Tommy Edwards - 1951 version of "It's All In The Game"

[lrd9999]

I always assumed that the 1958 version was just a stereo remix of the original; I'd never heard this version. I wonder how many people actually heard the 1958 version in stereo, since radio as well as most 45s and 78s were still in mono at the time. Thanks for posting this!

[PoetryETrain]

Bring your swords gents----. thank you, so much I love this....

[TEAKMAN1]

Fun to hear this version. However, when I was "impressionable" in 1958 [and on listening to both the 1951 and 1958 versions], the 1958 hit - what a grinder..;) - is more "mature" and his voice is much richer and better. Thanks for the post, tho - added some new amunition to the trivia arsenault!

[harponercam]

What a wonderful version from a more sedate era- after hearing the standard for so long, I love that one, but this one has more charm.

[kateg1013]

I wish I grew up in this era of beautiful music.

[markalson1938]

@kateg1013 You seem to be different from most young people of today. You seem to know what you have missed, most don't know and don't care. That includes the young in my family.

[multi787311]

every time I hear the older verision of this song it brings me back to my old high school days and my firsrt girlfriend .I use to play it for her while we talked on the phone

[markalson1938]

@multi787311 I wasn't awear of Tommy back in 1951 when this came out. Back then it was only Frankie Laine I was lisening too, and he's still the best I think. But it wasn't till the 1958 version of this song that I remembering hearing Tommy, then I went back and bought all his older records that I could find.

[n64wilbert]

@markalson1938 How old are you?I'm 14 and born in December 7 1996.Thank's for posting this marvelous song!!!

[markalson1938]

@n64wilbert YOUR YOUNGER THAN MY GRANDSON YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL MY AGE BY THE DATE AT THE END OF MY NAME.

[kikibalt]

@markalson1938 I got two years on you...1936

[scottp002]

I remember seeing Tommy Edwards singing this song at the N.Y. Paramount Theatre in June 1952. Also on the program was a new commedian--His name? Joey Bishop. The headliners? Les Paul and Mary Ford. I sat thru 3 shows!

[markalson1938]

@scottp002 They just don't have entainment like that anymore, what a shame.

[ottyflyer1]

This is the first time I have heard this version, and can only say that both of them have pleased me and there is no comparison between either.

Thanks for posting this wonderful song.

[illumenous]

my heart is a flutter, I do believe in dreams, through music such as this....

[illumenous]

my heart is a flutter, I do believe in dreams, through music such as this....

[maureen1938]

Thanks for posting this beautiful version of a lovely song. The singer is super.

[Joannegmurphy]

Do you know how OLD this song is?  it is amazing---it was actually written by a guy named Dawes, one of our 19th century Vice Presidents.

[markalson1938]

@Joannegmurphy This song started out as a classical piece written by Charles Dawes in 1911. Later Dawes would become Collidge's Vice President in the 1920's (Not The 19th Century)

In 1951 Carl Sigman added lyrics and renamed it " It's All In The Game" In 1951 Tommy Edwards made his first recording of it and then updated it to great success in 1958.

[thepoopie2]

Only true musicians know Tommy had to dumb this down for white America. His third release went to #2 on the charts with this song. True musicians never sell your soul. Because without soul music sounds like this.

[LateNightCable]

@thepoopie2 Nice and prejudicial of you to make that distinction between white America, and everybody else. Climb off your high horse poopie, understanding real music does not require one to be black.

[faeryquene]

RIP Tommy Edwards-you will never be forgotten. ♫

[DoctorrDread]

Hey guys, what a trivia! This song was originaly an instrumental called "Melody in A Major" written in 1911 by a financier and an amateur musician, one John G. Dawes, who 14 years later shared the Nobel Peace prize, fought the KKK - and from 1925 to 1929 was a vice president of the United States under Calvin Coolidge!

[Wolfsky9]

Hearing Tommy's wonderful voice makes me wistful & sad--for a childhood that was bittersweet & full of memories. I remember hearing this, & I was 5 y/o. My Dad loved this song--both versions. Dad, this memory is for you. Wolfsky9, 64 y/o

[thelundian]

@Wolfsky9

Your first line reflects my feeling EXACTLY. I had a disfunctional childhood, and hearing the 1958 version of Tommy's song was a healing factor for me. Fantastic to hear it again after about 20 years. Thanks to all who share my feelings. Mads, 69.

[mom2smooth]

I remember my mom playing this song by Tommy Edwards, God rest her soul. I like it. the FourTops are my favorite all in the game! so far.......still thanks for posting it.

[AngelaRed]

Anyways, The Other day I saw this song title and Tommy Edwards on a website for the charts in 1951. I Knew it was the same Artist and couldn't wait to come to Youtube hoping someone loaded it. I guessed it was more Bing, Frank, Nat, Perry Como, Big Band Era like, without the Rock and Roll feel. Thank You markalson1938 for putting this on here. I like this better than the 1958 version! I love when I find another piece of the Pop Music Puzzle! RIP Tommy Edwards.

