My Coloring Book

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This article is about the song. For the Agnetha Fältskog album, see My Colouring Book.

"My Coloring Book" is a song written by Fred Ebb and John Kander. First performed by Sandy Stewart in 1962 on the television program The Perry Como Kraft Music Hall, she was one of the first artists to record the work in 1962 when it was released as a single. She also included the song on her 1963 album which was also named My Coloring Book.[1] Stewart's single charted in the top 20, and so did another 1962 single version of the song recorded by Kitty Kallen. Stewart's recording of the song was nominated for the 1963 Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female and Kander and Ebb were nominated for the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.[2] Barbra Streisand also recorded the song as a single in 1962, but it was a financial flop. She made a different recording of the work on her 1963 album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, which was a critical success and has enjoyed enduring popularity. Many other artists have recorded and performed the song in succeeding decades, most recently Kristin Chenoweth in 2014. While not originally written for one of their musicals, the song was included in the Off-Broadway musical revue And the World Goes ‘Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb in 1991.

Composition and early performance and recording history[edit]

"My Coloring Book" / "Lover, Come Back to Me"
Single by Barbra Streisand
from the album The Second Barbra Streisand Album
ReleasedNovember 1962
Recorded1962
GenrePop
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Mike Berniker
Barbra Streisand singles chronology
"Happy Days Are Here Again" / "When the Sun Comes Out"
(1962) 		"My Coloring Book" / "Lover, Come Back to Me"
(1962) 		"People" / "I Am Woman"
(1964)

Kander and Ebb originally wrote the song "My Coloring Book" for Kaye Ballard who was a close friend of the song writing duo.[3] Ballard brought the song to the producers of the television show The Perry Como Kraft Music Hall with whom she was a regular performer.[4] Kander and Ebb performed the song for Nick Vanoff, one of the producers of the show, who liked the song but felt the material needed a singer other than Ballard.[5] The producers were not open to having Ballard sing the song because they felt she was a comedian and not a singer who could effectively deliver more serious material.[3]

The producers of The Perry Como Kraft Music Hall had Sandy Stewart perform the premiere of the song on the October 31, 1962 broadcast of the television program.[1] The critical and public response to this performance was enthusiastic, with more than 20,000 fan letters coming in for Stewart about her performance.[6] Tommy Valando published the song with Sunbeam Music, a division of Broadcast Music, Inc., for sheet music sales at this time.[7] Record labels and performing artists quickly lobbied Kander and Ebb for the right to record and perform the song, resulting in multiple different single recording releases in 1962. Charles Sinclair in Billboard wrote

"One of the sharpest record duels in recent weeks is shaping up over the season's prettiest new ballad — a timely John Kander-Fred Ebb tune called "My Coloring Book." No less than four single versions of it reached BMW for review last week, and more are reported in the works.[6]

The first four singles of "My Coloring Book" were all released simultaneously in the last week of November and first week of December 1962 by singers Sandy Stewart, Kitty Kallen, George Chakiris, and Barbra Streisand.[6] Stewart's single of the work, made for Colpix Records, was paired with "I Heard You Cry Last Night" as a b-side.[8] Record sales of her single were boosted considerably by several more performances of the song on television, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Merv Griffin Show.[9][10] In January 1963 she released her album, My Coloring Book, named after the song.[11] Stewart's version was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female in 1963. She also included the song on her 1963 album which was titled after the song.[1]

Chakiris's single was paired with the song "I've Got Your Number" as a b side and was made with Capitol Records.[12] Kallen's single was made for RCA Victor Records and included "Here to Us" as a b-side.[8] Kallen's single sold very well, and by January 12, 1963, her version and Stewart's version were closely matched on the Billboard Hot 100 with Kallen placing 13th and Stewart placing 14th on the chart.[13]

Streisand heard Stewart perform My Coloring Book on Perry Como's show, and she called Kander and Ebb the day after to ask them if she could record the song.[5] They agreed.[5] Her version was arranged and conducted by Robert Mersey, the song was released as Barbra Streisand's second single release in November 1962, as a double single with "Lover, Come Back To Me".[14] Produced by Mike Berniker, and recorded before Streisand's first album sessions, the single was sent to radio.[15] This release did not sell well, and the 1962 recordings of "My Coloring Book" by Sandy Stewart and Kitty Kallen both were more financially profitable that Streisand's version.[14] This 1962 version was re-released as a single in March 1965 as part of the "Hall of Fame" series with the 1962 recording of "Happy Days Are Here Again".[15] Streisand later re-recorded the song for her critically successful second album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album.[14]

