After You’ve Gone is a 1918 popular song composed by Turner Layton with lyrics by Henry Creamer. It was first recorded by Marion Harris on July 22, 1918 and released by Victor Records, and its popularity grew so much that the sheet music was later decorated with tiny photographs of the musicians who helped make it famous, including Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallée, Guy Lombardo and Bessie Smith. The chorus follows a compact ABAC form of about 20 measures, with four 4-bar phrases and a four-bar tag, and it features active harmony with chord changes in almost every measure; the opening four notes are the same as Peg o’ My Heart, a common borrowing at the time. The tune became a jazz standard and has been recorded by a wide range of artists across decades, from Duke Ellington and Django Reinhardt to Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Fats Waller, Judy Garland and many others, appearing on numerous albums rather than a single original release.
