A Sleepin' Bee is a popular American song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Harold Arlen and Truman Capote. It was introduced in the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers and sung by Diahann Carroll. Although House of Flowers was a flop, the song quickly became a standard in the American songbook. The first live performance occurred on December 30, 1954, and the first release followed in 1955. Notable artists have kept it in rotation, including Barbra Streisand on The Barbra Streisand Album (1963) after calling it her favorite song, and Mel Tormé on Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley (1960) who the Penguin Guide to Jazz called definitive. The tune is widely performed as a jazz standard and has been recorded by many artists such as Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, June Christy, Bill Evans, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, and Jessye Norman.
