Talk:Love Letters (song)

covers

@Egghead06: When you remove a list of covers as was done here (a policy that I disagree with), I feel that you should at least leave behind a note mentioning that the song was covered numerous times. An earlier version of the article shows over two dozen well documented covers. Carptrash (talk) 16:19, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Did they pass WP:SONGCOVER?--Egghead06 (talk) 16:46, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Perspective?

How is the world do you jump to an obscure 1987 cover by Alison Moyet and not mention the Elvis version? Also in the period that this was written and first recorded the concept of a "cover" song was yet to be, as most songs were written by professional composers and recorded by professional singers. The "singer-songwriter" and the concept of a singer's ownership of a song was not common and the idea of "cover versions" nonexistent. APDEF (talk) 13:05, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

What did Dick Haymes do in the movie?

The article currently says "The song appeared, without lyrics, in the movie of the same name performed by Dick Haymes". The article on the film says basically the same thing.

This is puzzling, because Dick Haymes was a singer, not an instrumentalist or orchestra leader. He released his vocal version, with Victor Young's Orchestra, in 1945 as the flip side of "Till the End of Time". Both sides made Billboard's charts in September 1945. The film was released in October 1945. In the movie, did he simply hum or whistle the melody? IMdb doesn't show him as actually appearing in the movie. I suspect this sentence has conflated two "firsts" - the first record release by singer Dick Haymes and the instrumental theme that appeared in the movie, without Dick Haymes, that perhaps was recorded first. PatConolly (talk) 01:04, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

You're right, it doesn't make sense. Haymes recorded it in March 1945 and his was the popular version on record at that time, but that doesn't mean he is heard in the film (released October 1945).

It's hard to pin down definitive evidence and sources tend to be vague. One source says the song was sung by a chorus over the closing titles.

The Originals website lists the first recording as being by Victor Young for the film: "Instrumental in film Love Letters with Jennifer Jones & James Cotton" and notes that Young also "recorded it for Decca later that year". After that, a version by Dick Brown (1945) "first vocal version on Guild label" followed by Dick Haymes (1945). It's a usually reliable site but it does not cite sources and I would want to find verification.

The only sure way to solve it is to view the film. I will certainly try. Lyn50 (talk) 23:02, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

I viewed the film on DVD and there were no lyrics. I have edited the first paragraph to reflect this. I cannot verify the single source I saw that suggested the song was sung by a chorus over the closing titles. Certainly on my copy (and it could have been omitted for DVD release) there were no closing credits, just the final Paramount logo. Whatever the case, the instrumental theme is repeated numerous times during the drama but not sung by Dick Haymes or anyone else. Lyn50 (talk) 05:20, 4 March 2024 (UTC)