Lyle Lovett released Release Me

Release Me Lyle Lovett

Released: February 28, 2012 Peak: 60 US, 9 CW Sales (in millions): -- Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom [3:06] Release Me (with k.d. lang) [2:45] White Boy Lost in the Blues [3:32] Baby, It’s Cold Outside (with Kat Edmonson) [3:17] Isn’t That So [4:50] (3/3/12, 26 AA) Understand You [3:43] Brown Eyed Handsome Man [3:36] Keep It Clean [2:36] One Way Gal [2:59] Dress of Laces (with Sara Watkins) [6:13] The Girl with the Oliday Smile [3:57] Night’s Lullaby (with Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins [3:25] White Freightliner Blues [5:06] Keep Us Steadfast [2:45] Total Running Time: 51:50

Rating: 3.185 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Some 27 years after Lyle Lovett signed with Curb Records he brings the association to an end with Release Me, a collection of covers and oddities to usher the singer out of his contract. Lyle makes no bones about his departure, not with the album’s title or its cover of Lovett tied up in a lariat, but for as misshapen and wooly as it is, Release Me actually doesn’t play like a contractual obligation. Sure, Lovett may have only two writing credits among these 14 songs and both of the cuts are holiday tunes, but the appeal of Release Me is that it's decidedly messier than Lyle has allowed himself to be on record.” AMG “And it’s a mess with purpose, too: the album touches upon nearly every style Lovett has tried on since he signed with Curb in 1985, so it’s a summation yet it lacks pretension. His good humor is evident throughout, surfacing not only on the randy good humor of The Girl with the Holiday Smile, but infusing the rollicking, loose-limbed rhythms of the rest of the record.” AMG “There are a handful of slower, contemplative moments, but Release Me is an unquestioned celebration where the blues are the soundtrack for a good time and Chuck Berry’s Brown-Eyed Handsome Man is slowed down to a knowing, soulful crawl. There’s an ease to Release Me that’s utterly charming – Lovett is relaxing into the songs and sounds he loves, and he hasn’t sounded like so much fun in years.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett AMG All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 5/20/2022.

Frank Loesser: Top 30 Songs

First posted 12/8/2019.

image from frankloesser.com

Musical theater composer Frank Loesser was born 100 years ago today on 6/29/1910 in New York City, NY. Best known for Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Died 7/28/1969. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

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Top 30 Songs

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Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. The recording artist is noted in parentheses. Songs which hit #1 on these charts are noted: United States Billboard Hot 100 pop chart (US), Hit Parade (HP), United Kingdom pop chart (UK), and Australian pop chart (AU).

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Jingle Jangle Jingle (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Julie Conway, 1942) #1 US, HP
2. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (Kay Kyser & the Glee Club, 1942) #1 US

DMDB Top 5%:

3. On a Slow Boat to China (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood, 1948) #1 HP, AU
4. Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting, 1949)
5. Says My Heart (Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey, 1938) #1 US, HP
6. Two Sleepy People (Fats Waller, 1938) #1 US
7. Heart and Soul (Larry Clinton & Bea Wain, 1938) #1 US
8. I Don’t Want to Walk Without You (Harry James, 1942) #1 US, HP
9. They’re Either Too Young or Too Old (Jimmy Dorsey with Kitty Kallen, 1943)
10. My Darling, My Darling (Jo Stafford with Gordon MacRae, 1948) #1 US

11. The Lady’s in Love with You (Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke, 1939)
12. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So (Vaughn Monroe, 1947) #1 HP
13. Small Fry (Bing Crosby with Johnny Mercer, 1938)
14. Let’s Get Lost (Vaughn Monroe with the Four Lee Sisters, 1943) #1 US, HP
15. Say It Over and Over Again (Glenn Miller, 1940)

DMDB Top 10%:

16. Dolores (Bing Crosby, 1941)
17. A Bushel and a Peck (Perry Como with Betty Hutton & Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1950) #1 HP
18. Once in Love with Amy (Ray Bolger with Sy Oliver, 1949)
19. Spring Will Be a Little Later This Year (Morton Downey with Johnny Lytell, 1944)
20. Hoop-Dee-Doo (Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters & Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1950) #1 US

