Yet More Lyrics to Jazz Standards Quiz

Answer: Alabama

"Stars Fell on Alabama" by Frank Perkins and Mitchell Parish, was apparently written about the August Leonid meteor shower. For a time, Alabama state license plates bore the phrase.

Answer: Clifford

"I Remember Clifford" was written by Benny Golson in memory of Clifford Brown, who died in a car accident in 1956. Although he was only 25, he was already an influence on many artists.

Arturo Sandoval released an entire tribute album to him in 1992; the liner notes read, in part "It is with all my heart and soul that I offer this sincere effort to one of the greatest trumpet players of all time; a man who left his mark as a person and as an artist."

Answer: Love For Sale

By Cole Porter, the song was written for the show "The New Yorkers". It is sung by a streetwalker, and was banned from radio play because of its low moral character.

"Let the poets pipe of love, in their childish ways,
I know every type of love, better far than they
if you want the thrill of love, I've been through the mill of love"

Eartha Kitt, as you can imagine, did a smokin' rendition of this one.

Answer: Misty

Written in 1954 by Errol Garner, with lyrics added the next year by Johnny Burke.

Perhaps the most surprising version of this song is the 1975 Ray Stevens hit, played as a country song. It's also an integral part of the 1971 Clint Eastwood suspense film "Play Misty for Me".

Answer: I thought about you

"I Thought About You". Johnny Mercer really *was* on a train when he composed the lyrics to Jimmy Van Heusen's melody, travelling to Chicago. It was one of the first songs composed for Mercer's Mercer-Morris Publishing Company.

Answer: Paper Moon

Originally "If You Believed in Me", with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by a young Yip Harburg, for the 1932 flop "The Great Magoo", a show about a Coney Island barker. The song appeared again the next year, with a new title, in the movie "Take a Chance".

Answer: Body and Soul

Another song that spent some time banned from the airwaves for suggestive lyrics in 1930, "Body and Soul" was a smash hit right out of the box for both Paul Whitehead's orchestra, and for vocalist Libby Holman.

Answer: Georgia on my Mind

It was written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1930, and has been performed by many artists, but it's the 1960 version by Ray Charles that most of us hear playing in our heads. It's the official song of the state of Georgia.

Answer: Don't Blame Me

"I'm under your spell
But how can I help it?
Don't blame me."

By Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, one of my favourite songwriting teams, this song was added to the hit 1933 London revue "Clowns in Clover" for the Chicago opening. The Everly Brothers had a mild success with it in 1960.

Answer: April in Paris

Another Yip Harburg (with Vernon Duke) song, for 1932's "Walk a Little Faster". The version you know is the Count Basie one, from 1955, that has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame - the one with the "Pop Goes the Weasel" solo.

Answer: Travelin' light

"Travelin' Light" written by trombonist Trummy Young, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. There seems to be a version of this song on almost every Billie Holiday collection I own.

Answer: Smoke gets in your eyes

Originally a Jerome Kern composition, for 1933's "Roberta", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" has travelled far, being covered in many different styles. The biggest and best known is probably the doo wop version by The Platters, though Vic Damone's version was also a huge hit.

I discovered a fun fact, while researching this song - Jerry Garcia, of the Grateful Dead (who recorded a version in the 1990s) was named for Jerome Kern.

Answer: Sing Sing Sing

A 1936 Louis Prima composition. The 1938 Benny Goodman recording from Carnegie Hall, with great performances from Gene Krupa and Jess Stacy, is probably the definitive version.

Answer: Vermont

First recorded by Margaret Whiting in 1944. From her autobiography: "I could feel the sad warmth of fall, the smell of leaves. I began to sing. The band was wonderful. Then, when Billy Butterfield's trumpet came in, all silver and glittering, it changed my voice. We were like two instruments."

("It Might As Well Be Spring" Margaret Whiting, 1987)

Answer: Good Morning Heartache

First recorded by Billie Holiday in 1946. Diana Ross released her version in 1972, in conjunction with the Holiday biopic "Lady Sings the Blues", and it got into the top forty on both the R&B and Pop charts.

Answer: My Funny Valentine

A 1937 tune from "Babes in Arms", Rodgers and Hart.

Miles Davis recorded a notable live version in 1964 at Lincoln Center. Herbie Hancock spoke of that recording, later, "It was really funny ... when we walked away from that concert, we were all dejected and disappointed. We thought we had really bombed ... but then we listened to the record - it sounded fantastic!"

Answer: Mood Indigo

A 1930 Barney Bigard composition, with Duke Ellington providing his outstanding arrangement. Who wrote the lyrics is in some dispute - official credit went to Irving Mills, but Mitchell Parish (who gave us "Stars Fell on Alabama") claimed, many years later, to have written them.

Answer: On the Sunny Side of the Street

"I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade
But I'm not afraid - this rover's crossed over"

Another Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields song, from 1930 (although there is some speculation that the tune was actually written by Fats Waller). It was introduced in the failed "International Revue" a Gertrude Lawrence vehicle, that only ran three months.

Answer: When Your Lover Has Gone

From 1931, from "Blonde Crazy" with James Cagney. It's been covered by everyone you would expect, including, rather surprisingly, the actor Kevin Spacey.

Answer: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

"And now the company jumps
when he plays reveille
He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B"

An Andrews Sisters song from 1941 - not, as you would expect, from December, but January. It was introduced in the Abbot and Costello movie "Buck Privates".