"Too Marvelous for Words" is a popular song from 1937, with music by Richard A. Whiting and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Wini Shaw and Ross Alexander introduced it in the Warner Brothers film Ready, Willing, and Able, and it was also used for a production number in a Broadway musical revue. Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra recorded it on 18 January 1937, with Bob Goday singing the vocal refrain. Bing Crosby with Jimmy Dorsey recorded it for Decca in March 1937, and it spent ten weeks at the top of the charts. Leo Reisman and his Orchestra also charted with it that year, reaching No. 16.
Alec Wilder praised the song as a model of pop songwriting, and critics have praised its sophisticated lyrics, which fit closely with the tune. It became a pop and jazz standard, recorded by many artists. In the 1947 film noir Dark Passage, it was the love theme of the characters played by Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, and Harry James recorded it that year. Other notable recordings include versions by Frank Sinatra (1956, arranged by Nelson Riddle), Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday (1956), Doris Day (1950), Jo Stafford and Diana Krall (2009).
