I Surrender Dear

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For other uses, see I Surrender Dear (disambiguation).
"I Surrender Dear"
Single by Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, vocal refrain by Bing Crosby
B-side"La Rosita"
Published1931 Freed and Powers Ltd., EMI Mills Music Inc.[1]
ReleasedFebruary 5, 1931[2]
RecordedJanuary 19, 1931 take 2[3]
StudioVictor Hollywood Recording Studio, Studio 2, Los Angeles, California
GenreJazz Big Band
Length3.43
LabelVictor 22618
Composer(s)Harry Barris
Lyricist(s)Gordon Clifford

"I Surrender Dear" (sometimes written as "I Surrender, Dear") is a song composed by Harry Barris with lyrics by Gordon Clifford, first performed by Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra with Bing Crosby in 1931, which became his first solo hit.[4] This is the song that caught the attention of William Paley, president of CBS, who signed him for $600 a week in the fall of 1931.[5]

In 1931, it was performed by Sam Lanin,[6] as well as Ben Selvin, under the pseudonym "Mickie Alpert".[7] It has been covered by many artists, making it a jazz and pop standard. The first jazz vocalist to record the song was Louis Armstrong in 1931.[4]

"I Surrender Dear" inspired two motion pictures bearing that title: a 1931 Bing Crosby musical short I Surrender Dear [8] produced by Mack Sennett, and a 1948 feature film[9] starring one of Crosby's co-stars, singer Gloria Jean. An instrumental 1930s-esque Jazz cover of this song was recorded for the 1996 movie Kansas City as part of the soundtrack. This song was also the comical introduction to the pre-code film, The Tip Off 1931, in which actor Eddie Quillan is a window singer at a radio repair shop. He mouths the song while it is being played over a new "Human Voice Amplifier".

Renditions[edit]

Popular culture[edit]

  • The song is referenced in the 1949 war film Battleground, which depicts the hardships of American troops attempting to hold the town of Bastogne in late December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. German radio is heard broadcasting the song to the entrenched American troops to demoralize them. This psychological warfare is shown to have the opposite effect on the GIs, who hum along (to the old chestnut), but prefer to hear real American radio.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "ACE Repertory". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  2. ^ Bolig, John (2007). The Victor Black Label Discography. Denver: Mainspring Press. ISBN 978-0985200480.
  3. ^ "Victor matrix PBVE-61068. I surrender, dear / Cocoanut Grove Orchestra ; Bing Crosby - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  4. ^ a b I Surrender Dear at jazzstandards.com - retrieved on 27 April 2009
  5. ^ "BING CROSBY". www.shsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  6. ^ Sam Lanin & His Band - I Surrender, Dear 1931, archived from the original on 2021-12-20, retrieved 2021-08-19
  7. ^ 1931 Ben Selvin (as Mickie Alpert) - I Surrender Dear (Helen Rowland, vocal), archived from the original on 2021-12-20, retrieved 2021-08-19
  8. ^ "Internet Movie Database". IMDB. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  9. ^ "Internet Movie Database". IMDB. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  10. ^ I Surrender Dear, archived from the original on 2021-12-20, retrieved 2021-08-19
  11. ^ "COLUMBIA 78rpm numerical listing discography - 2000-D to 2500-D". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  12. ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". A Bing Crosby Discography. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  13. ^ Orodenker, M.H. (January 24, 1942). "On the Records" (PDF). Billboard. p. 12. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  14. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 319.
  15. ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
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