Poinciana (Song of the Tree) is a 1936 song composed by Nat Simon, with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier and Spanish lyrics by Manuel Lliso. It developed from the Cuban folk song La Canción del Árbol, with new lyrics added in 1936. Simon said the tune came to him at Mamma Leone's in Manhattan's Theater District; he jotted a draft on the tablecloth and finished it at the piano at home. Bernier wrote the English words in about thirty minutes, inspired by a postcard of a royal poinciana tree from Florida. The song was overlooked for several years, partly because of its length, until bandleader Jerry Wald championed it in 1943 at the Hotel New Yorker.
Glenn Miller recorded it in 1943. Three 1944 recordings became hits: by Benny Carter and His Orchestra, Bing Crosby, and David Rose and His Orchestra, whose performance dates from 1942. Steve Lawrence charted with it in 1952, the year it appeared in the film Dreamboat. It became a Latin jazz standard and the theme of pianist Ahmad Jamal, whose 1958 version on At the Pershing: But Not for Me was heard in the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County. Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole are among the many others who recorded it. In 1978 Paradise Express reached the disco top 20 with it.
