Today in Music (1938): The Andrews Sisters “Bei Mir Bist Du Schöen” hit #1

Bei Mir Bist Du Schöen (Means That You're Grand) The Andrews Sisters

Writer(s): Sholom Secunda (music), Jacob Jacobs (Yiddish lyrics), Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin (English lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: January 1, 1938 Peak: 15 PM, 12 HP, 14 GA, 16 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 14.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 11.11 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: During the 1930s, the Andrews Sisters – Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne – started out in vaudeville shows and then, with their parents chaperoning, started singing anywhere they could get hired. NRR Their father was frustrated that they weren’t going anywhere and gave them a year to make it or they would return home to Minneapolis. Dave Kapp, head of Decca Records, heard them on a New York radio station and hired them. NRR Their first record didn’t go anywhere, but their second was their first of 90 chart hits from 1938 to 1951 and their first of six #1 songs. PM The A-side of the second single was originally “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” a Gershwin song which had been featured in the Fred Astaire film A Damsel in Distress. The B-side was “an obscure Yiddish love song called ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,’ often translated as ‘To Me, You Are Beautiful.’” NRR It first appeared in I Would if I Could, a 1932 Yiddish musical comedy, NRR under the title “Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn” and was sung by Aaron Lebedeff. SS Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin wrote English lyrics for the song after, according to Cahn, he heard it performed by African-American singers Johnny & George in 1935 at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. SS However, Vic Schoen, the arranger for the Andrews Sisters, claimed he discovered the song in a lobby shop of a Yiddish theater. NRR Meanwhile Lou Levy, who shared an apartment with Cahn, said he bought the song. NRR When the song was released, it was “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” that attracted record buyers flooding record stores with requests for “Buy a Beer, Monsieur Shane,” “Mr. Barney McShane,” “My Dear Mr. Shane” and “My Mere Bits of Shame.” NRR The song became so popular that Life magazine published a story about the song’s history. NRR By the end of January, it had sold 250,000 copies NRR and would eventually become the first gold record awarded to a female group. TY2 By year’s end, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) named it the most popular song of 1938. NRR Resources: SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) NRR National Recording Registry essay by H. Arlo Nimmo SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 600-1. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 235. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 27-9. Related Links: First posted 1/21/2024.