View source for Personality (Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke song)

"'''Personality'''" is a popular song with lyrics by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]] and music by [[Jimmy Van Heusen]]. It was written for the 1946 film ''[[Road to Utopia]]'', and [[Dorothy Lamour]] performed it in the movie.<ref name=pc3a/>  Van Heusen said that he wrote the song with a limited [[vocal range]] to accommodate Lamour.<ref name=pc3a/>
In a slightly longer version, the song became a number one ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' hit for [[Johnny Mercer]]  and [[the Pied Pipers]] with Capitol Records in 1946.<ref name=pc3a>{{Pop Chronicles 40s|3|A |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633238/m1/#track/3 }}</ref> [[Dinah Shore]] also recorded it around that time. Lamour was between record contracts at the time of the film's release, so she did not record the song herself until years later.
The song employs tongue-in-cheek, slightly bawdy lyrics and an ironic use of the word "personality." The lyrics suggest that men are often attracted to a woman because of her shapely figure (called euphemistically her “personality”) rather than other beauty traits or any other admirable qualities she might possess.
==Cover versions==
*[[Bing Crosby]] recorded the song with [[Eddie Condon]] and His Orchestra in January 1946<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/crosby1bDecca.html|website=A Bing Crosby Discography|accessdate=December 24, 2015}}</ref> and it reached the No. 9 spot in the Billboard charts in April 1946.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/110 110]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/110}}</ref>
*[[Al Hirt]] and [[Ann-Margret]] released a version on their 1964 album, ''[[Beauty and the Beard]]''.<ref>[http://www.discogs.com/Al-Hirt-And-Ann-Margret-Beauty-And-The-Beard/release/4407972 Al Hirt, ''Beauty and the Beard''] Retrieved April 10, 2013.</ref>
==Song in popular culture==
*Rewritten versions of the song have been used as commercial jingles. The most notable was "Wessonality," an advertisement for Wesson cooking oil sung by [[Florence Henderson]].
*The Johnny Mercer version features in the 2015 videogame ''[[Fallout 4]]'' on the in-game radio station Diamond City Radio.
*The song plays on the soundtrack during the screen test preparation montage in episode 4 of Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood miniseries.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Dorothy Lamour|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Personality (1946 Song)}}
[[Category:1946 songs]]
[[Category:1946 singles]]
[[Category:Songs written for films]]
[[Category:Songs with lyrics by Johnny Burke (lyricist)]]
[[Category:Songs with music by Jimmy Van Heusen]]
[[Category:Dorothy Lamour songs]]
[[Category:Dinah Shore songs]]
[[Category:Al Hirt songs]]
[[Category:Johnny Mercer songs]]