Song:A Kiss To Build A Dream On
Album:The Complete Collection
Though jazz trumpet legend Louis Armstrong always sang, by the 60s he was singing more than playing trumpet. A lot of this was because his recording of Hello, Dolly topped the charts in 1964. I think most folks will be familiar with Armstrong's recording of A Kiss To Build A Dream on from the 1993 film Sleepless In Seattle. Armstrong recorded A Kiss To Build A Dream On in 1951 and he had a top twenty hit with the song. A Kiss To Build A Dream On was originally titled Moonlight on the Meadow. Legendary songwriters Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar wrote it for the 1935 Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera. But it wasn't used. It sat in the MGM vault until Oscar Hammerstein II wrote new lyrics for the melody and changed the title to A Kiss To Build A Dream On in 1949. The song was used in the 1951 film The Strip starring Mickey Rooney. Louis Armstrong and his All Stars appeared in The Strip. They recorded A Kiss To Build A Dream On but it wasn't used in the film and was not released by Decca. But then Armstrong recorded the song with Sy Oliver's orchestra and that version reached #16 on the pop charts in 1951. And that's the version you will get on this 2CD British comp. Armstrong also performed the song with Bing Crosby on the TV show The Chesterfield Hour. I wish there was a video clip of that. In 1952, A Kiss To Build A Dream On by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra featuring vocals by Johnny Parker reached #10 on the pop charts. The song became a regular part of Armstrong's shows and it is on plenty of 60s live recordings. Of course you can always get the soundtrack for Sleepless In Seattle. I think that's where a lot have heard Armstrong's recording of the song. Here's Louis Armstrong performing A Kiss To Build A Dream On in Sweden 1962.
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