While I can't disagree with Ray Bauer and Randy Hammond that songs
that were considered classics in the past tend to be unknown today,
I think there are enough exceptions to be noteworthy.  When an old tune
is recorded by a new artist, what most often remains unknown is the
fact that someone else sang the same song decades earlier.  This may not
be as apparent to the player piano group as it is to those who collect
sheet music and 78s.

If you search at eBay for sheet music of "Tonight, You Belong to Me",
you will find several versions, beginning around 1926.  In the 1950s,
Prudence and Patience made a hit of it, and other artists appeared on
the covers too.  Most recently Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters do a
duet of it in "The Jerk".  There are lots of other examples.  Next time
gas prices skyrocket I'll be tempted to see if I can't get some airtime
for "The Village Blacksmith Owns the Village Now".

Lee Rothrock
Springfield, Oregon