[markalson1938]

@AngelaRed I am alway happy when I fine younger people who are interested in the old music, I whish I could say that about my son or grandson. They think there wasn't any music before "KISS" came along. Music of the Post WWII years are greatly over looked today. Even on XM radio they go from "The Big Bands" to "Rock N' Roll" with little mention of what was between them.

[markalson1938]

@AngelaRed Yes this version of the song is more from the Big Band period. It depends when your music tastes were developed which recording you like best. My tase came from the 1945-1955 time period so I lean more towards this recording but I do like the 1958 version also. It has more more beat but still it isn't Rock.

[LadODell]

@AngelaRed I know what you mean. The newer generation is missing out on some really wonderful music. At least there are still some of us out there to keep it going. The music of the 40's-50's&60's is very special. We won't see it's like again I'm sorry to say

[AngelaRed]

I was born in 1979 and and know a lot in pop music history!! From all over! starting with the beginning of Rock and Roll in 1955 and onward to today. my friends call me a walking jukebox. Elderly people are shocked how much I know about their 50's, 60's and 70's music as if I was right there with them! Anyways I am pretty maxxed out in learning anything after 1955. I know most of it already! But want to learn more... So I am picking random years like 1951.

[fjbutch]

@AngelaRed Cool... yeah, there's something about those years ...wonderful

[markalson1938]

@das0448 The biggest hit of this song was Tommy Edwards

1958 re-recording of this song. It was one of the biggest hits of that year.

[9erfandex]

Tommy Edwards could sing a telephone directory and make it sound GOOD! And this is O.K., BUT, Thank The Good Lord Above he rerecorded this in 1958! His phrasing in "58 was so much better! And the production improved dramatically with the addition of the female background singers!

[markalson1938]

@9erfandex The version you perfer depends on if you consider yourself a Forties type person or a Fifties type person. His 51 version goes back to the Big Band style of the Forties while the 58 takes us into the "Rock N' Roll" period.

[9erfandex]

@markalson1938 Touche' ! I'll Take the 50's please for a little more snap, crackle, and POP! Again, this version is O.K., but, the '58 version is quite possibly the finest song ever recorded, well, on a small handful, anyway! Thanks you tube for the forum for the preceding debate! Miss ya Tommy, sing pretty for the angels!

[markalson1938]

@9erfandex I like the 58 version better also. It adds just enough of the Rock rythum to make you want to tap your feet but not enought to spoil the song. Tommy had one of the smoothest voices ever put on record. But I think it also limited the type of songs he could sing which hurt him later on.

[avidavian]

Thanks, markalson. Now if you could find the girl I was infatuated with back in 51 when "game" was popular, everything would be great!

[markalson1938]

@avidavian You know I had the same problem, There was this cute little red head I had a crush on in the 4th grade but she moved away. I saw her a few years later in High School. She was so good looking with her red ponytail that I was scared to talk to her. I don't even know if she remembered me. Things may have been very different

if I had the guts to speak to her. who knows

[avidavian]

Lovely song. Brings up high school infatuation feelings. The B side (of the 1971 78rpm version) was nice too, but can't remember the name. Can anyone remember?

[markalson1938]

@avidavian The "B" side of the 1951 single was "Please Love Me Forever"

[Tigermoon1950]

What a great find. Thanks for finding it and posting it. I was one year old when this song was popular.

[jura233]

Wonderful version of this stuff. Good song is timeless.

[mewhor]

All these years I've thought the date 1951 was a misprint. Glad to know its not! This version is fabulous. Thank you so much for posting. I waited 30 years to hear it without knowing it really existed. lol

[markalson1938]

as you can see it does exists. It took me many years to find a copy it is very hard to find. This song is more of a big band arrangment of the forties.

[envika]

Wow. I like the groove on the later version better, but I can't quite deny the charm in this version either.

[markalson1938]

This version is more in tune with the Big Bands of the Forties while the 1957 hit was a lot more modern and fit into that time period. I guess it depends on your age which you like best.

[envika]

I'm sixteen, so I wasn't alive for either one :/

[cdm386]

beautiful song but the game of love is not always beautiful

[markalson1938]

Maybe not be it's the best we can hope for

[magiq1]

Very nice

[Goamo]

I can not find Mr music man, that I heard back in 1958 by tommy..

[markalson1938]

Your not the only one, I have been looking for "Mr Music Man" for quite awhile with no luck. It has not been put on any of his later CD's or any of his LP's in the 50's that I have.

[oldersoul1]

Great song,Peaceful times for me.

 Thanks for posting.

[j43ms]

well that's me stuck.

now i've heard this i don't know which i prefer, this or the '58 version!

[markalson1938]

It doesn't matter which youlike best, just so you like them.

[j43ms]

i certainly do! cheers

[babyshields]

I like the second one by far the best; more soul and richness. I also like the background of the 2nd one takes me back to my first crush sitting by a lake in a 50's new buick and cuddling as it came on the radio; every sound triggers the feeling.

[GeneralFuhao]

you're blessed to have that recording. This is so exquisite.

I think this is better than his later one, this one is smoother, his voice is more grating in the later recording.

