Rags to Riches (1953 song)

"Rags to Riches" is a 1953 popular song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.^[3]

It is based on a famous Russian tune called "Volga Melody" by Yuri Shchetkov sometimes known as "Samara My Lovely Town." The bridge passage or middle 8 was inserted by the composer.

The best-known version of the song, recorded by Tony Bennett with Percy Faith and his orchestra, was number one for eight weeks on the Billboard chart in 1953 and became a gold record.^[4] In 2012, he recorded a Spanglish version with bachata singer Romeo Santos for his album Viva Duets.

• Later in 1953, a version by David Whitfield reached number three in the British charts^[5]
• Another version in 1953, by Billy Ward and his Dominoes with Jackie Wilson singing lead made number two on Billboard's Most Played in Juke Boxes chart.^[6]
• Later recordings by Sunny & the Sunliners (#45 in 1963)^[7] and Elvis Presley (#33 in 1971)^[8] also made the Billboard charts.

• Tony Bennett's version was featured in the opening sequence of the 1990 film Goodfellas.^[9] The song also appeared on the columbo "bird in the hand"
• The opening line of the song was sung regularly and exuberantly by the character Carmine Ragusa on the television series Laverne & Shirley,^[10] typically when he had good news.
• Jackie Wilson's version of the song is featured in the 2010 video game Mafia II.^[11]

• List of number-one singles of 1953 (U.S.)