Songs I Wish I Had Sung

About Songs I Wish I Had Sung

Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around was Bing Crosby's fourth album for Decca and his fifth LP, recorded and originally released in 1956 on vinyl as Decca DL 8352. This was a concept album of sorts, as Bing covered some of his musical rivals' big hits, such as Al Jolson's "April Showers" and Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa". The jazz historian Will Friedwald wrote that the album "was essentially Crosby's way of acknowledging that he wasn't the only male singer to create hits and standards". Crosby recorded the songs in April 1956 in Los Angeles, with orchestrations by arranger Jack Pleis. Longtime record producer Milt Gabler came up with the concept. All 12 tracks from Songs I Wish I Had Sung were released by Sepia Records on the 2011 CD Through the Years: Volume Nine (1955). Bing Crosby Enterprises and Universal Music issued a deluxe, 22-track version of Songs I Wish I Had Sung in 2014 which added many radio tracks to the original LP. more »