It's All in the Game

Well this is a song with a history. I first heard it from Van Morrison from his 1979 album "Into the Music", but it goes way back. "It's All in the Game" is a song that was a 1958 hit for Tommy Edwards (1922-1969) and it was performed by him on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. The lyrics were composed by Carl Sigman (1909-2000) in 1951 to fit a wordless 1911 composition entitled "Melody in A Major," written by Charles Dawes (1865-1951), who would later become the 30th Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933). It is the only #1 pop single in history to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President. Here I have provided the Tommy Edwards version, then Ricky Nelson (1940-1945) of Teaneck, New Jersey puts it out in 1963, and then the cover by the legendary Four Tops (1970).