Livingston & Evans, 1946-1947
Livingston & Evans: The Last Of The Great Songwriters From The Golden-Age Of Hollywood
After the great success of “To Each His Own” Paramount moved Livingston & Evans up from writing music for the short subject films to the higher visibility projects.
L&E were brought in to write three songs for the 1946 Bob Hope film “MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE”, as well as songs for the 1947 Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn film IMPERFECT LADY, the 1947 Bob Hope film MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE, and the 1947 Marlene Dietrich, Ray Milland film GOLDEN EARRINGS.
When the Paramount suits came to L&E to write the theme for the film GOLDEN EARRINGS, Victor Young, who was writing the score for the film, played the boys his recurring music score. Jay liked what he heard and asked Victor if he minded if they wrote words to his music. The result was a beautiful haunting ballad that many artists, including Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, and Willie Nelson have recorded over the years.
Golden Earrings/Peggy Lee
*This Composition is published by Sony ATV Harmony
An interesting footnote to this story is that, after Livingston & Evans and Victor Young played their new song for the studio, the censors said they would require a change in one of the lines of the song. So, after much complaining, L&E changed the original line from “So let this pair of Golden Earrings make you mine tonight”, to “So let this pair of Golden Earrings cast their spell tonight.” By today’s standards this seems ridiculous. However, the censors in 1947 thought the original line was too provocative and insisted it be changed.
Speaking of provocative, have a listen to another Jay Livingston Music song that we hope you enjoy. It is called “Femininity”. “Femininity” was written by Livingston & Evans for the 1959 Broadway show OH, CAPTAIN! We are attaching the Leonard Feather, Dick Hyman and His All Stars version.
Leonard Feather, Dick Hyman and His All-Stars/Femininity
Enjoy!