<P> Former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells the story of the song's inception as related to him by Van Heusen: </P> <P> In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced . Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942) he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century - Fox composing for a film . While Burke was out of their writer's bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnny's wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday . Silvers provided the lyrics, later revised by Van Heusen and Burke . </P> <P> At the party they sang "Bessie...with the laughing face ." It was such a hit that they used it at other female birthday events . When they sang it as "Nancy...with the laughing face" at little Nancy Sinatra's birthday party, Frank broke down and cried thinking that it was written specially for his daughter - the trio wisely didn't correct him . Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia in 1944 . </P> <Ul> <Li> Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Percy Heath, Connie Kay - Know What I Mean? (1961) </Li> <Li> Tony Bennett - Perfectly Frank (1992) </Li> <Li> Ray Charles - Dedicated To You (1961) </Li> <Li> John Coltrane - Ballads (1962) </Li> <Li> The Fleetwoods - Softly (1961) </Li> <Li> The Four Freshmen - Voices in Standards (1996), Four Freshmen And Five Saxes / The Four Freshmen and Five Guitars (1998) </Li> <Li> Grant Green - The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (1962) </Li> <Li> Flip Phillips - Phillips Head (1975) </Li> <Li> Frank Sinatra - Sinatra's Sinatra (1963) </Li> <Li> Ben Webster - The Warm Moods (1961) </Li> <Li> The Johnny Mann Singers - The Songs of Sinatra (1962) </Li> <Li> Karrin Allyson - Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (2001) </Li> <Li> Kurt Elling - "Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman" (2009) </Li> <Li> Corry Brokken - Voor Nancy (1971) </Li> </Ul>

Who conducts the orchestra in the song nancy with the laughing face