This is one of those songs that helped give early Easy Listening a bad name. Granted, Eddie Fisher was one of the lesser talents in the ‘Crooner’ category at the best of times…he tended too much toward schmaltzy sentimentality, and even his greatest recordings are a little too soft (compare his version of “Wish You Were Here” to Jack Cassidy’s, for example). Granted, the King of Crooners himself, Perry Como, indulged in much the same thing, but Como got away with things like recording a Pop version of “Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo” because he really was a world-class singer (check out his magnificent rendition of Shubert’s “Ave Maria” if you don’t believe me). Fisher definitely has a voice, but he lacks the substance of better crooners like Como or Robert Goulet. That said, the fact that this became his signature song has made him out to be much worse than he actually was. The tune to this song, which was originally an aria from a German operetta, is valid, and the instrumental version by Eddie Calvert that appeared around the same time actually works fairly well. But as a vocal song, especially with the hopelessly trite lyrics on display here, it’s just wince-inducing. It’s not “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” bad, but it’s pretty close.
Verdict: Bad.