Nancy (with the Laughing Face)

Former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells the story of the song's inception as related to him by Van Heusen: In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced.Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942), he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century-Fox composing for a film.While Burke was out of their writer's bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnny's wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday.When they sang it as "Nancy ... with the laughing face" at little Nancy Sinatra's birthday party, Frank broke down and cried, thinking it had been written especially for his daughter; the trio wisely didn't correct him.Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia in 1944.
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