Bad News
1953



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Highlights
  • Written for the 1954 Paramount Pictures film Red Garters, starring Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, Jack Carson, Pat Crowley, Gene Barry, Cass Daley and Joanne Gilbert.
  • Reb Randall rides into town seeking his brother’s murdere in this raucous spoof of the western film genre filmed in the stylized fashion of a Broadway musical.
  • The soundtrack on Columbia Records was released as a ten-inch LP combining soundtrack recordings with studio re-creations conducted by Percy Faith and Mitch Miller.
  • The film was originally released in 3-D which, combined with the stylized sets and somewhat stagey acting gave it the effect of a Broadway musical filmed in the theater.
  • The stylized sets were inspired by an article in Life Magazine about the western Yellow Sky. The article showed the cast of Yellow Sky on sets which were clearly only false fronts, as are the sets in this film.
  • Red Garters was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
  • BAD NEWS is performed in the film by Rosemary Clooney.



Recording History
Rosemary Clooney, The Great American Composers, Livingston & Evans, Columbia House, 8651
Lyrics
You wanna know why I’m cryin’ the blues,
And why I’m feelin’ so bad?
You wanna know why I’m buyin’ the blues,
And why I’m miser’bly, frightfully, mournfully, rightfully sad?
 
Well, now, I had a guy.
He took a train.
Why did he go?
Who can explain?
It was a great love story.
Now it’s just bad news.
 
Thought he was fair, thought he was kind.
Funny how life changes your mind.
It was a great love story.
Now it’s just bad news.
 
He was my one and only
Now I’m lady lonely,
Wondrin’ will he return?
My heart is aching;
Here’s the point I’m making,
Women don’t, women won’t learn.
 
Tried to do right.
Guess I did wrong.
Now ev’ry night lingers too long.
Yes, it was some love story.
Now its just bad news.
 
I had a guy.
He took a train.
Why did he go?
Who can explain?
It was a great love story.
Now it’s just bad news.
 
It was a great love story.
Now it’s just bad news.
 
BAD NEWS as sung by Rosemary Clooney in the Paramount Pictures film Red Garters, music and words by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. (Professional Version)