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GEORGE CLOONEY'S AUNT ROSIE'S BIGGEST HIT
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Oct 27 2011
Rosemary Clooney, who died in 2002, was George Clooney's Aunt and
Miguel Ferrer's mom. She'd sung with her sister Betty as part of
the Clooney Sisters and she had a few problems when she signed with
Columbia Records: namely pop A&R director (in other words, head
producer) Mitch Miller, who looked for catchy but often crappy songs
he could record that would sell a lot of product even if the tunes
weren't very good. Tony Bennett had to deal with the same thing.
Mitch was smart enough to recognize the American public's taste then
(and not much has changed in 60 years). He even admitted at the time
that a lot of the stuff was junk (his own tastes ran to classical
and jazz).
So Mitch laid a seemingly forgettable ditty on Rosie: a faux-Armenian
song based on a real Armenian folk tune, was written by two authentic
Armenian-Americans: the celebrated playwright William Saroyan,
creator of The Time of Your Life and The Human Comedy, and his cousin,
singer-songwriter Ross Bagdasarian. The song had all the import of
any bad, throwaway pop tune.
Clooney wanted no parts of it. A singer named Kay Armen had recorded
it with no success at all. Why should Clooney have to record something
that one singer had already failed with? She was on the rise with the
label. Her previous Mitch-produced single, "Beautiful Brown Eyes"
was a significant hit, with country roots. It was written by Alton
Delmore of the Delmore Brohters, first recorded by the Arthur Smith
Trio (a pre-war country act) in 1937.
Clooney's hit version of "Brown Eyes":
On June 5, the day before the session, Clooney argued with Mitch,
who listened for a while and then put it in language she understood
clearly: don't show for the session and you're fired (in other words
Columbia cancels the contract). That simple. Mitch wanted to use a
jazzy harpsichord on it, so the arrangement would at least kick some.
On June 6, 1951, with Stan Freeman tearing it up on harpsichord,
Clooney recorded this:
Mitch was right. It was at # 1 eight weeks that summer. It wasn't the
worst song he ever produced (that dubious honor goes to Frank Sinatra's
"Mama Will Bark").
Other artists quickly recorded ("covered" the song themselves including
the co-writers, Saroyan and Bagdasarian. Their version appeared on
Coral Records, Bagdasarian doing the vocal, Saroyan providing some
spoken context with a hot little trio backing them. The record's
barely known today.
Does the vocal sound familiar? Well...Ross Bagdasarian would make
records for Liberty Records under the name David Seville, including
"Witch Doctor" and with the sped-up voice, opened the door to the
Chipmunks.
As for Rosie, she sang it up to the end and here, she tells the story
I recounted above. I gotta admit, as much as I liked the arrangement
on the original, it sounds pretty good with a big band, too.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Oct 27 2011
Rosemary Clooney, who died in 2002, was George Clooney's Aunt and
Miguel Ferrer's mom. She'd sung with her sister Betty as part of
the Clooney Sisters and she had a few problems when she signed with
Columbia Records: namely pop A&R director (in other words, head
producer) Mitch Miller, who looked for catchy but often crappy songs
he could record that would sell a lot of product even if the tunes
weren't very good. Tony Bennett had to deal with the same thing.
Mitch was smart enough to recognize the American public's taste then
(and not much has changed in 60 years). He even admitted at the time
that a lot of the stuff was junk (his own tastes ran to classical
and jazz).
So Mitch laid a seemingly forgettable ditty on Rosie: a faux-Armenian
song based on a real Armenian folk tune, was written by two authentic
Armenian-Americans: the celebrated playwright William Saroyan,
creator of The Time of Your Life and The Human Comedy, and his cousin,
singer-songwriter Ross Bagdasarian. The song had all the import of
any bad, throwaway pop tune.
Clooney wanted no parts of it. A singer named Kay Armen had recorded
it with no success at all. Why should Clooney have to record something
that one singer had already failed with? She was on the rise with the
label. Her previous Mitch-produced single, "Beautiful Brown Eyes"
was a significant hit, with country roots. It was written by Alton
Delmore of the Delmore Brohters, first recorded by the Arthur Smith
Trio (a pre-war country act) in 1937.
Clooney's hit version of "Brown Eyes":
On June 5, the day before the session, Clooney argued with Mitch,
who listened for a while and then put it in language she understood
clearly: don't show for the session and you're fired (in other words
Columbia cancels the contract). That simple. Mitch wanted to use a
jazzy harpsichord on it, so the arrangement would at least kick some.
On June 6, 1951, with Stan Freeman tearing it up on harpsichord,
Clooney recorded this:
Mitch was right. It was at # 1 eight weeks that summer. It wasn't the
worst song he ever produced (that dubious honor goes to Frank Sinatra's
"Mama Will Bark").
Other artists quickly recorded ("covered" the song themselves including
the co-writers, Saroyan and Bagdasarian. Their version appeared on
Coral Records, Bagdasarian doing the vocal, Saroyan providing some
spoken context with a hot little trio backing them. The record's
barely known today.
Does the vocal sound familiar? Well...Ross Bagdasarian would make
records for Liberty Records under the name David Seville, including
"Witch Doctor" and with the sped-up voice, opened the door to the
Chipmunks.
As for Rosie, she sang it up to the end and here, she tells the story
I recounted above. I gotta admit, as much as I liked the arrangement
on the original, it sounds pretty good with a big band, too.