HEART AND SOUL Larry Clinton (words by Frank Loesser, music by Hoagy Carmichael)
3 versions charted in 1939: Larry Clinton (# 1); Eddy Duchin (# 12); and Al Donohue (# 16) Later charted as # 11 in 1952 by The Four Aces Also charted by Larry Maddox (1956, #57); The Cleftones (1961, #18); and Jan and Dean (1961, # 25)
Heart and soul, I fell in love with you Heart and soul, the way a fool would do, madly Because you held me tight And stole a kiss in the night
Heart and soul, I begged to be adored Lost control, and tumbled overboard, gladly That magic night we kissed There in the moon mist
Oh! but your lips were thrilling, much too thrilling Never before were mine so strangely willing
But now I see, what one embrace can do Look at me, it's got me loving you madly That little kiss you stole Held all my heart and soul
From the Reader's Digest Treasury of Best Loved Songs :
During a brief period in the Swing Era, the Hollywood film studios produced a series of short subjects featuring dance bands, usually playing their established hits. But only one short , A Song Is Born (1938), effectively introduced a hit. The band was Larry Clinton's, with vocalist Bea Wain and the song was Heart and Soul , Carmichael and Loesser's first collaboration. Carmichael was an established composer at the time, but Loesser - later a creator of both words and music - was still only a lyricist. Carmichael told the Digest that the song kicked around the back rooms of Paramount Pictures for a month before it was assigned to any picture. During that period the best use the song got was for Anthony Quinn's voice practice . This was before Quinn became a star. The writers were disappointed when their song was launched in a minor production, but the disappointment was short-lived as Clinton's recording became a big seller.
