Till There Was You

"Till There Was You" is a song written by Meredith Willson for 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 in the film by Robert Preston) toward the end of Act Two.

The song became a hit for Anita Bryant in 1959, reaching number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and spending two weeks at number 14 on Cash Box. "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

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 Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 14 on the Cashbox Top 100.

The Beatles version

"Till There Was You" was included on the Beatles albums With the Beatles (UK release, 1963) and Meet the Beatles! (US release, 1964). It was the only Broadway song that the group recorded.

Paul McCartney was introduced to Peggy Lee's cover of the song through his older cousin, Bett Robbins, who would occasionally baby-sit the two McCartney brothers.^[3] McCartney said: "I had no idea until much later that it was from The Music Man."^[4] "'Till There Was You" was part of the Beatles' pre-recording repertoire in 1962 and performed at the Star Club in Hamburg.^[5] It became illustrative of the Beatles' versatility, proving 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] and was the second of five songs the group 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 of "'Till There was You" by Paul McCartney appears on his 2006 DVD The Space Within US.

In 2016, the BBC announced that a "holy grail" Beatles record would be auctioned in March of that year. A private pressing, it features two songs, "Hello Little Girl" and "Till There Was You" and was valued at over £10,000.^[8] The disc eventually sold for well over its estimated value - £77,500.^[9]

Other versions

• Jazz vocalist Sue Raney recorded the tune with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra on 29 October 1957 for her first album, "When Your Lover Has Gone." This recording pre-dated the opening of The Music Man by about 6 weeks.
• Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded the song on his groundbreaking album Freedom Suite (1958). An alternate take is provided on the 1999 CD rerelease.
• Guitar instrumentalist Chet Atkins recorded the single for his album Teensville (1960).
• In March 1961, "'Til There Was You" was a minor hit in the UK for Peggy Lee.
• Etta Jones recorded a version for her album Something Nice (1961).
• Al Hirt released a version on his album, Horn A-Plenty (1962).^[10]
• Nana Mouskouri recorded a slow, romantic, velvety version as originally the closing track on her acclaimed Great American Songbook album Nana Mouskouri in New York (The Girl from Greece Sings) (1962), produced by Quincy Jones.^[11]
• In 1962, an instrumental version of Meredith Willson's song by Valjean was also popular.^[12]
• In 1963, Sergio Franchi recorded this song on his RCA Victor Red Seal album Broadway... I Love You.^[13]
• In 1974, Ray Charles recorded this song on his Crossover Records album Come Live With Me
• In 1984, Brazilian singer Beto Guedes released a version in Portuguese called "Quando te vi" (When I saw you), written by Ronaldo Bastos.
• In 2003, Rod Stewart recorded his version on his 2003 album As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook: Volume II
• The Smithereens recorded the song on their 2007 album Meet the Smithereens!, which consists entirely of cover versions of songs from the Meet the Beatles! album.

References