"Oh! What it Seemed to Be" is a song composed 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 ...

, George Weiss and

Frankie Carle Frankie Carle (born Francis Nunzio Carlone, March 25, 1903 – March 7, 2001) was an American pianist and bandleader. As a very popular bandleader in the 1940s and 1950s, Carle was nicknamed "The Wizard of the Keyboard" for his piano skills. " Su ...

. The song was most popular in 1946, and was taken to number 1 that year by both

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

and the

orchestra, the latter with Marjorie Hughes on vocals.

Composition

The song was first published in 1945 by Abilene Music, Inc. and Anne-Rachel Music Corp. The song helped make Benjamin and Weiss the top songwriters of 1946. Carle said he adapted a tune he had for Benjamin and Weiss's lyrics. Largely on the strength of this composition, other Carle compositions received attention as well. Between Carle and Sinatra, the song spent 35% of the year 1946 at the top of Billboard's charts. It also spent nineteen weeks on

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year r ...

, eight of them in the top position. As sheet music, the song was the fourth most popular of 1946. The song's subject matter deals with routine occurrences that become momentous when a significant other is involved.

Frankie Carle version

Carle's version was the most popular, staying on the chart for twenty weeks, and topping the chart for eleven of those. It was the 22nd most popular recording of the pre-rock era. It introduced Marjorie Hughes as vocalist. Carle was reluctant to acknowledge that his vocalist was his daughter, fearing that charges of nepotism would hurt her career if she were not proven to be an effective vocalist in her own right. However, the outstanding success of this song soon caused an announcement that Carle and Hughes were indeed closely related.

Frank Sinatra versions

Sinatra's first version of the song was with Axel Stordahl orchestration. Sinatra had told the arranger to not modify it from the version presented by the composers. Although initially more popular than Carle's own version, Sinatra's recording was ultimately only slightly less popular than Carle's; starting in February 1946 it had a chart run of seventeen weeks, eight of those at the number one position. Sinatra re-recorded the song with

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including ...

orchestration for the 1963 album ''

Sinatra's Sinatra ''Sinatra's Sinatra'' is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1963. Ten of the album's twelve tracks are re-recorded versions of songs that Sinatra had previously released, with "Pocketful of Miracles" and "Call Me Irresponsib ...

''. The version was less well received, as by this time Sinatra had long moved beyond any babe-in-the-woods persona. Earlier, Sinatra had performed a version for the ''Old Gold'' radio show. A rehearsal take for that show in which Sinatra clowns around by voicing it in the manner of

Mickey Katz Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American musician and comedian. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey. Early life Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court i ...

has found popularity with collectors.

Other recorded versions

Other popular 1946 versions were a duet by

Helen Forrest Helen Forrest (born Helen Fogel, April 12, 1917 – July 11, 1999) was an American singer of traditional pop and swing music. She served as the "girl singer" for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Good ...

and

Dick Haymes Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentine singer, songwriter and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, televi ...

(charting at number 4), and

Charlie Spivak Charlie Spivak (c. February 17, 1904 – March 1, 1982) was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s. Early life According to his immigration record, Sender Spivakovsky was born around 1904 in the village ...

(number 5). The George Paxton band also released a version in 1946. For

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, The DeMarco Sisters recorded it in 1954.

The Castells The Castells were a male vocal quartet from Santa Rosa, California best remembered for their hits "Sacred" (No. 20 in 1961) and "So This Is Love" (No. 21 in 1962), both released as singles by Era Records.Joel Whitburn, ''The Billboard Book of ...

had a minor hit (number 92) with the song in August 1962. Willie Nelson covered the song in 1994's album '' Healing Hands of Time''.

References

{{Authority control 1946 singles Frank Sinatra songs 1945 songs