'With my eyes wide open I'm dreaming'--Patti Page 'Quartet' (1949)

Recorded in November 1949, this is a classic example of 'multiple' recording, as opposed to multitrack recording. At the time this record was made there were no multitrack tape recorders. In fact, the studio this was recorded at (most likely Reeves in New York City) had yet to acquire tape equipment; hence, this recording was made by first recording part of the music on one lacquer disc, then playing this disc back through a mixer while another part was played or sung live along with the playback, the mix of these parts being then recorded onto a second lacquer disc. This was done four times (original recording plus three overdubs) to produce the four vocal parts heard on this record.

Les Paul was the first to produce successful 'multiples' (as he called them), both technically and artistically, and what his label Capitol nicknamed 'The New Sound' spawned a brief fad where other performers tried to mimic his recording technique on their records, with varying degrees of success. This record was one of the better ones, and Patti Page had several hits with this type of sound.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Patti
• Page
• 1940s
• 1950s
• pop
• music
• multitrack
• overdub
• 78
• rpm
• mono
• shellac
• vinyl

[PerisphereRec]

And even though the label of my copy says 'Merco Plastic' (which was what they called a rather hard vinyl compound that may have had some shellac in the mixture) this is a bog standard shellac copy.

[saturnluvr]

We had the 78 of this...it broke after falling during the 1971 earthquake in Los Angeles. Love this song! 

[ccaammiiittoo1]

@ccaammiiittoo1 Better make that Quartet. But quartet or trio, the wording doesn't change the beauty of this song and artist, does it?

[ccaammiiittoo1]

This happens to be my favorite by the Patti Page Trio -- Patti Page, Patti Page & Patti Page. Notice their marveous key, emotion, diction, and phrasing. An all-time classic!

[JohnnyGNV]

WHEN I was a little boy, much later than this, I had this record, but it was on the

Black 45 RPM Mercury label, it wasn't a 78. I did not know that her original recording

dated back to 1949, I thought it was sort of a mid- 50's Hit record for her. Did she re-record the song at a later recording session maybe? This was interesting to hear and read about, so thank you for posting.

[carolmarano]

Mommy "loved" this tune... it was her tribute to daddy... Rest in Peace, "both."

[CATniteOwl]

I love it!  Thank you for posting this....

[CATniteOwl]

I love it! Thank you for posting this....

[briancoyne]

This is one of the most beautiful, most-meaningful and applicable-today song ever written. Play this over and over......and close your eyes.....

[gabbysbuddy]

Jay, in the UK this was on Oriole records!

But Mercury was distributed by PYE records who made Vinyl 78 unbreakable records!