Music in the Air premiered on Broadway 94 years ago, and with it came the first-ever performance of “I’ve Told Every Little Star.”
The original version is a bit slower than what modern listeners are familiar with — it takes over a minute, for instance, for the lyrics to begin — but it’s undeniably catchy. The musical’s creators knew it, too, because they made the song central to the plot and gave it a reprise later in the first act.
The song’s composer Jerome Kern later revealed that his inspiration for the song’s melody came from a bird singing outside his window. He initially forgot to write his lyrics down and went to bed frustrated, only for the bird to return the next morning to inspire him again.
The Broadway show ended its run in 1933, and its film adaptation in 1934 was sadly a box office failure. The musical was briefly revived on Broadway in 1951, but this time it ran for less than seven weeks. By 1961 “Every Little Star” was all but forgotten about, until the little-known teen pop singer Linda Scott decided to put her spin on it.
Linda Scott’s Cover Reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart
Scott’s version of “I’ve Told Every Little Star” stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 14 weeks, earning Scott the first and only gold disc of her career.
“It’s an unusual sensation hearing your voice over the radio,” the 15-year-old singer told the Record in February 1961, and yet she’d have to grow used to the feeling from that point forward. Scott had two more hits in 1961 alone (“I Don’t Know Why” and “Don’t Bet Money Honey,”) and she continued to make the charts for the next three years.
The catchiest part of “I’ve Told Every Little Star” is its opening doo-wop vocals, “Dum, da-dum…” which are entirely absent from the 1932 song. The original “Every Little Star” takes a while to get going, while Scott’s version hooks you in immediately. When Scott’s cover played on the radio, every listener knew exactly what song was playing from the very first second.
Scott’s version isn’t just catchy; it has a nostalgic, dreamlike quality that seems to have captured filmmakers throughout the years. Director David Lynch famously used it to great effect in his surreal 2001 masterpiece “Mulholland Drive,” in which a mysterious woman lip syncs to Scott’s cover song.
‘I’ve Told Every Little Star’ Enjoyed Another Boost in Popularity in 2010
Although no direct cover could ever outshine Scott’s version, young rapper Mac Miller sampled Scott’s opening bit in his 2010 song “Knock Knock,” introducing Scott’s hit ’61 single to a whole new generation of listeners.
For the song’s music video, Miller told director Rex Arrow that he wanted it to feel like a “throwback.” As Arrow told DJBooth in 2019, Miller had wanted the video to feel “a little Westside Story” with sections of it filmed in old-fashioned black-and-white.
Much like Scott’s cover nearly 50 years earlier, Miller was mixing something old with something new and turning it into another hit. 16 years after “Knock Knock” released, maybe it’s time for a new musician to take inspiration from “Every Little Star” once again.
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