[3][4] The original version was by British singer Dorothy Squires, who had previously been in a relationship with the song's composer, Billy Reid.
Squires discovered that she was not under contract to Columbia, and hired a studio to record the song, paying for the session – scheduled for 27 February – herself.
Squires was furious, and flew to America to confront James Franks, the president of Coral Records, the company responsible for releasing her version in the States.
These performances commercially released on three albums:[8] Eddie Fisher's rendition of the song, featuring soprano Sally Sweetland, became a No.
[10][11] It was released by RCA Victor on both 78 and 45 rpm single formats (catalogue numbers 20-5293 and 47-5293) in the United States that same month.
[23] Prior to its chart debut, the earliest released versions were by Dorothy Squires and Gary Miller in March that year.
Further contemporary versions issued in the UK were by Billy Cotton and his Band (with vocal by Doreen Stephens), Jimmy Young (recorded on February 3), Frank Sinatra, Donald O'Connor, Vic Damone and organist Ethel Smith.
Damone's version was re-issued on Mercury in June 1954, following the end of their agreement with Oriole, who had originally released the recording in the UK.
This recording, with backing led by Axel Stordahl (Sinatra's musical director from his early years as a solo artist), was issued as a single by Capitol (catalog number 2450) and peaked at No.