The music was written by Nat Simon, the lyrics by Charles Tobias.
The lyrics sentimentalize and memorialize the profession of lamplighters, who walked city streets at dusk turning on the gas-powered streetlamps and turned them off again at dawn.
The most popular recording, by Sammy Kaye (vocal by Billy Williams),[2] was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1963.
In 1960, the song was a major country-pop hit for The Browns, released as a single early that year.
It went on to become a major top-ten hit, spending 15 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No.