THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
419-Percy Faith-Theme from A Summer Place.
1960-Number 2 single.
Best Bit-At 1.00. You say it better when you say nothing at all.
‘Theme from A Summer Place was written for the 1959 American romantic drama film ‘A Summer Place.’ Originally called the ‘Molly and Johnny Theme,’ it was performed for the movie by the American ‘Easy Listening’ music arranger Hugo Winterhalter (1909-1973.) The music was not the films main title music, and was only played intermittently during the film, it only came to be immediately associated with the movie after this recording by Percy Faith.
‘Theme from A Summer Place’ was written by Max Steiner (1888-1971) (melody) and Mack Discant (1916-1961) (lyrics.) Although the lyrics were not used in the film, or in the Percy Faith version, there have been dozens, or maybe even hundreds of vocal versions recorded. Max Steiner was born Maximilian Raoul Steiner, on May 10th, 1888 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he died on December 28th, 1971, from congestive heart failure, at the age of 83. Steiner composed over 300 film scores, including ‘Casablanca,’ (1942) (but not ‘As Time Goes By’) ‘Gone With the Wind,’ (1939) and ‘King Kong,’ (1933.) He is referred to as the ‘Father of film music,’ or the ‘Dean of film music.’
Percy Faith was born on April 7th, 1908, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he died on February 9th, 1976, from cancer, at the age of 67. Percy Faith recorded around 100 studio Albums between 1951-1976, 21 of which made the Billboard Hot 200 chart. He also had great success as a music producer for himself, and others. His productions can be heard on 16 Billboard hit singles, including both of his Number 1’s, this song in 1960, and the ‘Moulin Rouge Theme’ in 1953. Percy Faith is credited with popularising the genre of ‘Easy Listening’ also known as ‘Mood Music,’ although at times he has been ridiculed for inventing ‘elevator music.’ Although Percy Faith’s professional career began at the height of the ‘Swing Era,’ he refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940’s. Percy Faith is the only artist to have the best selling single of the year during both the ‘Pop’ singer era (1953-‘Song from Moulin Rouge’) and the ‘Rock’ era, (1959-‘Theme from A Summer Place’) and he is one of only three artists, along with Elvis Presley and the Beatles, to have the best selling single of the year twice,
‘Theme from A Summer Place’ was written by Max Steiner, and produced by Percy Faith, and was released as a single in September 1959, it can also be found on Percy Faith’s 1971 compilation Album ‘A Summer Place.’ In 1959 prior to the film ‘A Summer Place’ being released, Percy Faith had already recorded and released ‘Theme from A Summer Place’ as a single. At first it only charted moderately, but it eventually took off in February 1960, spending nine consecutive weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which at that time set a new record, which would stand until 1977. The song remains the longest running Number 1 instrumental in the history of the Billboard singles chart. Percy Faith re-recorded ‘Theme from A Summer Place’ twice. In 1969, as a female choral version, and then in 1976 as a ‘Disco’ version titled ‘Summer Place 76,’ which was released posthumously. In 1960 the British music producer Norrie Paramor (1914-1979) (see also best songs 709) released his arrangement of the ‘Theme from A Summer Place’ as a single on Columbia Records, featuring wordless vocals by the Scottish soprano Patricia Clarke, and credited to ‘Norrie Paramor & His Orchestra,’ the single reached number 36 on the UK top 40. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, a vocal version by the American male vocal trio the ‘Lettermen’ reached Number 16 in 1965.
‘Easy Listening’ music is a genre of music that was most popular during the 1950’s to the 1970’s. It is related to ‘Middle-Of-The-Road’ (MOR) music, and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, non-Rock vocals, and instrumental covers of selected popular Rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the ‘Rock and Roll’ era, characteristically on music from the 1940’s and 1950’s. Vocalists who are associated with ‘Easy Listening,’ and appear in this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list include, Frank Sinatra, (see also best songs 877-567-469-120 and 73) Nat King Cole, (see also best songs 988-327-226 and 161) The Carpenters, (see also best songs 744) and The Mills Brothers (see also best songs 960 and 535.)