Blues in the Night

“Blues in the Night” is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie. “Blues in the Night” (1941) African-American baritone William Gillespie’s original rendition of the Arlen-Mercer composition “Blues in the Night.” Arlen and Mercer wrote the entire score for the 1941 film Blues in the Night. One requirement was for a blues song to be sung in a jail cell. As usual with Mercer, the composer wrote the music first, then Mercer wrote the words. Arlen later recalled: The whole thing just poured out. And I knew in my guts, without even thinking what Johnny would write for a lyric, that this was strong, strong, strong! When Mercer wrote “Blues in the Night”, I went over his lyric and I started to hum it over his desk. It sounded marvelous once I got to the second stanza but that first twelve was weak tea. On the third or fourth page of his work sheets I saw some lines—one of them was “My momma done tol’ me, when I was in knee pants.” I said, “Why don’t you try that?” It was one of the very few times I’ve ever suggested anything like that to John. When they finished writing the song, Mercer called a friend, singer Margaret Whiting, and asked if they could come over and play it for her. She suggested they come later because she had dinner guests—Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, and Martha Raye. Instead, Arlen and Mercer went right over. Margaret Whiting remembered what happened then: They came in the back door, sat down at the piano and played the score of “Blues in the Night”. I remember forever the reaction. Mel got up and said, “I can’t believe it.” Martha couldn’t say a word. Mickey Rooney said, “That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.” Judy Garland said, “Play it again.” We had them play it seven times. Judy and I ran to the piano to see who was going to learn it first. It was a lovely night. After the song was composed and the lyrics were written, African-American baritone William Gillespie (1908-1968) was hired to perform the song in the jail cell for the film In his review of the film, critic Howard Thompson of The New York Times argued that Gillespie’s “superbly chanted” version of the Arlen-Mercer song transformed the motion picture and arguably “nailed the film down for posterity.”