGM Records as catalog number 10194, with the flip side “If I Were You”) * The Four Tunes (released by

Manor Records Manor Records was a jazz record label founded in the mid 1940s. Manor was run Irving Berman, who also owned Regis Records. Its catalogue included Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Bradshaw, Paul Bascomb, Sid Catlett, Jimmie Lunceford, and the ...

as catalog number 1131, with the flip side “Don't Know”) * Tony Martin (recorded on November 20, 1947, released by

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Ari ...

as catalog number 20-2812, with the flip side “Bride and Groom Polka”) *

The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

(recorded on December 23, 1947, released by Decca Records as catalog number 24409, with the flip side “Someone Cares”) *Jimmy Valentine orchestra (vocal: Barbara Brown) (released by

Varsity Records Varsity may refer to: *University, an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines Places * Varsity, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Varsity Lake ...

as catalog number 106, with the flip side “

Twelfth Street Rag "Twelfth Street Rag" is a ragtime musical composition published by Euday L. Bowman in 1914. Background A friend of Euday Bowman known as "Raggedy Ed" declared his intention to open a pawn shop on 12th Street in Kansas City while the two were ...

”Varsity Records listing
/ref>)

References

{{authority control 1948 songs Songs written by Bennie Benjamin Songs written by George David Weiss Doris Day songs Patti Page songs Male–female vocal duets