Black Coffee is an English-language torch song with music by Sonny Burke and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, published in 1948. It became a standard. Sarah Vaughan recorded it in January 1949 for Columbia, with an orchestra arranged by Joe Lipman, and her version charted in the United States. Peggy Lee recorded it on May 4, 1953, for her first LP, which was also titled Black Coffee. Ella Fitzgerald's 1960 Verve recording was made for the Columbia film Let No Man Write My Epitaph, and Wisława Szymborska chose her version for her own funeral. The first two bars are shared with Mary Lou Williams's 1938 piece "What's Your Story, Morning Glory"; Williams felt the song plagiarized her, while the bridge is unique to Black Coffee. Later recordings include versions by Ray Charles (1957), Bobby Darin and Julie London (1960), Chris Connor (1961), Rosemary Clooney (1964), Patricia Kaas (1996), Maria Muldaur (2002), Nana Mouskouri (2003), Marianne Faithfull (2008) and Clare Maguire (2014).