DMDB Top 20%:

21. Can’t Get Out of This Mood (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt, 1942)
22. Luck Be a Lady (Frank Sinatra, 1965)
23. Standing on the Corner (The Four Lads, 1956)
24. How Sweet You Are (Kay Armen & the Balladiers, 1943)
25. The Moon of Manakoora (Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra, 1936)
26. If I Were a Bell (Frankie Laine, 1950)
27. A Woman in Love (Frankie Laine, 1955) #1 UK
28. Sand in My Shoes (Connee Boswell with Victor Young’s Orchestra, 1941)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

29. I’ve Never Been in Love Before (Robert Alda with Isabel Bigley, 1950)
30. I Hear Music (Robert Paige with Peter Lind Hayes, Frank Jenks, & Eddie Quillan; 1940)

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Awards:

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Today in Music (1949): “Baby It’s Cold Outside” first charted

Baby It’s Cold Outside Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer with Paul Weston’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Frank Loesser (see lyrics here) Recorded: March 18, 1949 First Charted: May 14, 1949 Peak: 3 BB, 4 BS, 3 DJ, 8 JB, 4 GA, 6 HP (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 6.1 video, 14.64 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Frank Loesser wrote “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in 1944. WK He performed it at parties with his wife, Lynn Garland, as a way to hint to guests that it was time to leave. WK To Garland’s shagrin, Loesser sold it to MGM in 1948 to be featured in the 1949 romantic comedy Neptune’s Daughter. WK In the movie it was sung by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban and reprised by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. It won the Oscar for Best Song and has become a Christmas favorite. It never mentions the holiday but does have a winter theme. Before the movie was even released on June 9, 1949, a version of the song by Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark (#4) was released. A week later, Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting hit the charts (#3) with what would become the most successful version of the song. Other versions followed that year. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan also took the song to the top 10 (#9) and theirs was named one of the top 100 songs of all time by Time magazine. That same year, there were chart versions by Sammy Kaye’s Orchestra featuring Don Cornell & Laura Leslie (#12) and “a comical country parody” TY1 featuring Homer & Jethro with June Carter (#22). PM The song was also recorded in 1949 by Bing Crosby & James Stewart, Doris Day & Bob Hope, Frank Loesser & Lynn Garland, Dean Martin & and Marilyn Maxwell. There have also been chart versions by Ray Charles & Betty Carter (1961, #91 BB), Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton (2004, #2 AC), Dean Martin & Martina McBride (2006, #7 AC, 36 CW), Willie Nelson & Norah Jones (2009, #55 CW), the Glee Cast (2010, #57 BB), She & Him (2011, #16 AC), Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé (2014, #1 AC, 58 CN, 51 AU), Seth MacFarlane & Sara Bareilles (2014, #10 AC), and Darius Rucker & Sheryl Crow (2014, #13 AC). There have been over 400 recordings of the song, including versions by Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton, Eddie Fisher & June Hutton, Sammy Davis Jr. & Carmen McRae, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé, Al Hirt & Ann-Margret, Barry Manilow & K.T. Oslin, Bette Midler & James Caan, Lee Ann Womack & Harry Connick Jr., James Taylor & Natalie Cole, Darius Rucker & Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John, John Legend & Kelly Clarkson, and the Glee Cast. WK During the #MeToo movement of recent years, the song has come under fire because it focuses on a man pressuring a woman to stay with him. Some radio stations even banned the song in 2018. There have been those, including Loesser’s daughter, who argued that people need to understand that times were different then. However, Time magazine points out that even in 1949 the song was controversial with NBC initially banning it. TM Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Frank Loesser DMDB encyclopedia entry for Johnny Mercer DMDB encyclopedia entry for Margaret Whiting TM (12/23/2020). “‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ Was Controversial from the Beginning. Here’s What to Know About Consent in the 1940s” TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 474. WK Wikipedia First posted 12/23/2023.