Black Coffee is a 1948 torch song with music by Sonny Burke and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, published that year. It became widely known through Sarah Vaughan’s 1949 charting version on Columbia, arranged by Joe Lipman — one of the most notable renditions. Peggy Lee recorded the song on May 4, 1953, and it opened her first LP, also titled Black Coffee. Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 Verve recording for the Let No Man Write My Epitaph soundtrack helped cement its status as a jazz standard, a version revered by Polish poet Wisława Szymborska who reportedly chose it for her funeral. The tune’s opening measures are very close to Mary Lou Williams 1938 piece What’s Your Story Morning Glory, which sparked debates about influence and potential plagiarism, though Black Coffee diverges after the opening bars and features a distinctive bridge. Since then, many artists across jazz and pop have covered Black Coffee, keeping it as a lasting example of mid‑century vocal torch and jazz.
