Blues in the Night is a 1941 blues-pop standard written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer for the Warner Bros film Blues in the Night, which began life under the working title Hot Nocturne. The original recording was Artie Shaw and His Orchestra with a vocal refrain by Hot Lips Page, recorded September 2, 1941 and released October 3, 1941 as a single on Victor 27609. In the film the song is performed a cappella in a jail cell by William Gillespie, a moment that critics credit with heightening the mood. The tune is now regarded as part of the Great American Songbook and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942. It became a charting favorite as well, with Woody Herman and His Orchestra reaching number one in early 1942 on Decca 4030, and Dinah Shore's Bluebird version also charting; the song has since been covered by many artists, from Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman to Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Eva Cassidy. A famous lyric line captures the theme of romantic loneliness and warning: My momma done tol' me.
