CONNIE FRANCIS - MANY TEARS AGO

MANY TEARS AGO

CONNIE FRANCIS

SONGWRITER: WINFIELD SCOTT

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: LOVE ‘N’ COUNTRY

LABEL: MGM

GENRE: POP

YEAR: 1989

 

         Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (December 12, 1937), better known as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, former actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw.

            Francis was born to na Italian-American family in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, the first child of George and Ida (née Ferrari-di Vito) Franconero, spending her first years in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn area (Utica Avenue/St. Marks Avenue) before the family moved to New Jersey.

           Growing up in an Italian-Jewish neighborhood, Francis became fluent in Yiddish, which led her later to record songs in Yiddish and Hebrew.

        In her autobiography Who's Sorry Now? published in 1984, Francis recalls that she was encouraged by her father to appear regularly at talent contests, pageants, and other neighborhood festivities from the age of four as a singer and accordion player.

          Francis attended Newark Arts High School in 1951 and 1952. She and her family moved to Belleville, New Jersey, where Francis graduated as salutatorian from Belleville High School Class of 1955.

           During this time, Francis continued to perform at neighborhood festivities and talent shows (some of which were broadcast on television), appearing alternately as Concetta Franconero and Connie Franconero. Under the latter name, she also appeared on NBC's variety show Startime Kids between 1953 and 1955.

          During the rehearsals for her appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, Francis was advised by Godfrey to change her stage name to Connie Francis for the sake of easier pronunciation. Godfrey also told her to drop the accordion – advice she gladly followed, as she had begun to hate the large and heavy instrument. Around the same time, Francis took a job as a singer on demonstration records, which brought unreleased songs to the attention of established singers and/or their management who would subsequently choose or decline to record them for a professional commercial record.

         "Many Tears Ago" is a song written by Winfield Scott and performed by Connie Francis. It reached #7 on the U.S. pop chart and #12 on the UK Singles Chart in 1960.

         The single's B-side, "Senza Mama (With No One)", reached #87 on the U.S. pop chart. 

They said your cheating heart will make me cry

And like a fool I gave it a try

I should've listened when they told me so

Many many tears ago

 

But I could not believe the things they said

Because my heart over ruled my head

I should've listened when they told me so

Many many tears ago

 

I laughed out loud when they told me

That you had someone else

But your cheating heart has shown me

That I was foolin' myself

 

I know it's too late for a brand new start

For I have cried you out of my heart

I should've listened when they told me so

Many many tears ago

 

I laughed out loud when they told me

That you had someone else

But your cheating heart has shown me

That I was foolin' myself

 

I know it's too late for a brand new start

For I have cried you out of my heart

I should've listened when they told me so

I should've listened when they told me so

Many many tears ago.