Hello, Dolly! (song)

"Hello, Dolly!" is the title song of the popular musical of the same name, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.

"Hello, Dolly!"
Single by Louis Armstrong
from the album Hello, Dolly!
B-side	"A Lot of Livin' to Do"
Released	January 1964
Recorded	1963
Studio	Columbia 30th Street, New York City
Genre	Traditional pop Dixieland jazz
Length	2:27
Label	Kapp
Songwriter(s)	Jerry Herman
Producer(s)	Michael Kapp
Louis Armstrong singles chronology
"Mack the Knife" (1962) "Hello, Dolly!" (1964) "What a Wonderful World" (1967)

Louis Armstrong as the orchestra leader with Barbra Streisand, singing the song in the 1969 film.

A recording by Louis Armstrong released in 1964 was a widely popular success, winning the Song of the Year and Male Vocal Performance awards at the 7th Annual Grammy Awards. Armstrong's rendition was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

History

At the behest of his manager, Louis Armstrong made a demonstration recording of "Hello, Dolly!" in December 1963, for the song's publisher to use to promote the Broadway show.^[1]

In January 1964, the same month Hello, Dolly! opened in New York City, Kapp Records released Armstrong's publishing demo as a commercial single. His version reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, ending the Beatles' streak of 3 chart-topping hits in a row over 14 consecutive weeks.

"Hello Dolly!" became the most successful single of Armstrong's career, followed by a Gold-selling album of the same name.^[2] The song also spent nine weeks atop the adult contemporary chart shortly after the opening of the musical. The song also made Armstrong the oldest artist ever to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 since its introduction in 1958. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song of 1964, behind the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You".^[3]

"Hello, Dolly!" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1965, and Armstrong received a Grammy for Best Vocal Performance, Male. Louis Armstrong also performed the song alongside Barbra Streisand for the musical's 1969 screen adaptation. In 2018, the song was listed at number 178 on the Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary chart.^[4]

"Hello, Lyndon!"

Lyndon B. Johnson, often referred to by the moniker "LBJ", used the tune, rechristened "Hello, Lyndon!", as a campaign song for his run in the 1964 U.S. presidential election. This version of the song was performed by Carol Channing at that year's Democratic National Convention, and a recording was made by Ed Ames for distribution at the convention.^[5]

The "Sunflower" controversy

"Hello, Dolly!" became caught up in a lawsuit which could have endangered plans for filming the musical. Mack David, a composer, sued for infringement of copyright, because the first four bars of "Hello, Dolly!" were the same as those in the refrain of David's song "Sunflower" from 1948. As he recounts in his memoirs, Herman had never heard "Sunflower" before the lawsuit, and wanted a chance to defend himself in court, but, for the sake of those involved in the show and the potential film, he reluctantly agreed to pay a settlement before the case would have gone to trial.^[6][7]

References

1. All Music: Hello, Dolly! history
2. Bronson, Fred. The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (2003), Billboard Books, ISBN 0-8230-7677-6
3. Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1964
4. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
5. "'Hello, Lyndon!' Joins Campaign At Democratic Parley Next Week; Herman, Composer, to Play Song for Carol Channing at Atlantic City Meeting". The New York Times. August 21, 1964. p. 15. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
6. Riedel, Michael. "Play it Again, Jerry. Broadway Tunesmith Jerry herman Looks Back on Years in Revue". New York Daily News. 12 July 1998.
7. Herman, Jerry (with Marilyn Stasio). Showtune: A Memoir. New York: Donald I. Fine Books, 1996, pp. 102–108.