1944

On the week of the 19th of February 1944, the USA introduced a second singles chart to go alongside the Best-Selling Retail Records and this was the Most Played Juke Box Records. We will be considering both charts equally official as Billboard did at the time. When it comes to listing the singles that reached number one, we will list the song chronologically when it hit no.1 on either chart and give priority to the chart on which it remained at the top for the longest. Therefore, both Shoo Shoo Baby by The Andrews Sisters and Mairzy Doats by The Merry Macs are considered as number one hits, even though they both only peaked at no.2 on the Retail sales charts. Besame Mucho by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra is listed with the date it reached no.1 on the Retail chart as it had seven weeks at the top of that chart, compared to just one week at the top of the Juke Box chart. Inversely, I’ll Get By by Harry James & His Orchestra is listed with the date it first hit no.1 on the Juke Box chart as it had six weeks on top of that, compared to four weeks at no.1 on the Retail sales chart. Records that peaked at no.2 are treated in the same way and therefore as previously mentioned, Shoo Shoo Baby and Mairzy Doats are not considered no.2 hits.

469. 29 January 1944

Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra (Vocal chorus by Eugenie Baird)

My Heart Tells Me

Written by Harry Warren & Mack Gordon

No.1 for 5 weeks (sales)

Glen Gray had achieved four number one singles in the 1930s, the first two under his band name, The Casa Loma Orchestra in 1933 and the next two, later in the decade under his own name. My Heart Tells Me was his first chart topper since the Your Hit Parade days in 1939 and it remained at the top for five weeks, by far his longest runner to date and it was his final time at no.1. He used the vocalist Eugenie Baird born in Mt Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1923. She sang, my heart tells me this is just a fling, yet you say our love means everything, do you mean what you are saying, or is this a little game you’re playing, my heart tells me I will cry again, lips that kiss like yours could lie again, if I’m fool enough to see this through, will I be sorry if I do, should I believe my heart or you. Glen Gray recorded the first version of My Heart Tells Me which was then used in the film Sweet Rosie O’Grady, starring Betty Grable in which it was sung by Phil Regan and then reprised by Betty Grable.

470. 19 February 1944

Andrews Sisters (with Vic Schoen & His Orchestra)

Shoo Shoo Baby

Written by Phil Moore

No.1 for 4 weeks (juke box)

In the Billboard edition of the 8th of January 1944, they introduced a new section Most Played Juke Box Records as the decision was taken that being played on the thousands of Juke Boxes around the country was just as important as sale via Retail outlets. Although it listed ten records in order of popularity, there was no distinction between the various of the same song, for example at no.2 was Pistol Packin’ Mama, a hit by Al Dexter, Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters and a third version by Freddie Fisher which had not charted nationally at all. At no.5 was the song Shoo Shoo Baby, a hit for both The Andrews Sisters, Ella Mae Morse and another version that also failed to chart by Jan Garber which was the first to be recorded. Finally, in the edition dated the 19th February, they separated the various versions of each song, listing The Andrews Sisters at no.1, Ella Mae Morse at no.4 and Jan Garber at no.16 in a chart with ten songs but twenty-three different artists. While the Andrews Sisters could climb no higher than no.2 in the Retail records sales chart stuck behind Glen Gray’s My Heart Tells Me, they spent four weeks at the top of the Most Played On Juke Box charts.

471. 9 March 1944

Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra (Vocal choruses by Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen)

Besame Mucho

Written by Consuelo Velázquez & Sunny Skylar

No.1 for 7 weeks (sales)
22 April 1944 No.1 for 1 week (juke box)

