"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, written for their 1937 musical Babes in Arms. Teenage star Mitzi Green introduced it as Billie, who sings it to Valentine "Val" LaMar, played by Ray Heatherton. The character's name was changed to match the lyric. The musical opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway on April 14, 1937 and ran 289 performances. The song was published in 1937 by Chappell & Co. and is regarded as a traditional pop and jazz standard.
A version by Hal McIntyre, with vocals by Ruth Gaylor, charted in 1945, reaching No. 16 for one week. Frank Sinatra had a hit with it in 1954, but the song is most closely associated with Chet Baker, for whom it became a signature song. The 1953 Gerry Mulligan quartet recording with Baker was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2015. Other notable covers include versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Julie London, Barbra Streisand and Nico. The song has also been used in the films Sharky's Machine (1981) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and in the television series Grey's Anatomy (2012).
