Diane (1927 song)

"Diane" is a song by Erno Rapee and Lew Pollack,^[1] originally written as a theme song for the 1927 silent movie Seventh Heaven. In 1928, The Nat Shilkret Orchestra had a hit with the song. The song appears (without lyrics) on the 1961 Miles Davis Quintet album Steamin', originally recorded in 1956. Instrumental version was recorded on March 22, 1962, for the LP There Is Nothing Like a Dame with Pete Candoli and Conte Candoli on trumpets, Shelly Manne on drums, John Williams on piano, Howard Roberts on guitar and Gary Peacock on bass.

Mario Lanza sang this song on radio, and his recording has been released in a compilation album from 1996, Be My Love. Sergio Franchi recorded this song on his 1963 RCA Victor Red Seal album Women in My Life.^[2]

The song was a popular single by Irish band The Bachelors, which was released on 25 January 1964 on the Decca label (Decca F11799) and produced by Shel Talmy.^[3] It reached Number 1 in the UK's Record Retailer chart (though not in the Pick of the Pops chart used by the BBC or the NME chart used by Radio Luxembourg). In the US, "Diane" was The Bachelors most successful single, peaking at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964.^[4]

Jim Reeves also covered the song in the 1950s, and so did The Mudballs in the 1990s. Their recording has never been released officially though. Billy May and Vic Damone both covered this much-recorded standard.

The song title is sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'My Diane' or confused with The Beach Boys song "My Diane", which is a different song. Country singer Slim Whitman featured a version on his number #2 hit album Home on the Range.

References

1. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 76. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
2. "Sergio Franchi - Women In My Life at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
3. "Bachelors". Bachelors. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 40.