Butterfly

Album: Moon River: The Very Best Of Andy Williams (1957)
Charted: 1 1
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a cover of a song originally recorded by Charlie Gracie. Both songs topped the US singles charts, Williams for three weeks and Gracie for two.
  • The song was written by Anthony September, which is a pseudonym for Bernie Lowe and Lal Mann, who also wrote "Teddy Bear" for Elvis Presley. The duo hid their real names as they disliked the deal they had with Presley's organization and they didn't want them to know of their next song, "Butterfly."
  • Andy Williams was born in the town of Wall Lake, Iowa on December 3, 1928. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick formed the Williams Brothers quartet in the late 1930s, and they performed regularly on their own radio show. The Williams Brothers made their first recording in 1944, when Andy was 15. That session was with Bing Crosby, and the record they made was "Swinging on a Star," which hit #1 in the States for nine weeks.
    In 1952 Williams began his solo career, featuring regularly on Steve Allen's Tonight television show until 1955. This song was his only chart-topper in the US and UK, however Williams established himself as one of the most popular of all American ballad singers, with a successful and long-running television show of his own, and a long run of Top 40 hits including "Can't Get Used to Losing You" and "Music to Watch Girls Go By."
  • In 2010 English singer-songwriter Eliza Doolittle sampled this on her UK hit, "Skinny Genes."

Comments: 3

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 1st 1957, Andy Williams appeared on the NBC-TV music variety special 'Five Stars* for Springtime'...
    As the time he had two records on Billboard's Top 100 chart; "I Like Your Kind of Love" was at #25, while his covered version of "Butterfly" was at #61...
    "I Like Your Kind of Love" would peak at #9 on the Top 100; while "Butterfly" would reach #1 {See the next post below}...
    * The four other 'Stars' that appeared on the program were Gordon McRae, Ricky Nelson, Nat 'King' Cole, and Patti Page.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 7th 1957, "Butterfly" by Andy Williams entered Billboard's Top 100 chart at position #42; and on March 14th, 1957 it peaked at #1 {for 3 weeks} and spent 20 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on that same day it reached #1 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's Most Played by Jockeys* chart...
    Exactly thirteen years earlier on February 7th, 1944 teen-ager Andy, as a member of the Williams Bros. Quartet, was in a recording studio with Bing Crosby recording the Oscar winning song "Swinging On a Star"...
    * Charlie Grace's version of "Butterfly" did peak at #1 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's Most Played on Jukebox’s chart.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyA artist by the name of Bob Carroll also released a version of 'Butterfly' in 1957, it peaked at No. 61 {It was his only song to make Billboard's Top 100}...
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