Compilation produced by Paul
Williams for House of Hits Productions, Ltd.
Audio Restoration: Bill
Lacey
Digital Transfers from
Original Tapes: Mike Hartry
Digital Transfers from
Original Metal Parts: Jim Crotty
Repertoire Selection and
Sequence: Tony Matelli and Buzz Ravineau
Project Director: Dalita
Keumurian
Vault Research: Tori Larkey
and Eddie Eddings
Tape and Metal Research: Paul
Williams
Art Direction and Design: Ria
Lererke ( Ria Images ) and Lawton Outlaw ( Canto 5 Design ) Essay: Joseph F. Laredo
The RCA Records Label is a
unit of BMG Entertainment.
Manufactured and Distributed by BMG Entertainment,
1540 Broadway, New York, New York, 10036-4098
United States of America.
CD ERRATA & ADDENDA
Novelty tunes were a highlight of
Perry's recording career as Joseph F. Laredo alludes within the liner notes
narrative referring specifically to "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba" becoming
a gold record for Perry in 1947. Oddly, this record has seldom been
acknowledged as one of Perry's gold records, but one which has "A Hubba
Hubba Hubba ( Dig You Later )" , also known as "Dig You Later ( A
Hubba Hubba Hubba )", is one of only two acknowledged gold records
excluded from this compilation. "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba" was
instrumental, however, in causing Perry to record Walt Disney's song
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo". The story is told that Walt Disney himself,
traveling by car, heard Perry's popular rendition of "Chi-Baba,
Chi-Baba" on the car radio and immediately made up his mind that
Perry should record this new song. Although Perry did record the song, and
one other, unlike many popular entertainers of the day, up to and including
the present, Perry was never drawn into the Disney fold. One other novelty
tune, Perry's seldom heard "Zing Zing, Zoom Zoom" , holds the
distinction of having the composer conduct Perry's recording about which the
story has not been told. There has never been a definitive compilation of
these novelty tunes which in the minds of many Como fans define a very
important part of Perry's persona during the 1940s and 1950s. Interestingly,
other Como fans would like to ignore most of them!
"I Wanna Go Home ( With You )"
recorded by Perry in 1949, with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and The Fontane
Sisters, is the alternate 'take' and not the original single, having a
slightly different opening and closing. The original single was re-released
within Perry's 1959 RCA Camden album "Wednesday Night Music Hall"
and the alternate 'take' first appeared within the 1981 Japanese compilation
"Young Perry Como". The alternate version was also included
undocumented within the 1993 box set "Yesterday & Today ~ A
Celebration in Song".
Perry recorded "To Know You ( Is To Love You )"
and a Lenny Stock composition "The Last Straw" with Betty Hutton in June of
1952. Both songs were unreleased but Perry returned to the studio in September
to record a remake of the former song but this time with the Fontane Sisters.
The Fontane Sisters' version was released as a single. Although the Betty
Hutton version was credited within the listing for his 1960 RCA
Camden album "Dreamer's Holiday", the album actually included a
re-release of the single. Strangely, the listing was corrected for the
1966 RCA Camden release "No Other Love" but for the wrong version
again because in that set was included Perry's 1959 recording with a Ray
Charles duet from the RCA Victor album "Como Swings." The 1960
error is repeated again within this compact disc compilation which credits
Betty Hutton but includes the version recorded with the Fontane Sisters. The
comedy of error continues to the disappointment of many who thought they had
found a rare track within this collection of songs.
Perry's recording "(There's No
Place Like) Home For The Holidays" is the original single monaural
release from 1954 and not the full stereo version which he recorded in 1959
for the album "Season's Greetings from Perry Como". The single
version is particularly rare and was only recently re-released by Time-Life
Music within their "Your Hit Parade" Series. The undocumented
backing chorus for the single is believed to be conducted by Ray Charles, as
with the 1959 version, but the newer recording contained one additional
verse. The 1959 version, " . . . has appeared in more RCA Victor
compilations than any other Christmas song," and is by far Perry's best
known Christmas recording.
Perry's 1954 recordings "Papa Loves
Mambo" and flip side "The Things I Didn't Do", both featured
within this compilation, were backed by "The Ray Charles Chorus"
which later became known as "The Ray Charles Singers" after Perry
spontaneously introduced the singers that way on one of his television
shows. The newly formed group, so named by Perry, then backed him throughout
the remainder of his television and recording career for more than forty
years. Charles, himself, had worked with Perry since 1949.
Within the liner notes for this album,
Ray Charles is quoted as saying: "I sang with him on one of those
up-tempo things and when sales leveled
off at 750,000 copies, Perry presented me with three-quarters of a gold
record!" That song was "Kewpie Doll" for which Charles'
contribution has always been un-credited. This song may have been Perry's
first single recorded in full stereo but it's only been released in stereo
once . . . and, disappointingly, not within this compilation.
Perry's 1973 Nashville recording
"For the Good Times" was never released in North America as a
single. It's inclusion here as one of only three "Greatest Hits"
within the past forty years appears somewhat erroneous considering Perry's
many hit records within this time frame, not the least of which was Perry's
surprising 1960 UK hit record "Delaware" which was later included
within the UK version of "Como's Golden Records". Perry also had
hit records in the UK which were never released in North America such as
"Idle Gossip" and "The Ruby and the Rose."
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