Are You Lonesome Tonight? (song)

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"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" is a popular song. The music was written by Lou Handman, the lyrics by Roy Turk. The song was published in 1926.

[edit] 1920's

A number of artists recorded their own version of the song in 1927 alone. Composer Lou Handman himself played piano while his sister Edythe provided the vocals on the Gennett label. Vaughn DeLeath (also known as "The Original Radio Girl") recorded the song twice, first on June 13, as solo and later on September 21, as vocalist for The Colonial Club Orchestra. Around August 1927, another version was released by famed tenor Henry Burr.

[edit] 1950's and 1960's

The first charting version was done by Blue Barron. The recording was released by MGM Records as catalog number 10628. The record first reached the Billboard pop chart on April 7, 1950 and lasted eight weeks there, peaking at number nineteen. Only a few weeks after Barron's recording, Al Jolson recorded a version of the song on April 28, 1950; it was released by Decca Records as catalog number 27043.

Presley's version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

The best known recording was by Elvis Presley, released on April 4, 1960 and engineered by Nashville sound pioneer Bill Porter. Colonel Parker (it was one of his wife's favourite songs) persuaded Elvis to record his own rendition of this song. Elvis' version was based on the Blue Barron Orchestra in 1950 and the spoken part of the song was loosely based on Shakespeare's As You Like it using Jaques' speech on Act II Scene VII: "All the world's a stage, and all men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." It went on to be one of the biggest-selling singles of 1960.

Elvis, occasionally during live performances, would randomly change lyrics to give them humorous connotations. One popular instance was recorded at the International Hotel in Vegas on August 26, 1969. During the performance, instead of singing: "Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there", he sings "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair". Moments later, he saw a bald man in the audience (as legend has it), and burst into laughter which continued into the next lines. The audience was treated to additional laughter during the spoken verse singing: "You know someone said that the world's a stage, and each must play a part." Seeing the irony of his own lyrics, Elvis was again overtaken by laughter and barely recovered. The audience enjoyed the sincerity of the moment while Elvis regained his composure. Meanwhile the band and backup singers continued to keep the song going. It is speculated that much of Elvis' mirth derived from the solo backing singer whose falsetto remained resolute throughout. To this, Elvis comes back just in time for the line: "And I had no cause to doubt you" followed by more laughter. So overtaken, Elvis encourages the backup singers to "sing it" drawing even more laughter which nearly brings the house down. In the end, the song is finished to a round of applause. The version is considered to be a popular underground classic, and was a UK Top 30 hit in 1983.

The Lettermen recorded the song as a track on their 1964 album She Cried.

Doris Day recorded the song on June 6, 1967, in a version included on The Love Album.

Preceded by: "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Elvis Presley version) November 28, 1960	Succeeded by: "Wonderland by Night" by Bert Kaempfert