"If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" is a
popular song written by
Al Hoffman,
Bob Merrill, and
Clem Watts and published in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
.
In the U.S, the best known version of the song was recorded by
Eileen Barton in January 1950.
Joe Lipman served as the musical director for the recording sessions for the two sides. The recording was released by
National Records as catalog number 9103. When the song became too big a hit for National to handle, it arranged with
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. Mercury Records released ...
to help with distribution. The record first reached the
''Billboard'' charts on March 3, 1950 and lasted 15 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.
[
] The song was one of
Tom Dowd's first hits as a producer.
In 1962, Barton's recording of the song was included in a list of ''101 Perennial Singles Hits'' compiled by ''Billboard'' – a group "For year-round programming by juke box operators and radio stations ... a catalog of standards that can provide consistent earnings for operators and a wealth of material for discussion by broadcasters."
Cover versions
In the UK, a version was recorded by
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
in 1950, and was used on a British television advertising campaign for
Rightmove in 2007.
Kitty Bluett and
Bill Kerr recorded a version in 1950.
Another version was recorded by
Georgia Gibbs. The recording was made on February 16, 1950, and released by
Coral Records as catalogue number 60169. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on March 17, 1950, and lasted six weeks on the chart, peaking at #21.
[
Another version was recorded by Betty Harris and a choir, with Art Mooney's Orchestra. The recording was made on February 15, 1950, and released by MGM Records as catalogue number 10660.
]Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
and Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
recorded a version together that expanded on the standard lyrics to include verses about making a meal and preparing a goose. This was first heard on the CBS radio program, ‘Welcome Back Baseball’ broadcast on 15 April 1950.
In Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, a version was recorded by June Hamilton in May 1950 and released by Pacific Records as catalog number 10-0030.
The Fontane Sisters recorded a version of the song for RCA in 1951.
Barton performed a second recording of the song for MGM in 1959. The new version reached #117 in the Music Vendor survey.
Two versions of the song were recorded for ''Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
''. The first was recorded in 1969 in a skit involving Ernie and Cookie Monster. A second version involving Cookie Monster and Count von Count was recorded in 1976 and released on the B side of " C is for Cookie".
In 1988, children's entertainment trio '' Sharon, Lois & Bram'' recorded the song that appeared on both their hit television series, '' The Elephant Show'' as well as their 10th Anniversary album, '' Happy Birthday''. The song was later included in a collection of their best hits titled '' Great Big Hits''. The trio also re-recorded the song for their second hit television series '' Skinnamarink TV'' in 1997.
Baker Bob sang that song before Piella Bakewell murdered him at the beginning of the '' Wallace & Gromit'' cartoon '' A Matter of Loaf and Death''.
A version was used as the opening theme to '' Exit 57'', a sketch comedy series that aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
and starred Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
, Mitch Rouse, and Jodi Lennon.
Manhattan band The Maxes recorded a version of the song in 2008 as part of a 12-song Al Hoffman collection titled ''The Maxes Sing Al Hoffman''.
The song appeared on the ''M*A*S*H'' during the season one episode "Henry, Please Come Home" riginal air date 11/19/1972 Two Tokyo-based geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...
girls performed the song, along with acoustic guitar accompaniment, to Hawkeye Pierce, Henry Blake and Trapper John McIntyre.
The song appeared in the 1978 film adaptation of '' Same Time, Next Year''. When Doris is preparing to shower, George tells her that the song that played while they were making love was "If I Knew You Were Coming Id've Baked A Cake" and tells her that it will be their song. George later plays a part of the song on the piano in a later scene of the movie.
Certain versions of the song include the lyrics If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake "this morning" instead of "how d'you do".
Charts
References
{{authority control
Number-one singles in the United States
1950 songs
Songs written by Al Hoffman
Songs written by Bob Merrill
Songs written by Al Trace
Ethel Merman songs
Sesame Street songs