Golden Earrings (song)

"Golden Earrings" is a song composed by Victor Young, with lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston,[1] and introduced by Murvyn Vye in the 1947 Paramount film Golden Earrings.[2]

"Golden Earrings"
Single by Peggy Lee
B-side"I'll Dance at Your Wedding"
Released1947 (1947)
LabelCapitol
ComposerVictor Young
LyricistsRay Evans, Jay Livingston
Music video
"Golden Earrings" on YouTube

It was a hit on the both sides of Atlantic as recorded by Peggy Lee.[3][4][5][6]

Composition

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Reviewing Dinah Shore's version in October 1947, Billboard described "Golden Earrings" as a "dreamy gypsy melody".[7]

As Philip Furia notes in his book American Song Lyricists, 1920-1960, "the melody of [the song]", "cast in the minor mode, and with altered second and seventh scale degrees", "has all the stereotypical markers of one intended to sound 'Jewish,' 'oriental,' or otherwise non-Western."[2]

Reference

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  1. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". 1962.
  2. 1 2 Furia, Philip (2002). American Song Lyricists, 1920-1960. Gale. ISBN 978-0-7876-6008-6. Although sung by Murvyn Vye in the movie, it was Peggy Lee's version that reached the number-one slot on the popular-music charts early in 1948
  3. "Chart Hits". Peggy Lee.com.
  4. "England's Top 20". Billboard Music Week. June 1948.
  5. "The Billboard". The Billboard. 1947.
  6. "The Year's Top Selling Female Vocalists Over Record Counters". Billboard. 3 January 1948.
  7. "Billboard". 18 October 1947.