"Come on-a My House" is a song by Rosemary Clooney from her
album
Come On-A My House, released on June 6, 1951. The song
was written by Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan in summer
of 1939 but did not become a hit until its release by Clooney.
It was probably Saroyan's only effort at popular songwriting,
and it was one of Bagdasarian's few well-known works that was
not connected to his most famous creation, Alvin and the
Chipmunks. In 2009, the song was heard as a commercial jingle
for Macy's department stores.
The song (written by two Armenian Americans) touches upon
traditional Armenian customs of inviting over relatives and
friends and providing them with a generously overflowing table
of fruits, nuts, seeds, and other foods.
The song was a major hit for Clooney in 1951; it was the
first of a number of dialect songs she did. She recorded the
song with Mitch Miller and his orchestra and harpsichordist
Stan Freeman in the early part of 1951, and the song reached #1
on the charts, staying in the top position for eight weeks.
Although she performed "Come on-a My House" for many years,
Clooney later confessed that she hated the song. She said she
had been given a practice record of the song and told Miller
that the song wasn't for her. Miller gave her an ultimatum -
record the song or be fired. During a 1988 interview, Clooney
said that whenever she listens to the recording she could hear
the anger in her voice for being forced to sing it. Little did
she know that the song would become one of her biggest
hits.
The song was covered by Ella Fitzgerald, as one side of a
single whose other side was also a cover of a Clooney hit,
"Mixed Emotions," on Decca Records (catalog number 27875).
The song was later performed by Kay Starr, who added a few
lines with funny, nearly surrealistic details and ended the
song with an even more explicit offer. In 1952, Japanese singer
Chiemi Eri covered the Kay Starr version. Della Reese also
recorded the song, and it is her version that Madonna mimes to
in the remake of
Swept Away. It was later used as the theme for the
reality television series
The Girls Next Door, performed by the Nasty Tales and
their orchestra. The Surf Punks remade the song in the late
1980s. The composers performed the song themselves (Bagdasarian
singing, Saroyan offering occasional narration) for Coral
Records. It is sung briefly by Miss Miller (voiced by Dody
Goodman) in the 1987 animated movie
The Chipmunk Adventure.
Ross Bagdasarian performs the song on his album
The Mixed-Up World of Ross Bagdasarianand Alvin and the
Chipmunks also sang this for their Thanksgiving episode- "A
Chipmunk Celebration".
In late 1951 MGM Records released a novelty response song,
"Where's-a Your House?", which charted on the Cash Box Hot 50
list. Sung by Robert Q. Lewis in dialect, the tune details the
singer's frustrated attempts to follow up "Rosie's"
invitation.