Tangerine (1941 song)
{{short description|1941 song by Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Tangerine
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| published =
| artist = Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra
vocals by Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly
| A-side =
| released = {{Start date|1942|1}}
| recorded = {{Start date|1941|12|10}}
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length =
| label = Decca 4123
| writer =
| composer = Victor Schertzinger
| lyricist = Johnny Mercer
| producer =
| prev_title = Jim
| prev_year = 1941
| next_title =
| next_year = 1942
}}
"Tangerine" is a popular song. The music was written by Victor Schertzinger, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1941 and soon became a jazz standard.
{{Infobox song
| name = Tangerine
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| B-side = Salsoul Hustle
| artist = Salsoul Orchestra
| album = The Salsoul Orchestra
| released = December 1975
| recorded = 1975
| studio = Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{cite magazine|title=Sigma Sound Studios: Singles 1968-1978|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=billboard+%22Tarsia%22&pg=PT50|magazine=Billboard|page=SS-11|date=September 16, 1978|access-date=June 11, 2024}}
| venue =
| genre = Disco
| length = 2:57 (single version); 4:46 (album version)
| label = Salsoul
| producer = Vincent Montana Jr.
| writer = Johnny Mercer, Vincent Montana Jr.
| prev_title = Salsoul Hustle
| prev_year = 1975
| next_title = You're Just the Right Size
| next_year = 1976
}}
Background
"Tangerine" was introduced to a broad audience in the 1942 movie The Fleet's In, produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Schertzinger just before his death, and starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, Eddie Bracken, singer Cass Daley, and Betty Hutton in her feature film debut.
The song portrays a South American woman with universally recognized allure: "When she dances by, / Señoritas stare / And caballeros sigh."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LlmjBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA322 |title=Johnny Mercer: Southern Songwriter for the World |first=Glenn T. |last=Eskew |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0820333304 |page=322}} As one of Mercer's biographers explained the initial popularity: "Latin America, the one part of the world not engulfed in World War II, became a favorite topic for songs and films for Americans who wanted momentarily to forget about the conflagration."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Ynt6yc5nGQC&pg=PT263 |title=Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer |first=Philip |last=Furia |publisher=Macmillan |year=2004 |isbn=978-1466819238 |page=263}}
Charted recordings
The most popular recorded version of the song was made by the performers who introduced it in the film: the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with vocalists Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly. The recording was released in January 1942 by Decca Records as catalog number 4123. The record first reached the Billboard charts on April 10, 1942, and it lasted 15 weeks on the chart, including six weeks at #1.
{{cite book
| last = Whitburn
| first = Joel
| author-link = Joel Whitburn
| title = Top Pop Records 1940–1955
| publisher = Record Research
| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
| year = 1973 }}
The lyrics in this version differ slightly from those in the movie. On the record, Eberly sings "And I've seen toasts to Tangerine / Raised in every bar across the Argentine,"{{Cite web | url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633237/m1/#track/2 |title = Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #7|year = 1972}} the lyric that became standard. In the movie at that point, the line is "And I've seen times when Tangerine / Had the bourgeoisie believing she were queen."
A disco instrumental version by the Salsoul Orchestra brought the song back into the U.S. top 20 in 1976.
{{cite book
| last = Whitburn
| first = Joel
| title = Top Pop Singles 1955–1999
| publisher = Record Research
| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
| year = 2000 }}
It also reached #11 on the US, Easy Listening chart.
=Chart performance=
==The Salsoul Orchestra==
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (1976) !Peak |
| align="left"|U.S. Billboard Easy Listening{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=213}}
|align="center"|11 |
| U.S. Billboard Dance/Disco {{cite book |title= Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=226}}
| style="text-align:center;"|6 |
| US Billboard Hot 100{{cite book |title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2013 |publisher=Record Research |page=736}}
|align="center"|18 |
| US Hot Soul Singles (Billboard){{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=509}}
|align="center"|36 |
Other notable covers
More than 100 acts have recorded "Tangerine", including such notable artists as: Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Mercer, Oscar Peterson, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Herb Alpert, Chet Baker and Paul Desmond, Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins, Jim Hall, Harry Connick Jr., and Benny Goodman
Popular culture
In addition:
- The tune was featured as background music in the films Double Indemnity (1944), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
- In 1976, All In the Family gave a nod to the song in the episode "Archie's Operation" when Archie Bunker burst into it repeatedly to interrupt son-in-law Mike's efforts to help pay for Archie's surgery.
- The Pet Milk company used the melody for a 1960s liquid diet product called Sego. The opening line "Tangerine, she is all they say" was replaced by "There she goes, she's a Sego girl."
- The tune later became the jingle for Pillsbury's Figurines, a diet aid, during the 1970s.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Jimmy Dorsey}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Number-one singles in the United States
Category:Songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Category:Songs with music by Victor Schertzinger