Who recorded it first
Let It Be Me
Not an Everly Brothers original — a 1955 French song, “Je t’appartiens,” whose earliest dated session belongs to Les Compagnons de la chanson
The Everly Brothers’ 1960 Cadence single is the version almost everyone means by “Let It Be Me,” and it is often assumed to be where the song began. It is not: the song is the French “Je t’appartiens,” music by Gilbert Bécaud, words by Pierre Delanoë. Which record came first is genuinely unsettled. The earliest dated session anyone documents is by Les Compagnons de la chanson — 8 September 1955, arranged by Nino Nardini, issued on Columbia SCRF 184 — and Radio France’s account is that they were first to disc because Bécaud had sworn off recording the song. The earliest release under Bécaud’s own name is the December 1955 EP 5 – Je t’appartiens (La Voix de son Maître 7 EGF 171) ↗; no source gives the date of the session behind it. Manny Curtis wrote the English lyric, and it was on American television and on a Columbia single by Jill Corey in 1957, before the Everlys ever cut it.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Recorded in Paris on 8 September 1955, arranged by Nino Nardini, running 2:16 — the earliest dated session documented for the song, on Columbia SCRF 184 (matrix 7XCL 5282); the Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogues that disc with Charles Aznavour’s “Sur ma vie” on the reverse. Encyclopédisque and MusicBrainz both date the Compagnons’ issue to January 1956. Bécaud’s own recording came out slightly earlier, in December 1955, as the lead track of a 7-inch, 45 rpm EP titled “5 – Je t’appartiens” on La Voix de son Maître (Pathé-Marconi), catalogue 7 EGF 171 — not a two-sided single; the other three tracks were “Ça ! (C’est formidable),” “Pauvre pêcheur” and “Marianne de ma jeunesse,” with orchestra directed by Wal-Berg. So Bécaud was first to the shops; on the evidence available, Les Compagnons were first to the studio.
Charted No chart placing is documented for either 1955 French record. The first chart entry the song is recorded as making anywhere is Jill Corey’s English-language Columbia single, number 57 on Billboard’s pop chart (the pre-Hot 100 Top 100 listings) in 1957 — the Hot 100 itself did not launch until August 1958, so that figure is not a Hot 100 placing.
Hear Gilbert Bécaud’s December 1955 recording of “Je t’appartiens” — the first release of the song that became “Let It Be Me.” www.youtube.com · An auto-generated "Provided to YouTube by Zebralution GmbH" upload on the official Gilbert Bécaud - Topic channel. Its ℗ line reads "1955 La Voix de son Maître 7 EGF 171" — the exact label and catalogue number of the original French EP — and it runs 2:50 against MusicBrainz's 2:49 for the 1955 recording.The paper trail
The Frémeaux & Associés track-by-track discography of Les Compagnons de la chanson dates their “Je t’appartiens” to a session of 8 September 1955, arr. Nino Nardini, 2’16, Columbia SCRF 184 (matrix 7XCL 5282) ↗. MusicBrainz’s recording entity for that performance ↗ matches it at 2:15 and puts its first release in January 1956.
MusicBrainz holds the Bécaud EP as 5 – Je t’appartiens, La Voix de son Maître 7 EGF 171 ↗, and the French singles database Encyclopédisque lists the same disc — Je t’appartiens – N°5, December 1955 ↗ — printing the A1 title on the sleeve as “Je t’appartiens ‘Let it be me’” with orchestration by Wal-Berg. Both document a December 1955 issue; neither states when Bécaud actually recorded, which is why this page does not call his the first recording.
Radio France’s Pop Story feature on the song ↗ states flatly that Les Compagnons de la chanson were the first to put “Je t’appartiens” on disc, because Bécaud — still angry about the argument that produced the lyric — had promised himself he would never record it.
The English Wikipedia article on the song ↗ traces the line from Bécaud and Delanoë through Manny Curtis’s English lyric and Jill Corey’s 1957 Columbia single to the Everly Brothers’ December 1959 New York session and 1960 Cadence release. Note that the French Wikipedia entry files Les Compagnons under 1956 covers — it is sorting by release month, not by session date, and that is exactly where the two readings diverge.
