Hugo Winterhalter

10. Eddie Fisher Featuring Sally Sweetland, with Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra – I'm Walking Behind You (1953)

/ robbarker1979 / 3 Comments

The Intro

On his previous number 1, Outside of Heaven, Eddie Fisher sounded like he was stalking an ex-partner by watching her in the crowd as she married someone else. This time, with accompaniment from the singer Sally Sweetland, his obsession has deepened – he’s walking down the aisle behind the bride-to-be!

Before

This forgettable slice of traditional pop was written by the first British songwriter to top the US charts, Billy Reid. Fisher and Sweetland are so loud you can barely hear the musicians, but the song is so average it doesn’t really matter.

Sweetland, born Sally Miller on 23 September 1911, was a soprano who provided backing vocals for the young Tony Bennett. Years later she worked as a vocal coach with her husband Lee, and among their students was one Seth McFarlane, later the creator of animated comedy Family Guy. She lived to the grand old age of 103, passing away on 8 February 2015.

Review

‘I’m walking behind you
On your wedding day
And I’ll hear you promise
To love and obey
Though you may forget me
You’re still on my mind
Look over your shoulder
I’m walking behind’

Shudder. Was stalking an ex considered socially acceptable in 1953? It certainly didn’t stop Fisher bagging another number 1, so perhaps so. Frank Sinatra later covered it too.

After

This was Fisher’s last number 1 in the UK, and this may be down to the problems his personal life would cause. In 1955 he married actress Debbie Reynolds, and had two children, one being Star Wars great Carrie Fisher. They had a very public divorce and he went on to marry Elizabeth Taylor, with who he had been having an affair. Taylor had been married to Fisher’s best friend, the deceased Mike Todd (I wonder if Fisher checked to see if the ghost of Todd was walking behind him in church?). Such behaviour, bad enough now, must have been truly scandalous in the 50s. His TV show was subsequently cancelled and he was then dropped by RCA Victor in 1960.

The handsome crooner notched up a further three marriages after Taylor. He tried a comeback in 1983 but this went nowhere and his final album was made a year later.

The Outro

Plagued by health problems in later years, Fisher was rarely seen in public. He fell and broke his hip and died due to surgery complications on 22 September 2010. He was 82.

The Info

Written by

Billy Reid

Producer

Hugo Winterhalter

Weeks at number 1

1 (26 June-2 July)

4. Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra & Chorus – Outside of Heaven (1953)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

In a week hit by not one but two tragedies (see ‘Meanwhile…‘). Outside of Heaven was a suitably gloomy song to rule the singles chart. Sammy Gallop and Chester Conn had written this from the perspective of a spurned lover on the outside looking in at his lost love’s new life.

Before

Ironically, Outside of Heaven was recorded by a man who had no problem with women. Singer and actor Eddie Fisher, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 10 August 1928 to Russian-Jewish immigrants, was one of the biggest heart-throbs of the 50s, and is best know these days for his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, to name two out of five. Carrie Fisher, the much-missed Star Wars star, was his daughter to Reynolds, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

‘Sonny Boy’, as he was known to his family, won several amateur singing contests in his youth. Following his performance on radio (and later TV) show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Fisher dropped out of high school to focus on his budding career.

In 1949 he signed with RCA Victor and became a nationwide success, but his success was curtailed when he was drafted into the US Army in 1951 and he served a year in Korea. From 1952-53 he was the official vocal soloist for the United States Army Band. During that time he would make occasional TV appearances, and must have still been recording, as he went to number 1 in the US in 1952 with Wish You Were Here, which became his first UK top 10 hit. Outside of Heaven was released three singles later.

Review

Unable to let go, the ex walks past her house, and is even around on her wedding day, suggesting he is at best a glutton for punishment, or at worse, indulging in a spot of stalking…

‘On your wedding day I stood in the crowd
I could hardly keep from crying out loud
There goes the kiss my lips have known’

Certainly interesting lyrically, but the tune is all too easily forgotten. It’s a very maudlin affair, which I’m sure did so well due to Fisher’s charisma and good looks. Yes, even in the 50s, appearance was often as important as talent. Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra smothers the recording, but that was par for the course in the pop of the era.

After

1953 would prove to be one of Fisher’s most successful years, as in addition to two number 1s, he began hosting his own variety show in the US, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher. I’m assuming this was blatant sponsorship for a certain soft drink rather than an open confession to a drug habit.

The Info

Written by

Sammy Gallop & Chester Conn

Producer

Hugo Winterhalter

Weeks at number 1

1 (30 January-5 February)

Meanwhile…

31 January : The UK suffered two aquatic disasters. The car ferry MV Princess Victoria was sailing from Stranraer, Scotland, to Larne in Northern Ireland, when it sank in the Irish Sea, killing 133 people, including several high-ranking Northern Irish politicians. Also that night, the North Sea flood began, and hundreds of people on the east coast in England, Scotland and Belgium lost their lives.