"The Bus Stop Song" (also known as "A Paper of Pins") is a popular song. The title references the movie, Bus Stop, in which it was introduced.
A traditional song, it was orchestrated by Ken Darby in 1956 but a version (called The Keys of Canterbury) was known in the 19th century and Alan Lomax collected it as "A Paper of Pins" in the 1930s.
It is best known in a recording, made on July 17, 1956, by The Four Lads and dubbed over the opening credits of the movie, with some of its lyrics also included in early dialogue. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40736. It first reached the Billboard charts on September 15, 1956. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked at #17; on the Best Seller chart, at #22; on the composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached #23. The flip side was "A House with Love in It."
Famous quotes containing the words bus, stop and/or song:
“An actor rides in a bus or railroad train; he sees a movement and applies it to a new role. A woman in agony of spirit might turn her head just so; a man in deep humiliation probably would wring his hands in such a way. From straws like these, drawn from completely different sources, the fabric of a character may be built. The whole garment in which the actor hides himself is made of small externals of observation fitted to his conception of a role.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“On the Times Square sidewalk
we shuffle along, cardboard signs
Stop the War
slung round our necks.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Lest all the song notes
pause and break
across a blood-stained throat
gone songless,
turn back.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)