Wikipedia: Let It Be Me (The Everly Brothers song)Know more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
What people get wrong
The Everly Brothers’ 1960 Cadence single is so completely the definitive “Let It Be Me” that the song’s French first life has been almost entirely erased from the popular account. Here is the record.
The Everly Brothers, 1960
Their version, recorded in New York in December 1959 and released by Cadence Records in 1960, reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the reference recording. It is a cover of a French song from 1955.
Les Compagnons de la chanson, 8 September 1955
The Frémeaux & Associés discography dates their “Je t’appartiens” to 8 September 1955 (arr. Nino Nardini, Columbia SCRF 184), and Radio France says they beat Bécaud to disc. No source anywhere gives a session date for Bécaud’s own recording, so this is the earliest recording that can actually be dated.
Gilbert Bécaud, December 1955
Bécaud’s recording of his own composition was issued in December 1955 in France on the EP “5 – Je t’appartiens,” La Voix de son Maître 7 EGF 171 — a month or so ahead of the Compagnons’ disc. First to the shops is not the same claim as first to the studio, and this page keeps the two apart.
Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoë and Manny Curtis
Bécaud wrote the music and Delanoë the French lyric. Manny Curtis wrote the English lyric titled “Let It Be Me” — a separate piece of writing from the French words.
Jill Corey, 1957
Corey sang Curtis’s English lyric on the television series Climax! in 1957; Columbia released it as a single and it reached number 57 on Billboard’s pop chart — the pre-Hot 100 Top 100 listings, since the Hot 100 did not launch until August 1958 — before the Everly Brothers recorded theirs.
Written by Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë as “Je t’appartiens.” Bécaud’s own record was out first, in December 1955; the earliest session anyone can date is Les Compagnons de la chanson’s, 8 September 1955. The Everly Brothers’ famous version came in 1960.
Context
Why the cover swallowed the original
A French chanson does not usually cross the Atlantic intact. What crossed was the tune. Manny Curtis wrote an English lyric that kept Bécaud’s long, climbing melodic line but dropped the specificity of Delanoë’s French, and once a song is in English it stops sounding imported. By the time Cadence pressed the Everly Brothers’ single in 1960, the record most American listeners heard had no visible French ancestry at all — just two brothers from Kentucky and a title that sounds like it was always in English.
There is also an English-language recording that history skipped past entirely. Jill Corey sang the Curtis lyric on the CBS series Climax! in 1957 and Columbia released it as a single; it reached number 57 on Billboard’s pop chart — the pre-Hot 100 Top 100 listings, the Hot 100 being still a year and a half away. That is a real chart entry, more than two years of American exposure before the Everlys walked into a New York studio — and almost nobody remembers it.
The chronology, step by step
- 1955 — Gilbert Bécaud writes the music and Pierre Delanoë the French words of “Je t’appartiens.”
- 8 September 1955 — Les Compagnons de la chanson record it for Columbia, arranged by Nino Nardini (SCRF 184). This is the earliest session date documented for the song; their disc reaches the shops in January 1956.
- December 1955 — Bécaud’s own recording is issued in France on the 7-inch EP “5 – Je t’appartiens,” La Voix de son Maître 7 EGF 171, with orchestra directed by Wal-Berg. When he taped it is not recorded anywhere.
- 1957 — Manny Curtis writes an English lyric, “Let It Be Me.” Jill Corey performs it on the television series Climax!; Columbia issues it as a single and it reaches number 57 on Billboard’s pre-Hot 100 pop chart.
- December 1959 — The Everly Brothers record the song in New York, with Archie Bleyer producing after recommending it to them.
- 1960 — Cadence Records releases the Everly Brothers single, backed with “Since You Broke My Heart.” It reaches number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 8 in Canada and number 13 in the UK.
- 1964 — Betty Everett and Jerry Butler take it to number 5 on the Hot 100 and number 1 on the R&B chart; Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry chart it in 1969, Willie Nelson in 1982.
The melody is French. The lyric everyone sings is not the lyric that was written first.