The Songs I Love (album)

The Songs I Love
Studio album by Perry Como
Released	July 1963
Recorded	March 18–19, 25–26, 1963
Genre	Vocal
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Hugo & Luigi
Perry Como chronology
The Best of Irving Berlin's Songs from Mr. President (1963) The Songs I Love (1963) The Scene Changes (1965)

The Songs I Love was Perry Como's 11th RCA Victor 12" long-play album and the first featuring RCA Victor's Dynagroove technology. ^[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Record Mirror	[3]

In his review of the album for Record Mirror in January 1964, Jimmy Watson credits Como's typical casual approach to the "first class song material" as he "sings his melodic and soothing way through the twelve" tracks. ^[3]

Retrospectively, Greg Adams of AllMusic notes how the album cover attempts to reproduce the set of his NBC variety show in which Como sat "on a distinctive set that spelled out 'Mr. C.'" while singing one of his or other fan favorites of the time. Containing a dozen pop standards and soft ballads, the song selection reflects the same attempt to recreate what the producers Hugo & Luigi called "one of the few great traditions in television". Adams concludes by stating that The Songs I Love became "a commercially successful album" by targeting the fans of his television show. ^[3]

Chart performance

The commercial success of the album was reflected in the charts as The Songs I Love reached No. 59 on the Billboard Top LP's chart in November 1963 and Nos. 52 and 31, respectively, on the monaural and stereo albums charts in Cash Box magazine that October. ^{[4] [5]}

Track listing

Side one

1. "The Songs I Love" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn) – 3:20
2. "(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco" (music by George Cory and lyrics by Douglas Cross) – 3:17
3. "Fly Me to the Moon" (In Other Words) (words and music by Bart Howard) – 3:20
4. "Slightly Out of Tune" (music by Antônio Carlos Jobim) – 3:12
5. "This is All I Ask" (words and music by Gordon Jenkins) – 3:18
6. "Hawaiian Wedding Song" (Ke Kali Nei Au ) – 2:37

Side two

1. "Days of Wine and Roses" (music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Johnny Mercer) – 2:43
2. "Carnival" (music by Luiz Bonfá and lyrics by Antonio Maria) – 3:24
3. "My Coloring Book" (music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb) – 3:33
4. "I Wanna Be Around" (words and music by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt) – 3:00
5. "When I Lost You" (words and music by Irving Berlin) – 2:55
6. "What Kind of Fool Am I?" (from the 1961 stage musical Stop the World I Want to Get Off ) – 2:34

Charts

Chart (1963)	Peak position
US Billboard Top LP's [4] [6]	59
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums (Monaural) [7]	52
US Cash Box Top 50 Stereo [5] [8]	31

References

1. "The Songs I love". Kokomo. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2011.
2. The Songs I Love at AllMusic. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
3. Watson, Jimmy (January 4, 1964). "LP Reviews by Jimmy Watson" (PDF). Record Mirror . No. 147. p. 10. Retrieved August 27, 2025– via worldradiohistory.com.
4. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top LPs, 1955–1996. Record Research. p. 35. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
5. Hoffmann, Frank W (1988). The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 120. ISBN   0-8108-2005-6.
6. "Billboard Top LP's" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 75, no. 46. November 16, 1963. p. 34. Retrieved August 27, 2025– via worldradiohistory.com.
7. "Cash Box Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Cash Box . Vol. XXV, no. 6. October 26, 1963. p. 21. Retrieved August 27, 2025– via worldradiohistory.com.
8. "Cash Box Top 50 Stereo" (PDF). Cash Box . Vol. XXV, no. 6. October 19, 1963. p. 21. Retrieved August 27, 2025– via worldradiohistory.com.

External links

• Perry Como discography