On the Street Where You Live

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"On the Street Where You Live"
Song
Written1956 (1956)
GenreMusical theatre
Composer(s)Frederick Loewe
Lyricist(s)Alan Jay Lerner

"On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady.[1] It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John Michael King in the original production. In the 1964 film version, it was sung by Bill Shirley, dubbing for actor Jeremy Brett.

Recorded versions[edit]

"On the Street Where You Live"
Single by Vic Damone
B-side"We All Need Love"
ReleasedApril 1956
GenreShow tune
Length2:38
LabelColumbia
Composer(s)Frederick Loewe
Lyricist(s)Alan Jay Lerner
Vic Damone singles chronology
"Por Favor"
(1955)
"On the Street Where You Live"
(1956)
"War and Peace"
(1956)

The most popular single of the song was recorded by Vic Damone in 1956 for Columbia Records. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart[2] and No. 6 on Cashbox magazine's chart. It was a No. 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1958.[3][4] Eddie Fisher also had a top 20 Billboard hit with the song in 1956, reaching No. 18.[5] Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra released a version that went to No. 96 in 1956.[6] Andy Williams' recording appeared in the Billboard top 40 in 1964, reaching No. 3 on the adult contemporary chart and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5]

The most successful recorded version was by vocalist Vic Damone

The song has been recorded by a wide variety of other performers, including Ray Conniff and Bing Crosby, who recorded the song in 1956[7] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the boxed set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954–56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009,[8] Lawrence Welk (whose band also performed it on his weekly TV series numerous times), Shirley Horn, Doris Day, George Shearing, Frank Chacksfield, Alfie Boe, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Mario Lanza, Nat King Cole, Holly Cole, Marvin Gaye, Ben E. King, Perry Como, Ray Reach, Harry Connick Jr., Gene Pitney, The Miracles (on their I'll Try Something New album), Earl Grant, Dennis DeYoung, Quincy Jones, David Whitfield, Nancy Wilson, Billy Porter, Ilse Huizinga, Matt Dusk, Richard Clayderman, Ricki Lee Jones, Mr Hudson & The Library, Peggy Lee, Vocal Spectrum, Steve Hogarth from Marillion, Bill Frisell, André Previn & Shelly Manne, Bryn Terfel, Ed Townsend, Chet Baker, Jason Manford, Ronnie Hilton, Willie Nelson, Etta Jones, and Eddie Fisher.

In popular culture[edit]

  • In the Dick Van Dyke Show S3.E5 While Rob and Laura are mad at their neighbors the Helpers they play charades and after acting out things like 'walking all over people' and 'back-stabbing' the answer is revealed to be "On The Street Where You Live"
  • In 1991, on the children's show Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch, completely fed up with all the nice people around him on Sesame Street, but still very grateful for his trash can, sang a song called "On This Street Where I'm Grouchy", which spoofed "On the Street Where You Live".[9]
  • In the 1999 film Blast from the Past, Adam (Brendan Fraser) sings part of this song to Eve (Alicia Silverstone) and explains that he doesn't want another woman as he can only think about her.[10]
  • The song plays during the opening credits of the television adaptation of 15 Storeys High in episodes one and six of the first series.
  • The song is also featured in the television series Mad Men in the finale of the first season's first episode.
  • In the seventh season of the television show, Frasier, it is played by the orchestra after the Crane brothers 'resolve' their conflict at a dance in the episode, "Rivals".
  • In the ninth episode of the third season of Better Things, actors sing the song in a bar after completing a table read of a fictional Broadway play[11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 37. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  2. ^ Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles
  3. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 86. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. ^ Tony Brown, Jon Kutner & Neil Warwick, The Complete Book of the British Charts
  5. ^ a b Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles
  6. ^ "On the Street Where You Live (song by Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. 23 June 1956. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  7. ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  8. ^ "The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954–56)". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Sesame Street – On This Street Where I'm Grouchy". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Blast from the Past (1999)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  11. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (26 April 2019). "'Better Things' Recap: Cold Readings". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 June 2021.

External links[edit]