"Happy Days Are Here Again" / "My Coloring Book"
Single by Barbra Streisand
from the album The Barbra Streisand Album
ReleasedMarch 1965
Recorded1962
GenrePop
Songwriter(s)

List of recordings[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Dave Nathan. My Coloring Book. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Music: 240 Disks in 39 Categories Vie For Industry's Upcoming Grammy Awards. Vol. 230. April 17, 1963. p. 51. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b Nadine Brozan (May 15, 1997). CHRONICLE. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Actress-comedian sings her song - 36 years after losing it to Streisand. June 27, 1997. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c John Kander; Fred Ebb; Greg Lawrence (2004). Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 21–27. ISBN 9781429928328.
  6. ^ a b c Charles Sinclair (December 1, 1962). "Everybody's Got a Note In 'My Coloring Book'". Billboard. Vol. 74, no. 48. pp. 5, 40.
  7. ^ Music: Hot 'Coloring Book' Plug On Como TV'er Evokes Lotsa Drive Memories. Vol. 228. November 14, 1962. p. 53. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b "SINGLES REVIEWS". Billboard. Vol. 74, no. 48. December 1, 1962. pp. 19, 24.
  9. ^ "Talent: TV GUEST APPEARANCES BY RECORD TALENT". Billboard. Vol. 75, no. 2. January 12, 1963. p. 10.
  10. ^ "Talent: TV GUEST APPFARANCES". Billboard. Vol. 74, no. 49. December 8, 1962. p. 18.
  11. ^ Record Review: P., P. Mary's 'Moving,' Savitt's 'Sax,' Stewart's 'Coloring Book' Top LPs. Vol. 229. January 2, 1963. p. 36. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Record Review: Top Singles Of The Week. Vol. 229. December 5, 1962. p. 40. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "MIDDLE-ROAD SINGLES". Billboard. Vol. 75, no. 2. January 12, 1963. p. 35.
  14. ^ a b c Anne Edwards (2016). Streisand: A Biography. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 114. ISBN 9781630761295.
  15. ^ a b "The Barbra Streisand Music Guide". Archived from the original on 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  16. ^ Edward Berger, David Chevan (1993). Bassically Speaking: An Oral History of George Duvivier. Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers--The State University of New Jersey. p. 334. ISBN 9780810826915.
  17. ^ Malcolm Macfarlane, Ken Crossland (2015). Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record. McFarland & Company. p. 183.
  18. ^ Richard K. Hayes (1995). Kate Smith:: A Biography, with a Discography, Filmography, and List of Stage Appearances. McFarland & Company. p. 172.
  19. ^ Joel Whitburn (1993), Joel Whitburn's Top Adult Contemporary, 1961-1993, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-099-7
  20. ^ "Top LP's". Billboard. February 9, 1963. p. 27.
  21. ^ "Special Merit Picks". Billboard. May 18, 1963. p. 38.
  22. ^ Skeeter Davis Sings The End of the World at AllMusic
  23. ^ "George Chakiris". Billboard. April 6, 1963. p. 46.
  24. ^ Paul Howes, Petula Clark (2012). The Complete Dusty Springfield. Titan Publishing Group. ISBN 9781781165409.
  25. ^ Will Friedwald (2010). A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers. Pantheon Books. p. 452. ISBN 9780375421495.
  26. ^ "Jane Morgan: In My Style". HiFi/Stereo Review. 16 (2): 114. 1966.
  27. ^ Ethel Ennis - My Kind Of Waltztime, retrieved 2022-12-16
  28. ^ Frits Spits (2009). Zestig strepen. Singel Uitgeverijen. ISBN 9789038891842.
  29. ^ Mark Bego (2018). Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781510745087.
  30. ^ THE KING'S SINGERS DISCOGRAPHY BY ALBUM YEAR (PDF). February 2018.
  31. ^ Philip Lambert, ed. (2016). Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective. University of Michigan Press. p. Appendix 7.3.
  32. ^ Paul C. Mawhinney, ed. (1983). MusicMaster, the 45 RPM Record Directory: Listed by title. Record-Rama. p. 634.
  33. ^ John Willis, ed. (1990–1991). "And The World Goes Round". Theatre World. 17: 71. ISBN 9781557831262.
  34. ^ Daniel Ward (2017). Agnetha Fältskog: The Girl with the Golden Hair. Fonthill Media.
  35. ^ Philiana Ng (November 12, 2014). Kristin Chenoweth's 'Coming Home': Listen to Emotional Ballad 'Fathers and Daughters' (Exclusive). {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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