Jimmy Dorsey had been successful previously with songs originating from the Hispanic world, notably Amapola, Maria Elena and Green Eyes, all former number one singles and now he scored his seventh no.1 of the 1940s, equalling first place with Glenn Miller with Besame Mucho which was written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez and originally recorded by the group Los Cadetes Del Swing. Sonny Skylar composed English lyrics for the song which was then featured in two films in 1944, Follow The Boys in which it was played by Charlie Spivak & His Orchestra and Cowboy And The Senorita in which it was sung by Dale Evans. Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra recorded the most successful hit version, retaining his male vocalist Bob Eberly but replacing his usual female vocalist Helen O Connell with Kitty Kallen, born Katie Kallen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1921. Besame Mucho opened with a piano arpeggio followed by the same pattern established in Dorsey’s previous Spanish hits, Eberly sang the first verse as a ballad, bésame bésame mucho each time I cling to your kiss I hear music divine, bésame mucho hold me my darling and say that you’ll always be mine, this joy is something new my arms enfolding you, never knew this thrill before, whoever thought I’d be holding you close to me whispering it’s you I adore, dearest one if you should leave me each little dream would take wing and my life would be through, bésame mucho love me forever and make all my dreams come true. Then Kitty Kallen sang the same verse but in up up-tempo jazz style. The Record label translated the title literally as Kiss Me Much but perhaps it would have been better English as Kiss Me A Lot. Besame Mucho waited three weeks at no.2 behind My Heart Tells Me on the Retail sales charts before moving up to no.1 for seven weeks while on the Juke Box charts, it remained at no.2 for seven weeks before finally hitting the top on that chart too for just one week. In the UK the song failed to chart for any artist.

472. 18 March 1944

Merry Macs

Mairzy Doats

Written by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman & Jerry Livingston

No.1 for 5 weeks (juke box)

The Merry Macs were formed in the late 1920s in Minneapolis, Minnesota by three brothers, Judd McMichael born in 1906, Ted McMichael born in 1908 and Joe McMichael born in 1916. They performed in masks and were called The Mystery Trio. They dropped the masks in 1931 and were renamed The Personality Boys until they recruited Cheri McKay as a female lead vocalist and changed their name again to The Merry Macs. Throughout the 1930s and the early 1940s they replaced their female singer several times, firstly by Helen Carroll then Mary Lou Cook and finally Marjory Garland who would go on to marry the oldest brother Judd and was the vocalist at the time of their biggest hit single, the nonsense rhyming Mairzy Doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey, a kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you? The lyrics are explained in the central bridge of the song as they sang, if the words sound queer and funny to your ear a little bit jumbled and jivey, sing mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, suggesting that the final line was really a kid would eat ivy too, wouldn’t you? Mairzy Doats spent four weeks at no.2 on the sales Retail charts but hit no.1 on the 4th of March on the juke box charts, remaining at the top for five weeks and exactly three weeks earlier, youngest brother Joe was killed, serving in the armed forces in the war. The Merry Macs continued with Clive Erard as his replacement. There were two other versions in the top ten, the original hit by Al Trace & His Silly Symphonists and The Pied Pipers and in the UK it hit the top ten in versions by the British dance orchestras Ambrose and Joe Loss.

473. 22 April 1944

Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (Vocal chorus by Skip Nelson & Lombardo Trio)

It’s Love Love Love  

Written by Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer & Mack David

No.1 for 2 weeks (sales)

The positions were reversed on the two different charts with Bing Crosby’s San Fernando Valley peaking at no.2 on the sales chart but hitting the top on the Juke Box chart, while Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians were at no.2 on the Juke Box chart but spent two weeks on top of the sales chart with It’s Love Love Love, his first no.1 single since 1937 and their thirteenth in total. It’s Love Love Love was a playful song about how you know when you’re in love, imagine you imagining that you love me and starting on a family tree, imagine starting on a family tree, the mama is you and the papa is me, if your heart goes bumpety bump it’s love love love, if your throat comes up with a lump it’s love love love, if your knees go knockety knock it’s love love love, if you’re cuckoo like the cuckoo in the clock it’s love love love. There was a second version that has the lovers imagining a cozy flat, complete with running dog and cat, imagine having running dog and cat, and we will have welcome on top of the mat. Skip Nelson had previously provided vocals for the no.1 single That Old Black Magic by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra and he was joined on the vocal chorus by The Lombardo Trio, Fred Higman, Larry Owen and Carmen Lombardo. It was also the second number one single for the husband wife song-writing team Alex Kramer and Joan Whitney who had previously composed My Sister And I for Jimmy Dorsey as well as two no.2 hits for Gene Krupa, High On A Windy Hill and It All Comes Back To Me Now.

