Mad About the Boy
Encyclopedia
Dinah Washington's 1952 recording of "Mad about the Boy" is possibly the most widely known version of the song in modern times. The 6/8-time arrangement for voice and jazz orchestra by Quincy Jones
omits two verses and was recorded in the singer's native Chicago
on the Mercury label
.
Washington's version was popularised for a new generation when the recording was used as a backing track in a 1992 television advertisement for Levi's
jeans. In the commercial, which is influenced by the 1968 Burt Lancaster
film The Swimmer, a young man runs through an American suburban neighbourhood stripping down to only his jeans, invades private gardens and dives into a series of swimming pools in order to shrink his jeans. Washington's recording was re-released by Mercury as a tie-in
in with the advertising campaign, and the cover art featured a shot of the topless male emerging from a swimming pool and bore the Levi's logo. The single entered the Top 50 in the UK singles chart
.
Other notable recordings include:
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
omits two verses and was recorded in the singer's native Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
on the Mercury label
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
.
Washington's version was popularised for a new generation when the recording was used as a backing track in a 1992 television advertisement for Levi's
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
jeans. In the commercial, which is influenced by the 1968 Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
film The Swimmer, a young man runs through an American suburban neighbourhood stripping down to only his jeans, invades private gardens and dives into a series of swimming pools in order to shrink his jeans. Washington's recording was re-released by Mercury as a tie-in
Tie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
in with the advertising campaign, and the cover art featured a shot of the topless male emerging from a swimming pool and bore the Levi's logo. The single entered the Top 50 in the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Other notable recordings include:
- Noël Coward with orchestra conducted by Ray NobleRay Noble (musician)Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
in London on September 20, 1932. The recording was not issued at the time but has been included in CD collections. - Phyllis Robins with Jack HyltonJack HyltonJack Hylton was a British band leader and impresario.He was born John Greenhalgh Hilton in the Great Lever area of Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton, a cotton yarn twister. His father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Jack learned piano to accompany him on the stage...
& his Orchestra in London on October 3, 1932. - Anona WinnAnona WinnAnona Winn was an Australian-born actress, broadcaster and singer, who spent most of her career in the UK .-Career:...
with the Blue Lyres in London in October 1932. - Elsie CarlisleElsie CarlisleElsie Carlisle was a popular English female singer.Originally from Manchester, Elsie became extremely popular during the 1920s and 1930s, recording with many of the big dance bands of the time, as well as solo. She recorded very little after the beginning of the Second World War, and retired from...
with Ray Starita & his Ambassadors Band in London on November 5, 1932. - Maxine SullivanMaxine SullivanMaxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956...
on May 1, 1940. - Patti PagePatti PageClara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
on the album The Waltz QueenThe Waltz Queen (Patti Page 1958 album)The Waltz Queen was an LP album by Patti Page, released by Mercury Records in 1958 under its Wing Records subsidiary, catalog numbers MGW-12121 and SRW-16121 . It should not be confused with an album of the same name released by Mercury in 1955 under catalog numbers MG-20049 and SR-60049... - Jessica BielJessica BielJessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven...
on the soundtrack for the movie Easy Virtue - Helen Forrest from 1949 in the popular video game "Fallout: New Vegas"
Other recorded versions
The song has been performed by a number of other artists, including:- Belle BakerBelle BakerBelle Baker was an American singer and actress. Popular throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Baker introduced a number of ragtime and torch songs including Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" and "My Yiddishe Mama". She performed in the Ziegfeld Follies and introduced a number of Irving Berlin's songs...
- Georgia BrownGeorgia BrownGeorgia Brown, pseudonym of Rossana Monti is an Italian Brazilian singer noted for her extensive vocal range. She was listed in the 2005 Guinness World Records for hitting the highest vocal note and for possessing the greatest range, claimed to be exactly 8 octaves from G2-G10 using scientific...
- Blossom DearieBlossom DearieBlossom Dearie was an American jazz singer and pianist, often performing in the bebop genre and remembered for her girlish voice.-Early career:...
- Buddy DeFrancoBuddy DeFrancoBoniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco is an American jazz clarinet player.-Biography:DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman — were fading in popularity...
- Marianne FaithfullMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
- Frances FayeFrances FayeFrances Faye was an American cabaret and show tune singer and pianist. She was born to a working-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. She was a second cousin of actor Danny Kaye.-Career:...
- Helen ForrestHelen ForrestHelen Forrest was one of the most popular female jazz vocalists during America's Big Band era. She was born Helen Fogel to a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917...
- Jackie GleasonJackie GleasonJackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
- Gogi GrantGogi GrantGogi Grant is an American popular singer.-Life and career:Grant was born Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television...
- Glen GrayGlen GrayGlen Gray Knoblauch, better known as Glen Gray, was a jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra....
and the Casa Loma Orchestra - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
- Cleo LaineCleo LaineDame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
- Gertrude LawrenceGertrude LawrenceGertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
- Beatrice LillieBeatrice LillieBeatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
- Julie LondonJulie LondonJulie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
- Billy MayBilly MayWilliam E. "Billy" May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet , Batman , and Naked City and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven , and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return among...
- Carmen McRaeCarmen McRaeCarmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
- Anita O'DayAnita O'DayAnita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...
- Esther Ofarim
- Eartha KittEartha KittEartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
- Elaine PaigeElaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
on her 1993 album Romance & the StageRomance & the Stage (album)Romance & the Stage is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 1993.It was produced by Peter Matz and recorded at CTS Studios, London. The recording features songs primarily taken from stage musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Annie Get Your Gun and Kismet.The album was released by RCA Records... - Tom RobinsonTom RobinsonTom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
- Dinah ShoreDinah ShoreDinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
- Jeri SouthernJeri SouthernGenevieve Lillian Hering, known by her stage name Jeri Southern, was an American jazz pianist and singer.-Biography:...
- Maxine SullivanMaxine SullivanMaxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956...
- Dinah WashingtonDinah WashingtonDinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
- Miss PiggyMiss PiggyMiss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
(as Mad About the Frog)
Other references in popular culture
- Mad About the Boy is a Norwegian live action roleplaying game (LARP) that was performed in Trysil, in Norway July 2010. The LARP was based on the comic book series Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. The music "Mad About the Boy" was used to mark the transition between each act during the play.
- In the 1950 movie Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard (film)Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
, Norma Desmond (Gloria SwansonGloria SwansonGloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
) gives her boy-toy Joe Gillis (William HoldenWilliam HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
) a gold cigarette case on New Year's Eve. Engraved inside the cover is "TO JOE FROM NORMA" and two bars of music, with the inscription "Mad about the Boy".
- In the BBC television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo!'Allo 'Allo!'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...
, the ostensibly gay character Lieutenant GruberLieutenant Hubert GruberLieutenant Hubert Gruber, generally known only as Lieutenant Gruber, is a fictional character from the British sitcom series Allo 'Allo! and is portrayed by Guy Siner.Gruber is the aide-de-camp to General Von Klinkerhoffen, and lives in the local château...
sings this song while seated at René's café piano, staring at another male character.
- Mad About the Boy is a novel by Karen Mason and references the song.
- Peter Sellers recorded a version of the song on the Magic Christian soundtrack.
- The german Designer-Duo Talbot Runhof used "Mad about the Boy" to start their inspiration for the Fall/Winter 2011 Collection.