Beside You
1946


Recording History
Eddie Howard and his Orchestra, single, Majestic, 1123, 1947
Ziggy Elman
Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour and Paul Weston, Bob Hope Thanks For The Memory, Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., AJA 5493
Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour and Paul Weston, Capitol Records, 381
Dean Martin, Dino-Like Never Before, Tower, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, 1967
Dean Martin, Happy in Love/Dino-Like Never Before, Collector's Choice, B000BR6D8K double album, digitally remastered re-issue, 2006
Freddy Martin
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Highlights
  • Written for the 1947 Paramount Pictures film My Favorite Brunette, starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour and Peter Lorre.
  • A baby photographer mistaken for a private eye ends up framed for murder in this lampoon of hard-boiled detectives and the film noir style.
  • A number of high profile Hollywood stars appear in this film in cameo roles, including Alan Ladd, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bing Crosby and Betty Hutton.
  • Many film noir regulars play roles in My Favorite Brunette that poke fun at their more serious roles.
  • The film was originally released on March 19, 1947.
  • Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour recorded two Livingston-Evans songs with Capitol Records coordinated with the film’s release. The romantic “Beside You” appeared as a solo by Lamour in the film while “My Favorite Brunette”, a title song full of comic banter, did not appear onscreen.
  • The Screen Guild Theater, a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of My Favorite Brunette on CBS on October 13, 1947. Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour reprised their onscreen roles.
  • My Favorite Brunette is the second film in a three part series of sorts starring Bob Hope. My Favorite Blonde from 1942 spoofed secret agent thriller films and My Favorite Spy from 1951 parodies international spy films.
  • In 1975, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration during the 28th year after release.
  • Many different versions of My Favorite Brunette exist on home video and DVD varying in picture and sound quality. There have been authorized video releases of the film under license from the Bob Hope estate using the original negatives.
  • Filmed in black and white, My favorite Brunette also exists in a computer-colored version.
  • The film was later feature in an episode of Cinema Insomnia, a nationally syndicated television series that screened well-known horror or science fiction classics. The show was hosted by Mr. Lobo (Erik Lobo).

WRITTEN BY RAY EVANS & JAY LIVINGSTON
COPYRIGHT 1946
Lyrics
I have no wish to tour the world!
And rave about its charms.
I never can endure the world
Unless my world is in your arms.
 
To be beside you could I ask for more?
Each thrill beside you so worth waiting for.
Such lips never have been;
I’m in a spin.
 
When we touch lips I go dancing in the sky.
I sigh beside you through the winter storm;
For here beside you I’m forever warm.
I’m not stealing daydreams, it isn’t any crime;
To want to be beside you ‘till there’s no more time.
 
To be beside you could I ask for more?
Each thrill beside you so worth waiting for.
Such lips never have been;
I’m in a spin.
 
When we touch lips I go dancing in the sky.
I sigh beside you through the winter storm;
For here beside you I’m forever warm.
I’m not stealing daydreams, it isn’t any crime;
To want to be beside you till there’s no more time.
 
BESIDE YOU as sung by Dorothy Lamour in the Paramount Pictures film My Favorite Brunette, music and words by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. (Special Picture Release)