474. 29 April 1944

Bing Crosby (with John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra)

San Fernando Valley

Written by Gordon Jenkins

No.1 for 4 weeks (juke box)
3 June 1944 returned to no.1 for 1 week

Like Shoo Shoo Baby and Mairzy Doats, Bing Crosby’s San Fernando Valley was another single that stopped short on the Retail sales chart, peaking at no.2 for three weeks behind another of his songs, I Love You but topping the Most Played On Juke Boxes chart for multiple weeks, in this case five in total, giving Crosby his fourth no.1 single of the 1940s and fifteenth overall. The San Fernando Valley is an area in California, comprising part of the city of Los Angeles as well as the cities of Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, Hidden Hills, and Calabasas. In the song, Bing Crosby had decided to settle down and stop his roaming. Kindly old Reverend Thomas lives there and he has made a promise to make him and his fiancée one, so she will be waiting for him there. He’ll be making new friends, forgetting his sins cause I’ve decided that it’s the San Fernando Valley for me. The song also spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts.

475. 6 May 1944

Bing Crosby (with John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra)

I Love You

Written by Cole Porter

No.1 for 5 weeks (sales)
27 May 1944 no.1 for 2 weeks (juke box)

Bing Crosby moved within one of Glenn Miller both in terms of number of chart-topping singles, sixteen compared to seventeen and also the number of weeks spent at the top, seventy-one compared to seventy-two with a song from the Broadway musical Mexican Hayride, I Love You which was sung on stage by Wilbur Evans as the character David Winthrop. Bing Crosby recorded the song without the introduction but went straight into the chorus, I love you hums the April breeze, I love you echo the hills, I love you the golden dawn agrees, as once more she sees daffodils, it’s spring again and birds on the wing again start to sing again the old melody, I love you that’s the song of songs and it all belongs to you and me. It spent five weeks on top of the Retail sales charts and two weeks at no.1 on the Juke Box chart and was also a top ten hit by Enric Madriguera and Joe Stafford, but failed to chart at all in the UK for anybody. It also moved Cole Porter up to seven number one singles in total as a composer, equalling four other composers.

476. 10 June 1944

Harry James & His Orchestra (Vocal chorus by Dick Haymes)

I’ll Get By (As Long As I Have You)

Written by Fred E Ahlert & Roy Turk

No.1 for 6 weeks (juke box)
10 June 1944 No.1 for 4 weeks (sales)

Harry James achieved his fourth no.1 single, six weeks at the top of the Juke Box charts and four weeks as the best-seller at Retail. Dick Haymes had begun his chart career as the support vocalist for the Harry James Orchestra but then he branched out on his own and had a solo no.1 with You’ll Never Know, or at least solo backed by The Song Spinners. He returned to being listed as support vocalist for James on the single I’ll Get By, although this was a re-issue of a 1940 recording, held back until Columbia needed a new Harry James song but had been unable to record one in the studio since 1942 due to the musicians’ strike. I’ll Get By became popular again after it had featured in two films A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne and sung by her and also Follow The Boys in which it was sung by Dinah Shore. Another version of the song was in the top ten at the same time by The Ink Spots and it was this version that was more popular in the UK, peaking at no.2, compared to Harry James at no.5. The song had also already been a number one single for Ruth Etting in the bi-weekly charts of 1929. The composer Fred Ahlert had previously written two no.1 singles, Life Is A Song and Take My Heart but it was the first time at the top for his co-composer Roy Turk apart from their involvement with the Ruth Etting hit..

477. 1 July 1944

Bing Crosby (with John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra)

I’ll Be Seeing You

Written by Sammy Fain & Irving Kahal

No.1 for 1 week (sales)
15 July 1944 returned to no.1 for 3 weeks
29 July 1944 no.1 for 1 week (juke box)

Bing Crosby moved up to seventeen no.1 singles in total, equal with Glenn Miller but moved ahead in terms of the number of weeks spent at the top, seventy-five compared to seventy-two. The song I’ll Be Seeing You was his seventh in total backed by John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra and the fifth chart topper in both the USA and the UK, four of which had been by Crosby. It was about nostalgia, seeing someone you love in all the old familiar places, in that small café, the park across the way, the children’s carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well, in every lovely summer’s day, in everything that’s light and gay, I’ll find you in the mornin’ sun and when the night is new, I’ll be looking at the moon but I’ll be seeing you. It had one week at the top of the Retail sales charts and also one week on at no.1 on the Juke box charts, but after dropping down and swapping places with I’ll Get By, it moved back up to no.1 for a further three weeks.

