I became familiar with Sleepy Time Gal from a rerun of Petticoat Junction, in which Steve Elliott sings the song to his baby daughter.
Sleepy Time Gal was originally published in 1925.
The lyrics were written by Raymond B. Egan and Joseph Alden. The music was written by Richard A. Whiting and Ange Lorenzo.
The first recording was by Harry Reser and The Jazz Pilots in 1925.
The song was made famous by the 1926 version by Ben Bernie and His Orchestra, which went straight to the top of the Billboard Charts.
A favorite sing-along tune, it later became the title song of the 1942 film Sleepy Time Gal, starring Judy Canova and Tom Brown.
In 1943, Frances Langford also sang the song in another Hollywood film, Never a Dull Moment.
More than sixty-five other artists have recorded the song including Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy Clanton, and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
Margaret Whiting, daughter of one of the composers Richard A. Whiting, also recorded Sleepy Time Gal and many of her father’s other hits.
*Picture courtesy of Pixaby
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