music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Venus" is a song written by Ed Marshall. The most successful and best-known recording of the track was done by Frankie Avalon and released in 1959, where it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

"Venus"
1959 US single
Single by Frankie Avalon
B-side	"I'm Broke"
Released	February 1959
Genre	Pop
Length	2:20
Label	Chancellor
Songwriter(s)	Ed Marshall
Frankie Avalon singles chronology
"What Little Girl" / "I'll Wait for You" (1958) "Venus" (1959) "Bobby Sox to Stockings" / "A Boy Without a Girl" (1959)

"Venus"
US single of Avalon's 1976 re-recording
Single by Frankie Avalon
Released	1976
Genre	Pop, disco
Length	3:34
Label	De-Lite, Polydor
Songwriter(s)	Ed Marshall

Background

"Venus" became Avalon's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it spent five weeks atop the survey. The song also reached number ten on the R&B chart. The song's lyrics detail a man's plea to Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, to send him a girl to love and one who will love him as well. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1959.[1]

The song was covered in the United Kingdom by Dickie Valentine who spent a week at number 20 in the Singles Chart in May 1959, the week before Frankie Avalon reached the Top 20 with his original version.^{[citation needed]}

In 1976, Avalon released a new disco version of "Venus". This helped revive the singer's career, as his success had been waning prior to its release and was Avalon's last Billboard Hot 100 hit. The re-recording of "Venus" peaking at number forty-six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] and at number one on the Easy Listening chart.[3] Avalon was quoted stating his opinion of the remake: "It was all right, but I still prefer the original."[4]

Other charting versions

• Johnny Mathis: His version reached No. 23 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart[5] "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 111.[6]
• Jamie Redfern: His version in 1973 entered the Go-Set - Australian charts at number 27.[7]

In popular culture

Avalon's recording of the song was used multiple times in the Showtime series Dexter, as the favourite song of Arthur Mitchell's sister Vera.

Charts

Chart (1959)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8]	2
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[9]	1
UK New Musical Express[10]	16
US Billboard Hot 100[11]	1
US Billboard Hot R&B Sides[12]	10

All-time charts

Chart (1958-2018)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100[13]	154

See also

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1959 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1976 (U.S.)

References

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