“‘A’ You’re Adorable” is a popular song song with music by Sid Lippman and lyrics by Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise, published in 1948. The most well-known version was recorded by Perry Como, with The Fontane Sisters in March 1949. This recording was released as a single and reached number 1 on the US chart in April 1949 and in the UK in June of the same year.
Another recording by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae was also very popular. The recording was released by Capitol Records. The recording first appeared on the Billboard charts in March 1949, lasting 13 weeks and peaking at position number 4. A recording by the Tony Pastor orchestra (vocal by the Clooney Sisters) also charted. The recording was released by Columbia. The recording first appeared on the Billboard charts in May 1949, lasting 2 weeks and peaking at position number 12.
In the 1969-70 debut season of Sesame Street, a Muppet named Jack sang the song for his Muppet girlfriend Adrienne while throwing away alphabet letter blocks as they were conveyed to him on a conveyor belt in sequential order. At the end of the song, Cookie Monster suddenly appeared, scaring Adrienne away, and told Jack those were his blocks. Jack recited the song in a looser form as he recovered the blocks in alphabetical order and handed them to Cookie, who ate them as he received them.
The song formed the basis for a Morecombe and Wise sketch, where Eric Morecambe started with “A you’re adorable, B you’re so beautiful” and then randomly chose letters such as J, Q or Z to fox Ernie Wise. In the most memorable version of this song the duo perform with then BBC newsreader, Angela Rippon. This was Rippon’s first foray into the world of dance. She returned the following year as a member of a chorus line and later became one of the hosts of Come Dancing.
The song was used in a Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD extra, where Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, sang the song with slightly altered lyrics.
