The original "Just a Gigolo" by BING CROSBY!

[WARF]

FACT: Louie Prima did not record the first Just a Gigolo.

It was was first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1929.

You won't recognize the beginning until 0:49

[Sensible Shoes]

Well FUCK Louis Prima for saying Dave stole it from him!

Likely that the song was written earlier than that, and Crosby MAY have been the first to record it. I must say, although this is a REALLY early version, I"m not sure it's even Crosby.

[WARF]

Well FUCK Louis Prima for saying Dave stole it from him!

Likely that the song was written earlier than that, and Crosby MAY have been the first to record it. I must say, although this is a REALLY early version, I"m not sure it's even Crosby.

My research shows that Bing Crosby recorded the first version of this in 1931. This is definitely Bing Crosby singing!

[WARF]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Gigolo_(song)

History

The original version is a poetic vision of the social collapse experienced in Austria after World War I, represented by the figure of a former hussar who remembers himself parading in his uniform, while now he has to get by as a lonely hired dancer. The music features a simple melodic sequence, but nonetheless has a clever harmonic construction that highlights the mixed emotions in the lyrics, adding a nostalgic, bittersweet effect.
The success of the song prompted a Tin Pan Alley publisher to buy the rights and order an English version from Irving Caesar, a very popular lyricist of the time. Caesar eliminated the specific Austrian references and, in the often-omitted verse (but included in the 1931 recording by Bing Crosby), set the action in a Paris cafe, where a local character tells his sad story. Thus, the lyrics retained their sentimental side but lost their historic value.
"Just a Gigolo" appeared in a 1931 film, a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon and a 1993 TV-series, all titled after the song. The song was recorded by many musicians of the time, including Louis Armstrong, Dajos Béla and Richard Tauber (in German). The film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo, directed by David Hemmings in 1979, was titled after the first verse of the original lyrics, but the "Just a Gigolo" title was used for US distribution. In this film, the song was performed by Marlene Dietrich, in her last film appearance."Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" medley

Origin

"Just a Gigolo" is best known in a form recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "I Ain't Got Nobody" (words by Roger Graham and music by Spencer Williams, 1915). Although these two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, and of the Village People's 1978 and David Lee Roth's 1985 cover versions of the medley, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition. The coupling of the two songs had its genesis in an earlier Louis Prima recording from 1945, which was then adapted by Sam Butera for Prima's 1950s Las Vegas stage show, during which Prima would revisit his old hits in a new, jive-and-jumping style. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with Capitol Records, which aimed to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled The Wildest! and released in November 1956,[1] opened with "Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody", which then became Prima's signature number and helped relaunch his career.

[WARF]

I ain't got nobody

1917 & 1918 Versions by Ben Linn & Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra

I can't find the original by Spencer Williams and Roger Graham in 1915.

[ELVIS]

I must say, although this is a REALLY early version, I"m not sure it's even Crosby.

Of course it is...

[Sensible Shoes]

Thank you for weighing in with another baseless opinion. Not you, Warf.

[Loons The Great]

http://youtu.be/7xTDKu31H7E
Thelonius Monk - Just A Gigalo

http://youtu.be/EK-0gcn9b4c
Louis Armstrong - Just A Gigalo

http://youtu.be/Fx-VAqKDDuc
Bessie Smith - I Ain't Got Nobody

http://youtu.be/wWHdhb197ek
Emmett Miller - I Ain't Got Nobody

http://youtu.be/ZMAEkHej7ic
Just A Gigalo - Django Reinhardt