How Deep Is the Ocean? is a 1932 popular song written and composed by Irving Berlin. It grew from an earlier Berlin tune called To My Mammy and uses the famous questions How deep is the ocean and How high is the sky to mark the depth of love. Berlin wrote it during a low point in his career, and the song was introduced on the radio rather than on stage or film, helping restore his prominence. The opening line asks How much do I love you, and the rest of the piece uses a series of rhetorical questions to imply a deep love. Early 1932 recordings popularized the tune, including Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra with Jack Fulton, Rudy Vallee, Ethel Merman, and Bing Crosby for Brunswick in October 1932. Over the years it has become a jazz standard and has been recorded by many artists across genres, from Miles Davis and Billie Holiday to Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, often in swing and big band contexts.
