Mona Lisa is a classic pop standard written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the 1949 Paramount Pictures film Captain Carey, U.S.A., where it is heard with an accordion motif and performed on screen by Sergio de Karlo. The title and lyrics reference Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait Mona Lisa. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950. Nat King Cole’s 1950 recording, arranged by Nelson Riddle with Les Baxter and his Orchestra, became a five-week US chart topper and helped cement the tune as a standard. It was released as a Capitol Records single (Capitol 1010) on June 12, 1950, originally as the B-side to The Greatest Inventor of Them All, and Cole later re-recorded a stereo version in 1961 with Ralph Carmichael. The track has appeared on numerous Nat King Cole albums and compilations and remains widely covered and referenced in film and media, including the 1986 movie Mona Lisa.
