Blues in the Night

Blues in the Night is a song by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer ( lyrics ) written and published in 1941. The version of Woody Herman in 1941 in the United States, a number - one hit.

Use of the song and first recording

Arlen and Mercer wrote Blues in the Night for the eponymous film musical, the song was played in the film by the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. The Academy Award-nominated film showed a musical drama about a jazz band, which is in communication with gangsters. Among the actors who played band members, were Priscilla Lane and Jack Carson as a couple, and Richard Whorf and Elia Kazan.

Harold Arlen recalled:

Margaret Whiting recalled how she first heard Blues in the Night; Arlen and Mercer had just completed the song and played it on the piano at her home of a group of singers and actors before, including Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, and Martha Raye.

The song was nominated in the category Best Song for an Academy Award, in 1942 the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II were given for the song The Last Time I Saw Paris.

Cover versions

( Bill Challis, # 10 Arrangement), Benny Goodman ( with Peggy Lee), # 20) and Woody Herman and His Orchestra # 1) gecovert ( in 1941 the song by Artie Shaw was their versions arrived in the U.S. charts .. In the same year the Swing Orchestra Cab Calloway, Charlie Barnet, Glenn Miller, Harry James and Tommy Dorsey recorded the song on; Lunceford also played one in December 1941 for Decca Records, with Joe Thomas and Eddie Wilcox had the vocal parts.

In the 1940s, followed by recordings of the song by Rosemary Clooney ( 1952 still # 20 on the charts reached ), Big Joe Turner, Teddy Weatherford, Frank Sinatra, Noble Sissle, Louis Armstrong, Eddie South and Phil Moore, in Europe, Alice Babs Helmut Brandt, Jerry Mengo and Sidney Bechet. Tom Lord lists 314 cover versions of the title.