*I know with the dawn you will be gone...*

On a fairly recent episode of the ABC Family series, Bunheads, I caught a rendition of a familiar song that I’d somehow forgotten about. Of course, now that I’ve found it again, I’m finding myself rather addicted to it.

 

The tune is “Tonight You Belong To Me”. While this song has been featured in a number of commercials through the years and in a couple episodes of American Horror Story (which seems to be where many youtubers think it’s from), it has actually been around since the mid-1920s. It was written in 1926 by Billy Rose and Lee David, and since then, I believe there are dozens of renditions of it.

 

Gene Austin recorded it first in 1927 and it was later revived by Frankie Laine in 1952. In the mid-1950s, The Lennon Sisters recorded it with Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra and in 1956, possibly the most famous rendition was recorded by Patience and Prudence. Karen Chandler and Jimmy Walkley, Ann Shelton and The Duprees, George Maharis, The Honeys, Eddie Vedder, Fiona Apple, Zooey Deschanel, and even Alvin and the Chipmunks all have contributed their own interpretations of the song.

 

I guess it’s no surprise so many people have chosen to cover it. It’s short, simple and not hard to sing, and while it borders on being almost too saccharine, it has very lovely harmonies and is damn catchy. My favorite version is probably the version featured in The Jerk, with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters singing a slower version while walking along the beach, accompanied by just a ukulele. The performance is more wistful than some of the others and I think it may appeal to me for that reason. Also, I'm finding I have kind of a thing for the ukulele...