478. 5 August 1944

Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five

GI Jive

Written by Johnny Mercer

No.1 for 2 weeks (juke box)

Louis Jordan was born in Brinkley, Arkansas in 1908 and was a bandleader and musician who specialised in small groups, playing what became known as jump blues, a dance-oriented hybrid of jazz and blues with highly syncopated rhythms. The original members of his Tympany Five included Courtney Williams on trumpet, Lem Johnson on saxophone, Clarence Johnson on piano, Charlie Drayton on bass and Walter Martin on drums although often there were more than five musicians playing. His first hit single was GI Jive, a number three on the sales chart but no.1 for two weeks on the Juke Box charts. The original recording was by the composer Johnny Mercer which was not a pop hit, but did hit no.1 on the Harlem Hit Parade. GI Jive captured a day in the life in the army describing in so called jive-talk what a typical day consisted of, this is the GI Jive, man alive, it starts with the bugler blowin’ reveille over your bed when you arrive, Jack that’s the GI Jive, roodley-toot jump in your suit make a salute, after you wash and dress, more or less, you go get your breakfast in a beautiful little café they call The Mess, Jack when you convalesce out of your seat into the street, make with the feet, reet. It also featured slang terms that were used often in service life, if you’re a PVT your duty is to salute the LIEUT, but if you brush the LIEUT, the MP makes you KP on the QT, it’s just the GI Jive. At the end of the day, after you revive chuck all your junk back in the trunk, fall on your bunk, clunk, then you’ll go to sleep before you count to five, but when you wake up in the morning, you’ll have to do the GI Jive. Johnny Mercer achieved his fourth no.1 single as a composer following Blues In The Night, Tangerine and That Old Black Magic, all for different artists and his twelfth overall. In the UK GI Jive failed to chart at all.

479. 5 August 1944

Bing Crosby (with John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra)

Swinging On A Star

Written by Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen

No.1 for 9 weeks (sales)
19 August 1944 No.1 for 8 weeks (juke box)

One of Bing Crosby’s biggest hits was Swinging On A Star from his own film Going My Way which won the Oscar for best original song that year. It was reportedly written after a dinner party where one of Crosby’s children had complained that he didn’t want to go to school the following day, to which Crosby replied if you don’t go to school you might grow up to be a mule which turned into one of the central themes of the song that if you want to better yourself and swing on a star, then make some effort and go to school, otherwise you might grow up to be a mule, or in other verses, a pig or a fish. Playing the character of Father Chuck O’Malley, a new priest taking over a difficult parish, he explained to the children the disadvantages of these animals and how they would end up unless they applied themselves, a mule is an animal with long funny ears, kicks up at anything he hears, his back is brawny but his brain is weak, he’s just plain stupid with a stubborn streak, and by the way if you hate to go to school, you may grow up to be a mule, a pig is an animal with dirt on his face, his shoes are a terrible disgrace, he has no manners when he eats his food, he’s fat and lazy and extremely rude, but if you don’t care a feather or a fig, you may grow up to be a pig, a fish won’t do anything but swim in a brook, he can’t write his name or read a book, to fool the people is his only thought, and though he’s slippery he still gets caught, but then if that sort of life is what you wish, you may grow up to be a fish, so you see it’s all up to you, you can be better than you are, you could be swinging on a star. Crosby spent nine weeks at the top of the Retail sales chart and eight weeks at no.1 on the Juke Box charts with his seventh no.1 single of the 1940s, equal with Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller and moved ahead of Miller with eighteen no.1 hits in total. He was backed as usual by John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra and also credited were the Williams Brothers Quartet, Bob, Don, Dick and youngest brother Andy who would soon become a major singing star in his own right.

