Shirley Bassey - Blues In The Night [HD]

1957 (A young Shirley Bassey recorded this Johnny Mercer / Harold Arlen American Songbook Standard back in 1956 and it was released as a track on her first LP in 1957. One of the songs from this LP, 'Born To Sing The Blues' was released as a single in 1956. Shirley has recorded & performed many genre's of music over her past 58+ years in show business due to her powerful voice & musical instincts, but jazz & the blues were among the first that she mastered.

ABOUT this song:
"Blues in the Night" is a popular song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.

Arlen and Mercer wrote the entire score for the 1941 film Blues in the Night. One requirement was for a blues song to be sung in a jail cell. As usual with Mercer, the composer wrote the music first, then Mercer wrote the words. Arlen said,

The whole thing just poured out. And I knew in my guts, without even thinking what Johnny would write for a lyric, that this was strong, strong, strong! When Mercer wrote "Blues in the Night", I went over his lyric and I started to hum it over his desk. It sounded marvelous once I got to the second stanza but that first twelve was weak tea. On the third or fourth page of his work sheets I saw some lines—one of them was "My momma done tol' me, when I was in knee pants." I said, "Why don't you try that?" It was one of the very few times I've ever suggested anything like that to John.

When they finished writing the song, Mercer called a friend, singer Margaret Whiting, and asked if they could come over and play it for her. She suggested they come later because she had dinner guests—Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, and Martha Raye. Instead, Arlen and Mercer went right over. Margaret Whiting remembered what happened then:

They came in the back door, sat down at the piano and played the score of "Blues in the Night". I remember forever the reaction. Mel got up and said, "I can't believe it." Martha couldn't say a word. Mickey Rooney said, "That's the greatest thing I've ever heard." Judy Garland said, "Play it again." We had them play it seven times. Judy and I ran to the piano to see who was going to learn it first. It was a lovely night.

A few of the great singers/musicians from the past who recorded this song were Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Woody Herman, Louis Armstrong, Jo Stafford, Doris Day, Billy Eckstine, Julie London, Cab Calloway, Kate Smith, Van Morrison, The Group Chicago, and of course, Shirley who was a teenager when she recorded it. A few of the younger generation artists who have recorded this song include Amy Winehouse, Eva Cassidy, and Katie Melua. ALL versions are Great, because the song itself is a Classic for ALL generations!

LYRICS:
My mama done tol' me, when I was in pig tails
My mama done tol' me, " Child a man'll sweet talk"
And
give ya the big eye, but when the sweet talkin's done
A man is a two-face, A worrisome thing who'll
leave ya to sing the blues in the night

Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train's a-callin,
"Whooee!"
(My mama done tol' me) Hear dat lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, "Whooee!"
(My mama done tol' me) A-whooee-ah-whooee ol' clickety-clack's a-echoin' back th' blues in the night

The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin' and the moon'll hide its light when you get the blues
in the night
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind o' song, he knows things are wrong,
and he's right

From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns an' heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I know
A man is a two-face, a
worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night

1. By: sas9023055
2. Categories Music & Dance
3. Views 38
4. Added :04-Jan-12
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