Rags to Riches (song)


"Rags to Riches" is a 1953 popular song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It is based on a famous Russian tune called "Volga Melody" by Yuri Shchetkov sometimes known as "Samara My Lovely Town." The bridge passage or middle 8 was inserted by the composer.
The best-known version of the song, recorded by Tony Bennett with Percy Faith and his orchestra, was number one for eight weeks on the Billboard chart in 1953 and became a gold record. In the same year, a version by David Whitfield reached number three in the British charts and one by Billy Ward and his Dominoes with Jackie Wilson singing lead made number two on Billboard's R&B chart. Later recordings by Sunny & the Sunliners and Elvis Presley also made the Billboard charts.

In popular culture

Tony Bennett's version was featured in the opening sequence of the 1990 film Goodfellas. The song was also used in an episode of Columbo.
The opening line of the song was sung regularly and exuberantly by the character Carmine Ragusa on the television series Laverne & Shirley, typically when he had good news.
Jackie Wilson's version of the song is featured in the 2010 video game Mafia II.