Papa Loves Mambo

Words and Music by Al Hoffman, Dick Manning and Bix Reichner 1954

Shapiro-Bernstein & Co., Inc. & Al Hoffman Songs Inc. ~ ASCAP

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra

and The Ray Charles Chorus

Arranged by Joe Reisman and Produced by Joe Carlton

Recorded in Webster Hall, New York

Recording Engineer: unknown

Recording Time 2:41

Recorded August 31, 1954 ~ Matrix No. E4VB 5169 Take 1

Single release: RCA-RCA-78/45RPM-20/47-5857

Single Flip Side: "The Things I Didn't Do"

US Chart Position No. 4

Belgian Chart No. 1 ( January & February, 1955 )

UK Single release: HMV-78RPM-B-10776 ( November 1954 )

Single Flip Side: "There Never Was a Night So Beautiful"

UK Chart Position No. 16

Belgium Single release: RCA-78RPM-18257

Single Flip Side: "The Things I Didn't Do"

RCA Gold Standard Series 78/45-RPM-420/447-0112

Single Flip Side: "Wanted"

German Single release: 45 M Electrola 7 MW-124 ( EG-8132 )

Single Flip Side: "Pa-paya Mama "

Japan Single release: RCA SS-2058

Single Flip Side: "The Rose Tattoo "

Mexico Single release: RCA-45RPM-SP-4531 RCA Mexicana ( White Label ) 1977

Single Flip Side: "Hot Diggity ( Dog Ziggity Boom )"

The Rose Tattoo / Papa Loves Mambo ~ Japan single

Bandleader Perez Prado introduced the sizzling, screeching mambo to the United States in 1949, but it caught on with a bang in 1954, and this recording was one reason why. The song writing team of Al Hoffman and Dick Manning was joined by veteran Bix Reichner, composer of such hits as "The Fable of the Rose" and "The Red We Want Is The Red We've Got ( in the Old Red, White and Blue )", to produce this bright novelty for Perry. The grunts heard from the chorus are humorous references to bandleader Prado's yelps to his musicians as they whipped dancers into a mambo frenzy.

( notes from "The Incomparable Como" Readers Digest UK compilation 1975 )

'Papa Loves Mambo and Mama loves mambo!' So sang Perry Como, who popularized this catchy dance number on his NBC television show. Como's 1954 recording climbed to No. 4 in the U.S.A. and sold over one million copies.