Till There Was You

"Till There Was You" is a show tune written in 1950 by Meredith Willson, originally entitled "Till I Met You." It was originally recorded October 25, 1950 by Meredith Willson & his Orchestra and Eileen Wilson. The song was retitled and used in his musical play The Music Man (1957), and which also appeared in the 1962 movie version. It is sung by librarian Marian Paroo (performed by Barbara Cook on Broadway, and by Shirley Jones in the film) to "Professor" Harold Hill (portrayed on Broadway and in the film by Robert Preston) toward the end of Act Two.

For other uses, see Till There Was You (disambiguation).

"Till There Was You"
Song
Published1957 by Frank Music
Songwriter(s)Meredith Willson

In 1959, the song became the first of four US Top 40 hits for Anita Bryant.[1] "Till There Was You" was covered by the Beatles in 1963.

History

The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Nelson Riddle, featuring his orchestra and 17-year-old vocalist Sue Raney. Promotional copies of the 45 rpm single, Capitol P3847, were released on November 26, 1957, even before the Broadway production had premiered on December 19, 1957, and a month ahead of the original cast album.

An earlier version of this song, "Till I Met You", was first recorded by Eileen Wilson in 1950 and later appeared on the January 14, 1951 edition of The Big Show, performed by Fran Warren.

Anita Bryant version
"Till There Was You"
Single by Anita Bryant
B-side"Little George (Got the Hiccoughs)"
ReleasedMay 1959
GenrePop
Length2:10
LabelCarlton Records 512
Songwriter(s)Meredith Willson
Anita Bryant singles chronology
"Till There Was You"
(1959)		 "Six Boys and Seven Girls"
(1959)

In 1959, American singer Anita Bryant recorded the song "Till There Was You" and released it as a single. Her version reached number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart[1] and number 14 on the Cashbox Top 100.[2]

Chart performance
Chart (1959) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [1] 30
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [2] 14

The Beatles version
"Till There Was You"
Cover of the song's sheet music
Song by the Beatles
from the album With the Beatles
ReleasedNovember 22, 1963 (mono)
November 30, 1963 (stereo)
RecordedJuly 18 and 30, 1963
StudioEMI, London
GenreBolero, Pop music
Length2:16
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Meredith Willson
Producer(s)George Martin
Audio sample
"'Til There Was You"
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"Till There Was You" was recorded by the Beatles in 1963 and released on their second album With the Beatles (1963) (United Kingdom) and Meet the Beatles! (1964) (United States). It was the only song from a Broadway show released by the band.

The Beatles' version is sung by Paul McCartney, who is accompanied by George Harrison and John Lennon on dueling acoustic, classical guitars played in a Spanish style over a bossa nova bongo beat played by Ringo Starr. The song was produced by George Martin. Its guitar solo is by George Harrison. The widow of Meredith Willson, the composer of The Music Man, has stated that her husband's estate eventually received more income from the royalties of the Beatles recordings of "Till There Was You" than it originally received from the actual play.

Paul McCartney was introduced to Peggy Lee's cover of the song through his older cousin Bett Robbins, who would occasionally babysit the two McCartney brothers.[3] McCartney said that he "had no idea until much later" that it was from The Music Man.[4] The song was part of their pre-recording repertoire in 1962, and they performed it at the Star Club in Hamburg.[5] It became illustrative of the Beatles' versatility, proving that they could appeal to all sections of an audience, moving easily from softer ballads to harder rock and roll, as in their appearance on November 4, 1963 at the Royal Variety Performance when they followed this song with "Twist and Shout".[6]

The band had included "'Till There Was You" as part of their unsuccessful audition for Decca Records in London on January 1, 1962.[5] It was the second of five songs that they performed during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.[6][7]

Live versions of the song were released on Live at the BBC (1994) and Anthology 1 (1995). A live performance by McCartney appears on his DVD The Space Within US (2006). In 2016, the BBC announced that a "holy grail" Beatles record would be auctioned in March of that year, a private pressing which features "Hello Little Girl" and "Till There Was You" and was valued at over £10,000.[8] It was said to be one of the "rarest and most collectable of all Beatles records" by Mark Lewisohn, one of the foremost authorities on the Beatles. The disc eventually sold for £77,500.[9]

Personnel

Other versions

References
  1. "Hot 100 - Billboard", Billboard, August 17, 1959, retrieved September 25, 2018
  2. "The CASH BOX Top 100 Singles". Cashbox. August 22, 1959. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  3. Ray Coleman (1998). McCartney: Yesterday . . . and Today. Boxtree Ltd. p. 25. ISBN 978-0788159350.
  4. Ray Coleman (1998). McCartney: Yesterday . . . and Today. Boxtree Ltd. p. 26. ISBN 978-0788159350.
  5. Bill Harry (2000). The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia. Mjf Books. p. 651. ISBN 978-1567314038.
  6. "The Fab Four". The Beatles. November 4, 1963. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  7. Ian MacDonald (2008). Revolution in the Head (Second ed.). Vintage. p. 80. ISBN 978-0099526797.
  8. "'Holy Grail' Beatles record to be auctioned". BBC News. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  9. "'Holy Grail' Beatles record sold for £77,500 at auction". BBC News. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  10. UK Official Singles Chart, UK Official Charts Company, March 29, 1961, retrieved March 14, 2019
  11. "Etta Jones - Something Nice". Allmusic. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  12. Scott Yanow. "Horn A-Plenty - Al Hirt | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  13. "Nana Mouskouri - Nana Mouskouri in New York". Allmusic. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  14. "Valjean - Till There Was You / The Eighteenth Variation - London - UK - HLL 9593". 45cat.com. February 10, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  15. "Sergio Franchi - Broadway...I Love You (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs.com. June 2, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  16. ""Ally McBeal" Turning Thirty (TV Episode 2000) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
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