Ahead of Tuesday’s Vice Presidential Debate, Let’s Look Back on the Only No. 1 Hot 100 Hit Composed by a Future VP

As we await the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, a showdown between Democratic nominee Tim Walz and Republican nominee JD Vance on Tuesday (Oct. 1), let’s look back on the only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 that was written or co-written by a future VP.

The hit was Tommy Edwards’ “It’s All in the Game,” a philosophical romantic ballad which topped the Hot 100 for six weeks in the fall of 1958. Charles Gates Dawes, a self-taught pianist, flutist and composer, composed the melody in 1911 under the title “Melody in A Major.” Dawes later became an American diplomat and Republican politician, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a TIME magazine cover subject. He served as the 30th VP of the U.S. from 1925-29 under Calvin Coolidge.

Dawes’ melody was not a major hit under its original title, but noted lyricist Carl Sigman remembered it and 40 years later added lyrics to it, transforming it into “It’s All in the Game.” Sigman’s most memorable lyric: “Once in a while he won’t call/ But it’s all in the game.” Edwards first recorded the song in 1951, the same year Sigman added lyrics to it. His pretty, but unremarkable, recording reached No. 18 on Billboard’s Disk Jockey and Best Sellers charts.

The great Nat “King” Cole included the song on his 1957 album Love Is the Thing, which topped the Billboard 200 for eight consecutive weeks.

In 1958, Edwards re-recorded the song, giving it a light doo-wop flavor which made it compatible with pop playlists — which by that point included a lot of doo-wop and rock and roll. Leroy Holmes was the orchestra leader on both versions. Both versions were released on the same label (MGM Records). But the differences are stark. The earlier version is awash in strings; the update is leaner. And Edwards doesn’t rush through the lyrics. Inserting pauses on two key lines (“You have words/ With him” and “And he’ll kiss/ Your lips”) adds considerable drama.

A re-release of the 1951 “traditional pop” version would likely not have succeeded in 1958 – music had changed a lot in the intervening seven years – but the re-recording was a smash. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in seven weeks, bumping Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blue (Volare)” (which went on to win Grammys for record and song of the year) from the top spot in September 1958. “It’s All in the Game” remained on top for six consecutive weeks, before being replaced by Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe.”

Unfortunately, Dawes died in April 1951, shortly before Sigman added lyrics to his tune, so he never knew that the little ditty he wrote 40 years earlier was about to become a hit, and later, a timeless classic.

Edwards returned to the top 20 on the Hot 100 three times by 1960, with “Love Is All We Need,” “Please Mr. Sun” and “I Really Don’t Want to Know.” He died in 1969 at age 47 due to complications from cirrhosis of the liver.

“It’s All in the Game” has returned to the top 30 on the Hot 100 twice. British pop singer Cliff Richard took it to No. 25 in 1964. Motown greats the Four Tops took it to No. 24 in 1970. In addition, Eddie Holman featured the song as the B-side of “Hey There Lonely Girl,” a No. 2 Hot 100 hit in 1970.

The Four Tops’ recording made the top 10 on what was then called Best Selling Soul Singles. The song was also a big country hit, making it a true multi-format smash. Tom T. Hall’s single reached No. 12 in 1977 on what was then called Hot Country Singles.

Numerous other artists have recorded the song, including Barry Manilow, on his Billboard 200-topping album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties (2006), and George Benson on his double-live album Weekend in L.A., which made the top five in 1978. The song also appeared on top 10 albums by pianist Roger Williams, bandleader Lawrence Welk and actor/singer George Maharis (a regular on Route 66).

Donny & Marie Osmond recorded the song in 1975. Earlier that year, they had a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Morning Side of the Mountain,” which was Edwards’ first chart hit in 1951, right before “It’s All in the Game.”

Other artists to have recorded “It’s All in the Game” include Ricky Nelson, Keely Smith, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, The Lettermen, Sandy Posey, Bobby Vinton, Bing Crosby, Brook Benton, Freddy Fender, Van Morrison, Issac Hayes, Glenn Jones, Merle Haggard & the Strangers and Johnny Mathis & Take 6.

In addition to being the only future VP to have written or co-written a No. 1 Hot 100 hit, Dawes is one of just two people credited with writing or co-writing a No. 1 hit who have also won a Nobel Prize. He shares that distinction with Bob Dylan, whose many hits include “Mr. Tambourine Man,” a No. 1 for The Byrds in 1965. Dawes was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his work on the Allied Reparations Commission, where he helped formulate the Dawes Plan to aid the struggling German economy. Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.

Sigman, the lyricist of “It’s All in the Game,” wrote many famous songs over the course of his long career, including “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “Crazy He Calls Me,” “Ebb Tide,” “What Now My Love,” “You’re My World” and “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and died in 2000 at age 91.

CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS’ Face the Nation are set to moderate Tuesday’s VP debate.

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