"Personality" is a popular song with lyrics by Johnny Burke and music by

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

. It was written for the 1946 film '' Road to Utopia'', and Dorothy Lamour performed it in the movie. Van Heusen said that he wrote the song with a limited

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

to accommodate Lamour. In a slightly longer version, the song became a number one ''

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 ...

'' hit for

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

and the Pied Pipers with Capitol Records in 1946. Dinah Shore also recorded it around that time. Lamour was between record contracts at the time of the film's release, so she did not record the song herself until years later. The song employs tongue-in-cheek, slightly bawdy lyrics and an ironic use of the word "personality." The lyrics suggest that men are often attracted to a woman because of her shapely figure (called euphemistically her “personality”) rather than other beauty traits or any other admirable qualities she might possess.

Cover versions

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 ...

recorded the song with

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. Early years Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...

and His Orchestra in January 1946 and it reached the No. 9 spot in the Billboard charts in April 1946. *

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java" and the accompanying album '' Honey in the Horn'' (1963), and for the them ...

released a version on his 1964 album, ''

Beauty and the Beard ''Beauty and the Beard'' is an album by Al Hirt and Ann-Margret released by RCA Victor in 1964. The album was arranged by Marty Paich and produced by Steve Sholes. The album reached No. 84 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart in 1964 and #47 on ...

''.Al Hirt, ''Beauty and the Beard''
Retrieved April 10, 2013.

Song in popular culture

*Rewritten versions of the song have been used as commercial jingles. The most notable was "Wessonality," an advertisement for Wesson cooking oil sung by Florence Henderson. *The Johnny Mercer version features in the 2015 videogame '' Fallout 4'' on the in-game radio station Diamond City Radio. *The song plays on the soundtrack during the screen test preparation montage in episode 4 of Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood miniseries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Personality (1946 Song) 1946 songs 1946 singles Songs written for films Songs with lyrics by Johnny Burke (lyricist) Songs with music by Jimmy Van Heusen Dorothy Lamour songs Dinah Shore songs Al Hirt songs