[midknightryder13]

Oh my! To quote M*A*S*H's Colonel Sherman Potter, "Not enough o's in 'smooth' to describe this." Admittedly, he was talking about a 12-year old scotch, but it still applies here.

[getmima]

loved this original, and Tommy!

[chevy266nova]

I sure miss your voice Tommy

[pannoni1]

I have the Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye version. It sounds VERY outdated, even if from a 1958 standpoint!

[jgray110]

Don Williams, I Believe In You

[closedcircle1]

Morning side of the mountain was here a few months ago, but removed. Please mister sun (late 50s version) has been reposted.

[markalson1938]

I posted "Morningside" a couple of weeks ago so it's there.

[sszushi]

Another early version not on CD, Tommy Edwards also recorded "Please Mister Sun" in '51 or '52, the Johnnie Ray hit. I heard it on the 1980s syndicated radio show "Your Hit Parade", a recreation of the '40s & '50s top 10 weekly hit countdown.

[vinylsingleman]

Would you also have his 1951 version of "Morning Side Of the Mountain", which was his very first hit?

[markalson1938]

Sorry, I looked and I could only find the late 50's version. "Morning Side" was alway my favorite Tommy recording. In 1960 a girl I was going with tried to teach me to dance to that song. I never could catch on.

[vinylsingleman]

It was put out on MGM 10989 and charted in July 1951, just before "It's All In The Game". I imagine it is very hard to find though; you'd think they'd have it on a compilation somewhere, but perhaps not. I'm looking for both early versions on the original 45s, which are REALLY hard to find.

[markalson1938]

Two CD's of Tommy's hits have came out in the last few years and neither one of them even have "Morningside Of The Mountain" on them. What were they thinking?

[vinylsingleman]

Thank you for posting this. I've been trying to find it for years.

[danje10]

Nice song. I can go with either version -- Tommy's voice is smooth in both! This one is just a bit strange in the surprise timing and phrasing if you're used to the later version!

Do you know who WROTE this song (lyrics, I think)?? Hint -- he was a person of 'high government position' in the USA (in the 1920's). Casey Kasem told us about 20 years ago.. "Only song in the rock era written by a ........."

[danje10]

Answer:... by a Vice President of the United States! Charles Dawes, VP under Calvin Coolidge, 1925-1929.

Dawes was a self-taught pianist and composer. His 1912 composition "Melody in A Major," became a well-known piano and violin piece. It was transformed into a pop song ("It's All In The Game") in 1951, when Carl Sigman added lyrics. The song was a number one hit in the chart in 1958, for Tommy Edwards, and has since become a pop standard recorded by many others.

[vinylsingleman]

Dawes died just a few months before his song first became a hit.

[nazznate]

Thanks! I never knew another version existed.

[MikeHudson65]

If you like a song, you always like the FIRST version you heard, because you're ever comparing it.

[StewedTomato]

does any one know how or why Tommy Edwards died at the age of 47 in 1969?

[markalson1938]

The story goes that he died from a brain aneurysm. But there is talk that it had more to do with alcolism. I guess only the family knows for sure.

[margot980]

O thanks for this version, Tommy Rubato!  So sweet.

[StewedTomato]

58 for me too, thanks!

[rb62470]

Thanks for sharing this. Not only do I prefer the latter version for its arrangement, I don't like TE's delivery here. He comes in too early with some of the lines, and it just doesn't sit well with me. But even so, he his voice is as great in this version as it is in '58's.

[markalson1938]

The story goes that in 1958, MGM who Tommy recorded for was about to let him go. He had had a few minor hits in 52 & 52 but nothing

since. They were going to let him try one more time. The arranger who did his 51 version

sugested that they try "It's All In The Game" again with more of an upbeat style. The rest is history. He re-recorded several of his other old songs and made them into hits again

though not as big as "It's All In The Game"

[rb62470]

There are some other "we're not getting anywhere, let's try this" studio stories. Elvis with "That's Alright Mama", Chuck Berry with "Maybellene", and Little Richard with "Tutti Frutti". Tommy Edwards is one I hadn't known about. Thanks for the info and the post.

[bluewithoutyou]

58 version . This song is fab i love it

[davesharon5747]

Thanks for sharing this!! I have always wondered what the original version sounded like.  I so much prefer the more popular version. Amazing how this one sounds so much different compared with the better version.

[markalson1938]

I like the 58 version better myself. But I do like the orginal. This just shows how the music changed in less than 10 years. The orginal was moore like the 40's big band sound.

[Georgiahulse]

I think I prefer the 1958 version myself. Just the way its sang and the way the instruments are played, are better in the later one. It does show how much 50s music changed in style through the decade though.

[markalson1938]

The 58 version shows the Rock influence that was taking over the music industry and not for the better. The orginal recording is still

with the big band sound of the 40's

[Georgiahulse]

Yeh, I see what you're saying. I suppose it's a matter of opinion whether you think music changed for the better or the worse in the late fifties though. I still like this version, but it's too slow for me. My parents love it, and so would my grandparents.