480. 7 October 1944

Mills Brothers

You Always Hurt The One You Love

Written by Allan Roberts & Doris Fisher

No.1 for 1 week (sales)
21 October returned to no.1 for 2 weeks
25 November returned to no.1 for 2 weeks

The Mills Brothers returned with their second no.1 single and like Paper Doll, it followed the same format, opening with a guitar and a song sung as a ballad by Donald Mills with only four lines of lyrics, you always hurt the one you love the one you shouldn’t hurt at all, you always take the sweetest rose and crush it till the petals fall, you always break the kindest heart with a hasty word you can’t recall, so if I broke your heart last night it’s because I love you most of all. They sang it three times, the second time, speeded up and backed by piano, drums and bass and finally, the other three brothers joined in harmony. It spent just one week at the top the ginning of October but then swapped places twice with I’ll Walk Alone to register five weeks at no.1 on the retail sales chart but only peaked at no.2 on juke boxes. In the UK, The Mills Brothers couldn’t repeat the success of Paper Doll and You Always Hurt The One You Love only peaked at no.11.

481. 14 October 1944

Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters (with Vic Schoen & His Orchestra)

(There’ll Be A) Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin

Written by Joe Bushkin & John De Vries

No.1 for 6 weeks (juke box)

There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin, subtitled When The Yanks Go Marching In was the first song that topped the Most Played on Juke Boxes chart without ever charting in the Retail sales chart. However this was actually the B side of a double sided hit, the A side being Is You Is Or Is You Aint Ma Baby which did much better at retail and less well on juke boxes. The record label stated that the composers were Sgt Joe Bushkin and Pvt John De Vries and it was written while they were serving in the Army. They sang there’ll be a hot time in the town of Berlin, when the Yanks go marching in, I want to be there boy spread some joy, when they take old Berlin, there’ll be a hot time in the town of Berlin, when the Brooklyn boys begin, to take the joint apart and tear it down, when they take old Berlin. Crosby sang the verse, they’re going to start a row and show them how, we’ll paint the town back in Kokomo, they’re gonna take a hike through Hitler’s Reich, and change that heil to whatcha-know-Joe while the Andrews Sisters sang the same verses except changed the town back home, they’re going to start a row and show them how, you paint the town back in Michigan, they’re gonna take a hike through Hitler’s Reich, and change the heil to give-me-some-skin and both sang the final verse, a life of ease would never please they’d shudder with alarm, no you couldn’t keep them happy down on the farm, after they take Berlin. Berlin was deep inside the German territory that would fall under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and become the Democratic Republic Of Germany (East Germany) and the Yanks never did take Berlin but it was the Russians who invaded the city in April 1945 and only after the war, was Berlin divided into four sectors controlled by the victorious powers with the Americans taking the South West sector of the city.

482. 14 October 1944

Dinah Shore

I’ll Walk Alone

Written by Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn

No.1 for 1 week (sales)
4 November 1944 returned to no.1 for 3 weeks
25 November 1944 no.1 for 1 week (juke box)

Dinah Shore was born Fannye Rose Shore in Winchester, Tennessee in 1916. She had failed singing auditions for the bands of Benny Goodman and both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. Fortunately, her career was just starting at the time when musicians and that of course included big bands and orchestras were barred from recording in studios and the public taste in music was moving towards solo singers as opposed to bandleaders with or without a featured vocalist as had been the case for nearly a quarter of a century. Shore struck out on her own and I’ll Walk Alone was her eleventh top ten hit and first no.1 on both the sales and juke box charts. It was from the musical film Follow The Boys, in which it was sung by Dinah Shore herself. This told the story of a couple who were forcibly separated by the war and she would be faithful until he returned, I’ll walk alone because to tell you the truth I’ll be lonely, I don’t mind being lonely when my heart tells me you are lonely too, I’ll always be near you wherever you are each night in every prayer, just whisper I’ll hear you no matter how far, so close your eyes and I’ll be there, darling all by myself I’ll walk alone. The composing team of Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn had previously written the joint longest running no.1 to date, I’ve Heard That Song Before. When the song returned to the top for its second run at the top at the beginning of November, there were three versions inside the top ten by Dinah Shore, Martha Tilton and Mary Martin. In the UK, two different versions were hit singles by Carroll Gibbons and Ambrose & His Orchestra.

