Endless Love

Endless Love was written by Lionel Richie.  He originally recorded the popular ballad as a duo with Diana Ross for Motown in 1981. The song remained at number one for nine weeks when it was first released.  Billboard named their version as the greatest song duet of all time. The song was used for the Read More

{They Long to Be} Close to You

{They Long to Be} Close to You was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The song was first released in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain as They Long to be Close to You. In 1964, Dionne Warwick recorded a Burt Bacharach arrangement of the song. In 1971, Bacharach recorded his own version of the song. Read More

Love Is a Many Splendored Thing

Love is a Many Splendored Thing was written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for the 1955 film by the same name. The song was also used for the soap opera Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, which was based on the movie, and ran from 1967 to 1973. The song won the Oscar Read More

Unchained Melody

Alex North was an American composer who wrote the scores for numerous films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cleopatra, Spartacus, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? In 1954, he was contacted to write a score for a prison film Unchained. While working on the score, he was asked to write a song based on Read More

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Hawaiian Wedding Song is a traditional pop song. The song was first adapted from the 1926 operetta, Prince of Hawaii, by Charles E. King. The song was originally titled “Ke Kali Nei Au” which is Hawaiian for Waiting Here for You. Al Hoffman and Dick Manning translated the original Hawaiian words into English and renamed Read More

We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters

We’ve Only Just Begun  is a popular love song made popular by The Carpenters.  However, it had beginnings as a bank commercial. The song was written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams. The song was recorded by a friend of Nichols and made it’s debut as a wedding themed commercial for Crocker National Bank in Read More

Unforgettable

Unforgettable was written by Irving Gordon and published in 1951. Gordon actually conceived of the title being “Uncomparable”, however the music publishing company requested the name be changed to “Unforgettable.” The most popular version of the song is by the legendary Nat King Cole.  His arrangement was written by Nelson Riddle.  He initially recorded the Read More

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

By the Light of the Silvery Moon is another popular song from the early 20th Century.  It was first published in 1909. The lyrics were written by Edward Madden, who wrote On Moonlight Bay. The composer was Gus Edwards, who also wrote songs such as  “I Can’t Tell You Why I Love You but I Read More

On Moonlight Bay

On Moonlight Bay is a popular song of the 20th Century.  The best known version is the one by Doris Day. The song was first published in 1912.  The lyrics were written by Edward Madden, an American lyricist who wrote songs such as What Could Be Sweeter? And Red Rose Rag. The composer was Percy Read More

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear

Elvis Presley recorded {Let Me Be Your} Teddy Bear for his second movie, Loving You, in 1957.  He performs the song on screen. The song was written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe and published in 1957.  More than likely the duo wrote the song for the movie. The song became a huge hit for Read More