Blame It On The Bossa Nova by Eydie Gorme Mobile Songfacts

This was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband and wife songwriting team. They also wrote "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."

After she graduated from high school, Eydie worked as a Spanish interpreter by day, attended night classes at City College in New York City, and sang from time to time for a local band. She became a solo singer in 1952 after singing for Tommy Tucker's and Tex Beneke's big bands. In 1953, she became a regular performer on Steve Allen's Tonight Show, where she met her husband-to-be, singer Steve Lawrence. They married December 29, 1957, the week her hit "Love Me Forever" reached the Top 40.

In 1958, Steve and Eydie had their own summer replacement TV show: Steve Allen Presents The Steve Lawrence-Eydie Gorme Show. Eydie had another Top 40 hit that year with "You Need Hands."

After Lawrence was drafted in the fall of 1958 and Jack Paar replaced Steve Allen as host of The Tonight Show, Eydie stepped out of the spotlight for almost two years (Lawrence was not so "hidden" during his army days - he had the #9 hit "Pretty Blue Eyes" and #7 "Footsteps" released by ABC-Paramount as he was the official vocalist of the United States Army Band). After Lawrence left the army in 1960, he and Eydie became a popular nightclub act. Eventually the two of them signed with Columbia Records.

The first single Eydie released on Columbia Records. For both Steve and Eydie, their first Columbia singles were their biggest hits... and their last Top 10 records. Before the end of 1962, Steve hit #1 with "Go Away Little Girl," a Gerry Goffin/Carole King song that Donny Osmond would take to #1 again a decade later.

Steve and Eydie finally scored on the charts as a duo with "I Want to Stay Here" and "I Can't Stop Talking About You," but only after Lawrence's last Top 40 Hits (in 1963), "Don't Be Afraid, Little Darlin'," "Poor Little Rich Girl," and "Walking Proud." Although the British Invasion cost them success in the recording industry, Steve and Eydie have remained a popular nightclub act for four decades.

In 1979, Steve and Eydie recorded as Parker and Penny. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for all above)

The drink that Ainsley Hayes had in her hand when she met the President was not champagne, it was a Pink Squirrel "(with) a dash of creme de cacao my friend"

- Ken, Newport Beach, CA

She also recorded the song in Spanish. It is called, "Cúlpale a la bossa nova."

- Rudy, Long Beach, CA

The song also made an appearance on an episode of "The West Wing," where a tipsy Ainsley Hayes (blonde, leggy Republican lawyer hired by Democratic president), wiggles and sings along with a recording of the song in her White House basement office in a bathrobe with a glass of champagne in hand. President walks in on her to introduce himself and she flips out, flinging the glass over her shoulder. Funny WW moment.

- Glenn, Washington, DC

This was used in a hiliarous commercial in the late '90's, featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos. They were advetised to meet to play in Japan - it turned out the game they were playing was karaoke, much to the audience's dismay.

- Horace, western, MD