My Happiness (popular song)

"My Happiness"
Written by	Betty Peterson Blasco Borney Bergantine
Published	1948
Language	English
Recorded by	Jon and Sondra Steele The Pied Pipers Ella Fitzgerald The Marlin Sisters Connie Francis many other artists; see #Recorded versions

"My Happiness" is a pop music standard which was initially made famous in the mid-twentieth century.

High profile versions

"My Happiness"
Single by Connie Francis
B-side	"Never Before"
Released	1958
Format	7" single
Genre	Easy listening
Length	2:28
Label	MGM Records
Writer(s)	Betty Peterson Blasco Borney Bergantine
Producer	Morton Craft and Jesse Kaye
Connie Francis singles chronology
"I'll Get By" (1958) "My Happiness" (1958) "If I Didn't Care" (1959)

An unpublished version of the melody with different lyrics was written by Borney Bergantine in 1933. The most famous version of the song, with lyrics by Betty Peterson Blasco, was published for the first time in 1948. The first known recording of this version was in December of 1947 by the Marlin Sisters but the song first became a hit in May 1948 as recorded by Jon and Sondra Steele (Damon 11133) (#3) with rival versions by The Pied Pipers (Capitol 1628/ 15094)¹ and Ella Fitzgerald (Decca 24446) entering the charts that June reaching respectively #4 and #8 with the Marlin Sisters version (Columbia 38217) finally charting with a #24 peak that July. "My Happiness" was one of two songs - the other being "That’s When Your Heartaches Begin" - that Elvis Presley recorded at his first recording session at the Memphis Recording Service (Sun Studios) in the summer of 1953. Connie Francis - whose favorite song at the age of eight had been the Jon and Sondra Steele version of "My Happiness" - remade the song in a 6 November 1958 session at the Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood, CA produced by Morton Craft and Jesse Kaye; David Rose conducted the orchestra. The song almost became Francis' first #1 hit in the first months of 1959 but was kept at #2 by another remake of a standard: the Platters' version of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".

• ¹Capitol 1628 had the flip side "Dream"; 15094 had the flip side "Highway to Love".

Other versions

Other recordings include ones by Alan Dale and The Moonlighters (Signature catalog number 15206B, with the flip side "Tea Leaves"^[1]), by The Harmonicats (Mercury catalog number 70360, with the flip side "Long, Long Ago"^[2]), and by John Laurenz (Mercury catalog number 5144, with the flip side "Someone Cares"^[3]), which entered the Billboard magazine charts on August 7, 1948 where it stayed for 2 weeks, peaking at #26. See also the next section for a more complete listing.

Recorded versions

• 21st Century Strings
• Billy Adams (Home of the Blues Records catalog number 242, released 1962, with the flip side "Big M" ^[4])
• The Andrews Sisters
• The Bachelors
• Eddie Baxter
• Jimmy Beasley (Modern Records catalog number 1009, with the flip side "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" ^[5], also Oldies 45 Records catalog number 85, with the flip side "Don't Feel Sorry For Me"^[6])
• Pat and Shirley Boone
• Teresa Brewer
• Ernie Burger
• Jerry Burke
• Max Bygraves
• Cathy Carlson (Griffin Records catalog number 502, with the flip side "You're My World"^[7])
• Dick Contino
• Vic Corwin
• The Country Rockers
• Alan Dale and The Moonlighters
• Ronnie Deauville (Bullet Records catalog number 1032, with the flip side "You Can't Be True, Dear"^[8])
• Louis Delmonte
• Claire Devol
• Leo Diamond
• Fats Domino
• Exotic Guitars
• Freddy Fender (1976)
• Red Foley
• Ella Fitzgerald & The Song Spinners (1948)
• Foster & Allen
• Connie Francis (1959, re-recorded in 1978 and 1989)
• Jan Garber
• Claude Gray
• Ken Griffin
• Guy and Ralna
• The Harmonicats
• Jimmy Haskell
• John Holt
• Ann Howard
• Frank Ifield
• Ce Ce Julian
• The Kalin Twins
• Bob Kames
• Sammy Kaye
• John Laurenz (1948)
• Hugh X. Lewis
• Lil' Wally and The Venturas (Drum Boy Records catalog number 502, with the flip side "Welcome Beatles"^[9])
• Hank Locklin
• Julie London
• Vera Lynn
• Johnny Maddox
• The Marlin Sisters (1948)
• The McGuire Sisters (1966)
• Moms & Dads
• Hugo Montenegro
• John and Jonie Mosby
• The Mulcays (1953, Cardinal Records catalog number 1011^[10], also issued in the United Kingdom in 1954 by Polygon Records as catalog number P1118^[11], both with the flip side "Near You"^[10][11]; 1958, GNP Crescendo Records catalog number 131, with the flip side "Diane"^[12]; 1962, Jubilee Records catalog number 5434, with the flip side "To Each His Own"^[13])
• Daniel O'Donnell
• Terry Orlando (1958, Bell Records catalog number 104^[14])
• Paul and Paula
• The Pied Pipers (1948)
• Elvis Presley (1953)
• Jim Reeves (1957)
• Marty Robbins
• Don Roth
• Tommy Sands
• The Satin Strings
• Frank Sinatra
• The Skiprats (2002)
• Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
• Jerry Smith
• Tab Smith (1958, as "My Happiness Cha-Cha, Argo Records catalog number 5323, with the flip side "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"^[15])
• Hank Snow
• Jon & Sondra Steele (1948)
• Gale Storm
• The Townsmen
• Caterina Valente
• Billy Vaughn
• The Velvet Violins
• Li'l Wally and the Venturas
• Bert Weedon (1959, Top Rank Records catalog number JAR122 in the United Kingdom, with the flip side "Petite Fleur"^[16])
• Kitty Wells (1967)
• Slim Whitman
• Andy Williams
• Roger Williams
• Lena Zavaroni

References

1. ^ Signature Records listing
2. ^ Mercury Records in the 70000 to 71696 series
3. ^ Mercury Records in the 5000 to 5497 series
4. ^ 45 Discography for Home of the Blues Records
5. ^ 45 Discography for Modern Records
6. ^ 45 Discography for Oldies 45 Records
7. ^ 45 Discography for Griffin Records
8. ^ 45 Discography for Bullet Records
9. ^ 45 Discography for Drum Boy Records
10. ^ ^{a b} 45 Discography for Cardinal Records
11. ^ ^{a b} Polygon Records discography
12. ^ [1]
13. ^ 45 Discography for Jubilee Records
14. ^ Bell Records discography
15. ^ 45 Discography for Argo Records
16. ^ Singles Discography for Top Rank Records - UK