| Paper Doll | |
| Cover: | Paper Doll (Mills Brothers song).jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Mills Brothers |
| Published: | 1922 Edward B. Marks Music Corp. |
| A-Side: | I'll Be Around |
| Released: | May 1942 |
| Recorded: | February 18, 1942 |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Label: | Decca 18318 |
"Paper Doll" was a hit song for The Mills Brothers. In the United States it held the number-one position on the Billboard singles chart for twelve weeks,[1] from November 6, 1943, to January 22, 1944. The success of the song represented something of a revival for the group after a few years of declining sales. It is one of the fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.
The song was written in 1915 (although it was not published until 1930) by Johnny S. Black,[2] whose greatest success would come with his song "Dardanella", which sold 5,000,000 copies in a recording by the bandleader Ben Selvin in 1920 and a further 2,000,000 copies of sheet music. In 1922, Black played "Paper Doll" to the music publisher Edward B. Marks on the violin, after which Marks bought it for $25 in advance royalties. Marks put "Paper Doll" on the market, but it was a flop. In 1936, Johnny Black died after a fight with a customer at his Hamilton, Ohio, roadhouse.[3]
Black was apparently inspired to write the song after he was jilted by a girlfriend. The author Jack London Riehl wrote that Black was "a pianist, who augmented his income by boxing. His girlfriend ran off with another boxer, and he wrote this song, which began, 'I'd like to buy a paper doll that I can call my own ...' and ended 'I'd rather have a paper doll to call my own than have a fickle-minded real live girl."[4]
On February 18, 1942, The Mills Brothers recorded "I'll Be Around" by Alec Wilder as their new single, with "Paper Doll" as the B-side. It is rumored that it took less than fifteen minutes to record the latter.[5] Harry Mills recalled that he and his brother Herbert did not initially like the song, although their brother Donald did. However, Harry said, "as we went along rehearsing it, we got to feeling it".
It was released by Decca Records in May but generated little interest. A review in Billboard on May 16 called the song "more pleasing" than the A-side of the record but ended, "Little here save for Mills fans at particular locations."[6] It did make number 9 in the South Region on October 24, 1942, for one week, then reappeared on May 22, 1943. It finally hit number 10 on August 7 and number 1 on November 6, which is where it stayed through January 22, 1944, charting forty weeks in all.[7]
| Charts (1943–44) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| US Billboard Harlem Hit Parade[8] | 2 | |
| US Billboard National Best Selling Retail Records Year-End | 1 | |
| US Billboard R&B Records Year-End | 14 |
The song has been named one of the Songs of the Century[9] and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[10] Many artists have recorded it, including
In 1975, British actors Don Estelle and Windsor Davies (both known for the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum) recorded a novelty version of the song. It reached number 41 in the UK singles chart in 1975. As with their cover of "Whispering Grass", they sung in character.[12]