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"Gomen-nasai"

Oldiesmann

Managing Editor
Posts: 2733

Oldiesmann @ 2020-07-07 04:12:21 UTC

Need some help with a few things in regards to the song Gomen Nasai which I found last night...


1. Who actually recorded/released this first? Discogs lists the release date for the Margaret Whiting/Jimmy Wakely version as 1949, but no other recordings seem to exist from prior to 1953 and 45worlds lists a UK release of this version as being from 1953. The version on Columbia was the hit and an ad for it in Billboard magazine lists it as "the original".


2. Which release should I use for Slim Gaillard's version - the Slim Gaillard Cavorts album (Clef records) or the Mercury single?

baggish

Editor
Posts: 3805

baggish @ 2020-07-07 09:43:22 UTC

The Margaret Whiting/Jimmy Wakely version was recorded February 24 1953 - http://www.margaretwhiting.com/discography.htm - so 1949 is definitely wrong.

According to Billboard Feb 14 1953 the original version with Richard Bowers was recorded in Japan in summer 1952. On another page in that issue there is another advert for it.

If you go to https://worldradiohistory.com/ and search Billboard and Cash Box in 1953 for Gomen you will get lots of results. It seems Harry Belafonte, Sammy Kaye, Eddy Howard, Gordon Jenkins were all released in Feb/Mar, and Margaret Whiting/Jimmy Wakely was probably later in March.

______
Really wild, General!

Oldiesmann

Managing Editor
Posts: 2733

Oldiesmann @ 2020-07-08 02:04:18 UTC

So now the big question is whether the Japanese release came out before the American one... Discogs gives a date of 1952 for that but I don't know if that's actually the case.