Blue Skies

"Blue Skies" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926.

History

The song was composed in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 28 encores of the piece from star, Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

In 1927, the music was published and Ben Selvin's recorded version was a #1 hit. That same year, it became one of the first songs to be featured in a talkie, when Al Jolson performed it in The Jazz Singer. 1946 was also a notable year for the song, with a Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire film taking its title, and two recorded versions by Count Basie and Benny Goodman reaching #8 and #9 on the pop charts, respectively. Crossing genres, Willie Nelson's recording of "Blue Skies" was a #1 country music hit in 1978. The fact that it became a No. 1 country song (especially by a Texan artist) was not entirely surprising as it clearly was a major western swing and country standard as a 1939 version by Moon Mullican and a 1962 Jim Reeves interpretation have shown.

"Blue Skies" is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "Bluebird of Happiness" as a symbol of cheer: "Bluebirds singing a song -- Nothing but bluebirds all day long."

Recorded versions

• Don Shirley Trio (Water Boy)
• Ben Selvin (1927)
• Josephine Baker (1927)
• Moon Mullican (1939)
• Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra (with vocal by Frank Sinatra) (1941)
• Count Basie and his orchestra (with vocal by Jimmy Rushing) (1946)
• Bing Crosby (1946)
• Benny Goodman and his orchestra (instrumental) (1935)
• Benny Goodman and his orchestra (with vocal by Art Lund) (1946)
• Frank Sinatra (1946)
• Art Tatum (1949)
• Dinah Washington (1954)
• The McGuire Sisters (1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald (1958) (notable as a fine example of her scat singing)
• Jim Reeves (1962)
• Willie Nelson (1978)
• Rosemary Clooney
• Cassandra Wilson (1988)
• Lyle Lovett (1994)
• Eva Cassidy (1996)
• Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers (1996)
• Groove Armada (1999)
• Fiona Apple and Brad Mehldau (2002) – unreleased, but performed at Club Largo.
• Brent Spiner performing as Lt. Cmdr. Data, in the 2002 movie Star Trek Nemesis.
• Curtis Stigers (2003)
• Caetano Veloso (2004)
• Debby Boone (2005)
• Rod Stewart (2005)
• Deborah Cox (2007)
• Erich Von Kneip (2007)
• Gloria Gibson (2008)

Selected appearances in film

• The Jazz Singer (1927)
• Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
• Blue Skies (1946)
• White Christmas (1954)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1994)
• With Honors (1994)
• Patch Adams (1998)
• Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
• The Aviator (2004)
• Hollywoodland (2006)
• The Good Shepherd (2006)

Succession (Willie Nelson version)

External links

• Betsy 1926
• Irving Berlin’s Music in Films
• Time article on Irving Berlin