She Was Just Seventeen

Artist: Sue Raney

Song: Till There Was You (a-side) (b-side is Pal Joey Theme, by Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra)

Label: Capitol F3847 (White Label Promotional Record)

Number: 45-17765
Songwriter: Meredith Willson

Time: 2:41

Released: November 26th, 1957

Sue Raney's first album was recorded by Capitol when she was only 18 years old. When Your Lover Has Gone, produced by Nelson Riddle, was released in 1958. This single was not recorded for it, nor was it a part of that album. Instead, it came from the previous year when Sue had first signed with Capitol. Upon discovering her, they paired her with Nelson Riddle and immediately saw results. Till There Was You was recorded on October 29th, 1957, and was backed with the theme from the Frank Sinatra movie Pal Joey (whom Riddle also produced for Capitol) which was released on November 25th, 1957. The Pal Joey Theme featured only Riddle's orchestra with no vocalist.

The song Till There Was You was from the Broadway musical The Music Man, which would premiere the following month, on December 19th. I find it fascinating that the songwriter, Meredith Willson, would allow it to be used like this. There was an original cast album which was released on January 20th, 1958, and it went on to hold the #1 position on the Billboard charts for twelve weeks, so it's surprising he let this version pre-date it and possibly detract from it's sales. Whatever the reasoning was, Riddle's and Sue Raney's version is quite charming. Another unlikely artist to have covered this song, was the Beatles, in 1963! But, here is the ultra-smooth Nelson Riddle and Sue Raney version of Till There Was You from 1957.

I found out that Sue Raney is alive and well, living on the West Coast, and still recording. In fact, she just recorded a tribute album to Doris Day that was released earlier this year of 2007. I heard some of it and she can still sing, let me tell you - better than ever! You might want to look that CD up, it's entitled Heart's Desire, A Tribute To Doris Day. You can hear cuts from it on Sue Raney's very own My Space page here.