you Belong to Me

You Belong to Me” is a popular music ballad from the 1950s. It is well known for its opening line, “See the pyramids along the Nile”. The song was published in Hollywood on April 21, 1952, and the most popular version was by Jo Stafford, reaching No. 1 on both the UK and US singles charts.

“You Belong to Me” is credited to Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, and Redd Stewart.

Price, a songwriting librarian at WAVE Radio Louisville, had written the song in its virtual entirety as “Hurry Home to Me”, envisioning the song as an American woman’s plea to a sweetheart serving overseas in World War II. Afforded songwriting credit on the song mostly in exchange for their work in promoting it, King and Stewart did slightly adjust Price’s composition musically and lyrically, shifting the focus from a wartime background “into a kind of universal song about separated lovers” (World War II having ended some years previously) and changing the title to “You Belong to Me”. Price had previously had success with another hit she had written, “Slow Poke“, under a similar arrangement with the two men.

The first recording of the song, in February 1952, was by Joni James. She had seen the sheet music in the Woods Building in Chicago, and […]