On the First Warm Day Mundell Lowe and Sal Salvador, produced three songs, with the first, "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)" (catalog number 4–39767 CL 1230), turning out to be a major hit upon its release, which enhanced public acceptance of its flipside, "On the First Warm Day" (catalog number 4–39767 HL 7123). The third song was a duet with Marlene Dietrich, "Too Old to Cut the Mustard" (catalog number 4–39812 B 1699). The first reviews and advertisements for the "Botch-a-Me"/"First Warm Day" 78 rpm (priced at 89 cents) appeared in newspapers at the end of June 1952 and continued into September, with some outlets discounting the
On the First Warm Day discs to 19 cents by early August. Rosemary Clooney recorded "First Warm Day" one month before her 24th birthday. At about the same time, the veteran performer from the previous generation for whom the song was written, 52-year-old Mabel Mercer (who first sang one of Bart Howard's compositions in 1938 and employed him as her piano accompanist during the late 1940s), recorded the song for issue on an Atlantic Records EP. It was also included on her first 10" Atlantic LP album, "Songs by Mabel Mercer, Vol. 1" (1953), and subsequently reappeared on Atlantic's double 12" LP album, "The Art