A Special Tribute to Bing Crosby

Where the blue of the night, Meets the gold of the day, Someone waits for me.

Today would have been Bing Crosby's 108th birthday. His special friend and frequent costar, Bob Hope, wrote this touching tribute when Der Bingle died on October 14,1977. Bob Hope was in New York, scheduled to perform at a benefit in New Jersey that night. For the first time in his career, he cancelled, saying "I just can't get funny tonight"

"When Bing Crosby died at a golf course in Madrid, I lost a partner with whom I've had some of the most delightful moments of my life.

Yet it would be selfish to say that it was my personal loss. It was a great loss to his family and to the entire world.

The whole world loved Bing Crosby with a devotion that not only crossed international boundries, but erased them.

Bing made the world a single place, and through his music he spoke to it in a language everybody understands - the language of the heart.

We lost the most recognizable voice in the world. He called his singing "groaning". We called it magic.

No matter where you were in the world, because of Bing every Christmas was white. And because we had him with us, it will always somehow seem a little whiter.

Bing may have started out as a singer, but while he was here he did more than sell records. is music spread a kind of joy and happiness that had a label all its own.

Although he was courted by king and common man alike, Bing was a simple man who never cared much about himself. Which made him a minority of one.

The world put Bing Crosby on a pedestal. But somehow I don't think he ever really knew it.

Bing asked the world, "Going My Way?" and we all were. He never said an unkind word about anyone, whether he was on life's fairway or in the rough. And that's one scorecard I'd be proud to sign.

Whether he was singing or joking, or just living, Bing always had fun. And somehow he made all of us say, "Hey, he's right!"

On Friday, October 14, 1977, a heart may have stopped, a voice stilled. But the real melody Bing Crosby sang will linger as long as there's a phonograph to be played . . . and a heart to be lifted."