Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me (Rose/Lee)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me
From: GUEST,susanc
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 04:57 PM

This is weird. I was up half the night with this song running through my head. I remembered who sang it and most of the words but don't know why I was thinking of it. Then, just now, 5:00pm est. I check my email and there is the question about the song. No one has mentioned this song except here and it's just strange.

Wonder what earworm I'll have tonight and if there will be a question about it tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 09:49 AM

We had a discussion about this song about three years ago here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 09:43 AM

Anna Patton has done a lovely choral arrangement of this. We sang it at Pinewoods English week this past summer, accompanied by her tenor ukulele!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me
From: clueless don
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 09:15 AM

Speaking of Ross Bagdasarian, he issued a Chipmunks recording where they covered a number of popular songs, including Tonight You Belong to Me.

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tonight You Belong to Me
From: GUEST,Greg
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 01:14 AM

Ross Bagdasarian had a small part in the 1953 Billy Wilder movie, Stalag 17. He appears about the middle of the movie as one of two recently captured air crew. He does a Cary Grant impression.
More than my two cents.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: tonight you belong to me
From: Cool Beans
Date: 11 May 06 - 11:39 AM

Footnote to the above: "Studio friend Ross Bagdasarian" wrote "The Witch Doctor" and created Alvin and the Chipmunks, all under the name David Seville. Ting tang walla walla bing bang.

Subject: RE: But tonight you belong to me
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 May 06 - 09:40 AM

Allmusic.com gives this information:

The sister duo Patience and Prudence reached the Top Ten in 1956 with a fluke hit, the ghostly TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME. The daughters of a professional musician — Mark McIntyre, who accompanied Frank Sinatra on piano during the mid-'40s — Patience and Prudence McIntyre reportedly learned the song while at summer camp in 1955 (when they were nine and 12, respectively). Their father recognized it as a Billy Rose hit from several decades earlier, and was impressed enough to work up the arrangement as a demo intended for cabaret singer Lisa Kirk (wife of Robert Wells). McIntyre also recorded a version with Patience and Prudence's vocals, strictly for personal reasons, but gave a dub to studio friend Ross Bagdasarian, who passed the record on to Si Waronker of Liberty Records.Waronker loved the song, so Patience and Prudence signed to Liberty and recut the song with overdubs to strengthen their ethereal vocals, then watched as the record soared to number four nationally (with several cover versions eventually coming along). After performing on Perry Como's television show, they chose for a follow-up single GONNA GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU NOW (earlier a minor hit for Teresa Brewer), which just missed the Top Ten later in 1956. The duo recorded several more singles — including a pairing with fellow Liberty act Mike Clifford and several singles for the Chattahoochee label — but never reached the charts again. They reunited for a 1978 performance on a Dick Clark feature, and earned a surprisingly long lease on life after their songs were used in a pair of films, 1999's Election (GONNA GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU NOW) and 2001's Ghost World (A SMILE AND A RIBBON).

Indiana University Sheet Music Collections gives this:

Title: TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME
Composer: David, Lee
Lyricist: Rose, Billy, 1899-1966
Publisher: Harry Waterson Inc.
Place of publication: New York
Date of publication: 1926
First Line: Once more we meet, you look so sweet, dear,
Chorus First Line: Though you belong to somebody else, tonight you belong to me

The Online 78 rpm Discographical Project lists these recordings: (Note that it had a revival in the late 30s as a western swing tune.)

Teddy Phillips, (No Date Given)
Adrian Schubert's Orchestra, 1926
Alma Rotter, 1926
Arthur Fields, 1926
Baltimore Salon Orchestra, 1926
Blue Ribbon Quartet, 1926
Bob Haring & His Orchestra, 1926
Broadway Dance Orchestra, c1926
California Melody Men, 1926
Lee Morse, 1926
Marlborough Dance Orchestra, 1926
McAlpin Dance Orchestra, 1926
Nathan Glantz & His Orchestra, 1926
Paramount Dance Orchestra, c1926
Ponce Sisters, 1926
Roger Wolfe Kahn & His Orchestra with vocal by Franklin Baur, 1926
Schubert's Society Orchestra, 1926
William Robyn, 1926
Harmony Dance Orchestra, c1927
Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, 1937
Hank Penny's Radio Cowboys, 1939
Johnny Fenton & His Orchestra, 1939
The Tennessee Ramblers, 1939
Eddy Howard, 1940
Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra, 1940
Peggy Lee, 1940s
Russ Case, 1940s
Gene Austin, 1941
Joe Costa; Orchestra; Joe Lipman, c1950
Frankie Laine, 1952

Subject: RE: But tonight you belong to me
From: Dave Swan
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 04:38 PM

Click here for Janet Klein playing, singing, and teaching this song.

D

Subject: RE: But tonight you belong to me
From: Genie
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 04:25 PM

Actually, the bridge goes:

"... Way down by the stream (not"street")
How sweet it would seem
Once more just to dream in the moonlight ... "

Subject: RE: But tonight you belong to me
From: GUEST,ladyblim
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 07:08 AM

Nancy Sinatra sings it too, it's easier to find the song.

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME (Rose/Lee
From: gatyam gal
Date: 03 May 98 - 07:27 PM

After confusing this song this with all the other songs called "You Belong To Me", when I saw your question I thought it was time to start looking. Apparently this was originally done by Patience and Prudence in 1956. They were two sisters ages 11 and 14. A sample of the song can be heard at the first address. The second address is where the lyrics and guitar chords came from.

http://www.westword.com/extra/jukebox/bh11-7.html

http://www.gis.net/~jdimaria/tcs/tabs/tonighttabs.html

TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME

(INTRO)
    G          Dm      C        Cm
  I know you belong to somebody new
      G              D       G    D
  but tonight, you belong to me.
  (REPEAT)
  Although we're apart, you're a part of my heart
  
  but tonight, you belong to me.
      Cm
  Way down by the stream how sweet it would seem
       G          F#  Dm          A         D
  once more, just to dream in the moonlight, my honey ..
     G  (ETC.)
  I know with the dawn that you will be gone
  
  but tonight you belong to me, just to little ol' me.
  
  (SOLO) SAME PATTERN AS VERSES...G Dm C Cm G D G
      Cm                  G
  The time the place will soon show its face
   C            D
  one day, oohh one day, my honey..
   G         Dm           C     Cm
  I know you belong to somebody new
      G           D         C (walk down bass line) G
  but tonight you belong to me.

Subject: But tonight you belong to me
From:
Date: 03 May 98 - 07:38 AM

Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters sang this in "The Jerk", it goes in part "I know (I know) you belong to someone else, but tonight, you belong to me. Although (although) we're apart..." Can anyone tell me the complete lyrics and origin of this song, it's driving me crazy.