"Come On-a My House" is a song written by Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan and originally released by Rosemary Clooney in 1951. Cousins Bagdasarian, a songwriter, and Saroyan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, wrote the song while driving across New Mexico in the summer of 1939. The melody is based on an Armenian folk song, and the lyrics reference traditional Armenian customs of hospitality.
The song was first performed during a 1950 off-Broadway production of The Son, and did not become a hit until the release of Clooney's recording. It is Saroyan's only known effort at popular songwriting and one of Bagdasarian's few successes from prior to his adopting the stage name David Seville, under which he found success with the song "Witch Doctor" and as the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Rosemary Clooney version
Clooney's version of the song was the first of a number of dialect songs she did. She recorded it in early 1951 with Mitch Miller leading an ensemble of four musicians including harpsichordistStan Freeman. The single reached number one on the Billboard charts for six weeks.
Although she performed "Come On-a My House" for many years, Clooney later confessed that she hated the song and only recorded it because Miller threatened to fire her if she refused. In a 1988 interview, Clooney said that she could hear anger in her voice from being forced to sing the song.[4][5]
Cover versions
A version was released on Coral Records at the same time as Clooney's in 1951, performed by the song's composers, Bagdasarian and Saroyan. It contains a coda that is omitted from the familiar Clooney hit: "Come on-a my house all your life/Come on, come on/Come on, come on and be my wife."
In late 1951, MGM Records released a novelty answer record, "Where's-a Your House?", which reached #22 on the Billboard charts. Sung by Robert Q. Lewis in dialect, the tune details the singer's frustrated attempts to follow up "Rosie's" invitation.
American country-music artist K. T. Oslin covered the song on her 2001 album, Live Close By, Visit Often. Her version reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts. It spent six weeks on the chart before peaking in June 2001. It is her only song to chart on the Dance Club songs list.[6]
↑ Scapeletti, Christopher (1998). "The Chipmunks/Alvin & the Chipmunks". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p.231.
↑ "Lears 290". www.rosemaryclooney.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
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