The Song Is You is a jazz standard composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1932 Broadway musical Music in the Air, where it was introduced by Tullio Carminati. It became an early hit in 1932 thanks to a recording by Jack Denny and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra with vocals by Paul Small. In the 1934 film adaptation, the song was recorded and filmed but cut from the final release, though an instrumental can be heard in the opening credits. The tune is in AABA form, originally in C major with a dramatic key shift to E major in the B section, and it is celebrated for its sophisticated harmony and melodic shape. The Song Is You has long been a jazz standard, closely associated with Frank Sinatra and widely interpreted by Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Nancy Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, and many others, with its origins in a show tune now staple to the jazz repertoire. It also made its way into cinema and later appeared on numerous albums as artists across generations reimagine it, including in film scores such as the 2003 Guy Maddin movie The Saddest Music in the World.
