Mad About the Boy - Dinah Washington

[Cosmo]

I have two different Dinah Washington recordings of Noel Coward's "Mad About the Boy". Can anyone help me with what original recordings these are from?

(1) http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/mad-about-the-boy/id126335420?i=126335695

(2) http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/mad-about-the-boy/id288943401?i=288943423

I've done some googling but I got lost quickly. Thanks

[Swinging Swede]

Dinah first recorded Mad About The Boy in 1952 as a Mercury single (in mono). It was then rerecorded in stereo in 1961 for a project called This Is My Story, which was the last thing she did for Mercury before she left the label. I can't hear your clips, but you should be able to tell yourself which is the earlier and later version, both because the later version is in stereo and because her voice had changed with age.

[Cosmo]

Thank you for the details. The one I labeled (1) is therefore most likely (to my ears) to be the 1961 version. It sounds like there is a lot of reverb on the vocal as compared to the other version, and it is the same as was used as accompaniment to a Levi's advertisement in 1992 (

). (2) must be the 1952 version, showing in the itunes link as "Dinah Washington & Walter Rodell & his Orchestra".

[Swinging Swede]

That's correct; on the 1952 version the backup orchestra was indeed led by Walter Rodell, and the advertisement you link to has the 1961 version. Both recorded in Chicago, on March 24, 1952 and December 4, 1961 to be more exact.