Notes:
Perry's first recording of
"Temptation" was one of his earliest Gold Records
and was
released initially as the "B" side to a song which was destined
to
obscurity in comparison with this performance. "Temptation"
was later
re-released as an "A" side to the re-release of
Perry's very first song with
RCA Victor titled "Goodbye Sue"
that had been recorded during the
American
Federation of Musicians ( AFM ) recording ban in 1943.
It was almost
thirty years before Perry would record "Temptation"
again, once
in the studio for his 1974 album "Perry" and then again in 1980
during 'live' performance for his album "Perry Como Live On
Tour".
The 1974 arrangement was modern, up-tempo, and one of Perry's earliest
recordings in Quadraphonic discrete 4-Channel Stereo.
In 1945, as World War
II drew to a close, Perry Como burst on the popular music scene
with three
records that each sold a million copies. One was a wartime novelty song
based on a phrase that comedian Bob Hope had made popular — A
Hubba-Hubba-Hubba. The second was the soaring adaptation of a Chopin
Polonaise — Till the End of Time.
And the third was this fine
song by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, composers of such
movie hits as Singing in the Rain, Alone, and You Were Meant for Me. Bing
Crosby introduced Temptation in the 1933 film ‘Going Hollywood’,
but this recording made
it a popular classic. And
the Como version served notice on Frank Sinatra and Dick
Haymes that a new
top-rank male singer had arrived on the scene — and intended to stay.
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