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1954


Recording History
Bob Grabeau
Betty Hutton, Satins And Spurs soundtrack, Capitol Records, DRG 19055, 1954
Betty Hutton, Satins And Spurs soundtrack (original soundtrack recording remastered), DRG Records, B0000AGWH7 music arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, 2003
Betty Hutton, Betty Hutton At The Saints & Sinners Ball, Warner Bros., W1267, 1959
Betty Hutton, Betty Hutton At The Saints & Sinners Ball, Sepia Records, B002BIGD1O Unlicensed re-issue with additional material, 2009
Betty Hutton, Max Liebman Presents Betty Hutton in the NBC-TV New Musical Comedy Satins And Spurs, Capitol Records, L547 music arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, 1954
Jay Livingston, demo
Nashville
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Highlights
  • Written for the 1954 NBC-TV musical comedy special Satins And Spurs, presented by Max Liebman, directed by Max Liebman and Charles O’Curran, starring Betty Hutton, Kevin McCarthy and Guy Raymond.
  • A rodeo performer at a show in Madison Square Garden falls for a handsome photographer who’s been assigned to do a story on the show.
  • All songs for the television special were written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, they were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
  • Satins And Spurs first aired September 12, 1954 as a 90 minute musical comedy produced by Max Liebman. It was the first color spectacular for NBC, one of the first programs televised nationally by NBC in compatible color, which garnered the production a great deal of media coverage.
  • This program inaugurated NBC’s Brooklyn Color Studio 1, a former Warner Bros. east coast film soundstage.
  • Reactions to this show by critics and viewers were so negative that Betty Hutton announced one of her many retirements from show business shortly afterward.
  • Capitol Records released a 10” original soundtrack album in 1954. Singer Earl Wrightson replaced Kevin McCarthy on the album. DRG Records rereleased the album on CD in 2003.
  • Nelson Riddle was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for Satins And Spurs in 1955 for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Variety Program.

WRITTEN BY RAY EVANS & JAY LIVINGSTON
COPYRIGHT 1954
Lyrics
The sky ‘round here is cloudy,
Oh why did I ever roam?
‘Cause the sky is clearer,
The stars are nearer,
The moon’s a mirror back home!
 
I see the crowds of people
Like bees in their honey comb;
But a man is bigger,
His stride has vigor,
He cuts a figger back home!
 
Any man who is knowin’ what all this is worth
Knows enough not to settle for less on this earth!
And so why should I wander?
I know I never should roam!
‘Cause the livin’s finer,
The cares are minor,
Each day’s a shiner back home!
 
‘Cause the livin’s finer,
The cares are minor,
Each day’s a shiner back home!
 
BACK HOME Max Liebman Presents Betty Hutton in the NBC-TV New Musical Comedy Satins And Spurs , music and words by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. (Commercial Score)