I watched the film The Music Man last night on Turner Classic Movies, and was reminded of how much I love the song “Till There Was You”, both the version sung by Shirley Jones in the film, and the later cover by the Beatles. After reading a post by Randy of MostlyMusicCovers blog for yet another blog PowerPop, about the Beatles’ song “Ain’t She Sweet”, I decided to write a post about “Till There Was You”.

The Music Man, which along with Singin’ in the Rain is my favorite movie musical, began as a stage musical written by Meredith Willson. The show opened on Broadway in December 1957, and became a huge hit, running for 1,375 performances and winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The film version, released on June 19, 1962, also went on to become one of the biggest films of the year and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. (I still remember seeing it in the theater as an 8-year old kid, and loving it.) The film’s composer Ray Heindorf won the film’s sole award for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.

Both stage musical and film were directed by Morton DaCosta, with actor Robert Preston playing the title role of the charming traveling salesman and con artist Professor Harold Hill both on stage and in the film. The film also starred the stunning Shirley Jones as town librarian Marian Paroo, along with Buddy Hackett, Paul Ford, Hermione Gingold, Pert Kelton, and a young Ronny Howard. 

“Till There Was You” appears late in the musical and film, when Marian reluctantly agrees to meet Harold at the footbridge during the ice cream social, a big event in the small town of River City, Iowa where the story takes place (the footbridge was a spot where couples met for romantic encounters). After having previously spurned all of Harold’s attempts to woo her, Marian makes a 180-degree turn with regard to her feelings about him, telling him how much he’s come to mean to her, which she expresses in the song. Jones had a beautiful singing voice, which earlier had landed her coveted roles in the film musicals Oklahoma! and Carousel (she also won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for portraying a prostitute in the 1960 film Elmer Gantry), and her rendition of the song is deeply moving and heartfelt.

Turn your speaker volume up for this movie clip, then be sure to turn it back down for the Beatles’ version:

The Beatles version was produced by George Martin and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in July 1963. It was released that November in the UK as part of their second album With the Beatles, and was also included on their American debut album Meet the Beatles!, released in the U.S. in January 1964 (it was the first album I ever bought, as a 9-year old besotted with the Fab Four). It was the only song from a Broadway musical ever released by them. For the recording of the song, Paul McCartney sang vocals, accompanied by George Harrison and John Lennon playing acoustic, classical guitars in a Spanish style over a bolero bongo beat played by Ringo Starr. I like how Paul sings “soar” in place of “saw” in the lyrics.

Interestingly, Paul first heard “Till There Was You” from a 1961 cover version by Peggy Lee, when it was played by his older cousin Bett Robbins. He said that he “had no idea until much later” that it was from The Music Man. The song was part of their pre-recording repertoire in 1962, and they performed it at the Star Club in Hamburg. Also, Meredith Willson’s widow later remarked that her husband’s estate eventually received more income from the royalties of the Beatles recordings of “Till There Was You” than it originally received from the actual play. (Wikipedia)

There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
'Til there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
'Til there was you

Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you

Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you
'Til there was you