Blue Skies is a 1926 popular song written by Irving Berlin. It was added at the last minute to the Rodgers and Hart musical Betsy, and after Belle Baker performed it on opening night the audience demanded 24 encores; when she forgot the lyrics, Berlin sang them from his seat. The piece was published in 1927 and quickly became a hit thanks to Ben Selvin’s recording as The Knickerbockers with Charles Kaley, and it also featured in the 1927 talkie The Jazz Singer performed by Al Jolson. The song is known for its sunny, optimistic lyrics about blue skies and bluebirds, contrasted by a minor-key melody that gives the words an ironic edge. It has since become a jazz and pop standard, covered by many artists and used in films such as White Christmas (1954) with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, and in later years by Ella Fitzgerald for her Irving Berlin Song Book (1958) and Willie Nelson, who took a 1978 single from the Stardust album to number 1 on the US Hot Country Songs chart. The tune’s chord changes even inspired Thelonious Monk’s 1947 In Walked Bud. Other notable versions include Johnny Rivers (1962) and Al Jarreau for the film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).