483. 2 December 1944

Ink Spots & Ella Fitzgerald

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Written by Allan Roberts & Doris Fisher

No.1 for 2 weeks (juke box)

The Ink Spots had been much more popular in the UK, achieving nine number one singles to date, but not climbing than no.2 in the USA. They teamed up with Ella Fitzgerald who had already scored a number one single in 1938 with her own composition A Ticket A Tasket although she was only credited as the featured vocalist with Chick Webb & His Orchestra. Together with the Ink Spots, the recorded two songs I’m Making Believe and Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall and put both songs on the same disc with each being more popular on the different charts, Into Each Life hitting no.1 on the Juke Box charts and peaking at no.5 on the Retail sales chart, while I’m Making Believe hit no.1 in sales but no.3 on juke box plays. Bill Kenny sang the verse as a solo with the rest of the Ink Spots humming in the background, into each life some rain must fall but too much is falling in mine, into each heart some tears must fall but some day the sun will shine, some folks can lose the blues in their hearts but when I think of you another shower starts, into each life some rain must fall but too much is falling in mine. Ella Fitzgerald sang the same verse solo and then as always, the third time through was left to Hoppy Jones to speak in his bass voice, the lines but not exactly as written. It was the second time at the top for the composers who had previously hit no.1 recently with You Always Hurt The One You Love.

484. 9 December 1944

Ink Spots & Ella Fitzgerald   

I’m Making Believe

Written by Mack Gordon & James V Monaco

No.1 for 2 weeks (sales)       

As mentioned in the previous entry, both sides of the Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald hit charted separately and both reached no.1 but on the two different charts that were published in 1944. I’m Making Believe first appeared in the film Sweet and Low-Down which was a fictionalised story of the life of Benny Goodman while entertaining the troops at military camps. The song was performed by Goodman playing himself with an uncredited Lynn Bari providing the vocals, although she was dubbed by Lorraine Elliott who also remained uncredited in the film. In the hit single version, Bill Kenny of The Ink Spots sang, I’m making believe that you’re in my arms though I know you’re so far away, making believe I’m talking to you wish you could hear what I say, and here in the gloom of my lonely room we’re dancing like we used to do, making believe is just another way of dreaming so till my dreams come true, I’ll whisper good night turn out the light and kiss my pillow making believe it’s you. This was then repeated by Ella Fitzgerald, but then they broke with their usual style and sung the third verse together, rather than give the part to Hoppy Jones to voice. In the UK, both sides were listed together in the charts but they only peaked at no.9 despite The Ink Spots popularity. Ella Fitzgerald never hit the top on her own, only the two singles with The Ink Spots. She died in 1996 aged 79.

485. 16 December 1944

Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters (with Vic Schoen & His Orchestra)

Don’t Fence Me In

Written by Cole Porter

No.1 for 8 weeks (sales)
16 December 1944 No.1 for 8 weeks (juke box)
27 January 1945 No.1 for 7 weeks (disc jockeys)

Don’t Fence Me In was written in 1934 for Adios Argentina a film musical that was never completed. It was based on a poem by Robert Fletcher and when Cole Porter was asked to write a cowboy song for the film, he bought the poem and based his lyrics around it. When the song was published however, the publishers insisted that Cole Porter was credited as sole composer although he did personally pay royalties to Fletcher. At the time of the aborted film, the song was recorded by Edward Nell with The Foursome Quartet but it wasn’t a hit. It was revived in the film musical Hollywood Canteen in which it sung and played by several members of the cast including Roy Rogers, The Andrews Sisters and Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra, all of them uncredited. The Andrews Sisters along with Bing Crosby were the first artists to record it and it reached no.1 for eight weeks on both the USA charts at the end of 1944. Cole Porter did a good job when he was tasked with writing a cowboy song as this had Crosby sounding like he would like nothing better than to ride through the wide-open country that I love, with land lots of land under starry skies above, let me be by myself in the evening breeze and listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees, just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle underneath the western skies, on my cayuse let me wander over yonder till I see the mountains rise, I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences and gaze at the moon till I lose my senses, and I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences, don’t fence me in. Don’t Fence Me In became the sixth chart topper in both the USA and the UK, five of which had been by Crosby.

Summary 1944

1945