September Song
Encyclopedia
"September Song" is an American pop standard composed by Kurt Weill
, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson
, introduced by Walter Huston
in the 1938 Broadway
musical Knickerbocker Holiday
. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists. It was also used in the 1950 film September Affair
, and for the credits in the television series May to December
(a quote from the opening line of the song).
. Anderson and Weill wrote the song specifically for Huston's gruff voice and limited vocal range, in a couple of hours. The musical enjoyed only moderate success and closed in April 1939 after six months, but the song quickly became established as a modern standard.
singer Ezio Pinza
recorded a version in the early 1950s, as did Billy Eckstine
. Nat King Cole
also recorded a version with George Shearing
(in addition to the latter's instrumental version discussed below) in 1962, and Jimmy Durante
included the song on an album of pop standards in 1963. Other versions have been recorded during the 1950s and 1960s by Maurice Chevalier
, Pat Boone
, Matt Monro
and Mel Tormé
.
Versions of the song have been recorded by several member of the Rat Pack
: Bing Crosby
recorded the song twice, in 1943 and again in 1977 one month before his death; Frank Sinatra
recorded it three times: in July 1946 on a single (Columbia Record 37161) on the album Point of No Return
in (1962), and again for September of My Years
(1965); Dean Martin
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
have also recorded versions.
James Brown
included the song on his 1970 big band jazz album Soul on Top
, and Willie Nelson
on Stardust, his 1979 album of standards. Andy Williams
also recorded a version in the 1970s.
In 1985, for the Kurt Weill tribute album Lost in the Stars, the Music of Kurt Weill
, Lou Reed
recorded an unusual upbeat rock 'n' roll version of the song, featuring mostly his undistorted electric rhythm guitar --- typical of Reed's sound of the era, but ending in a searing lead guitar solo. During the period of the album's initial release, Reed was quoted as saying that he wanted to be known as the "Kurt Weill of rock 'n' roll." At only 24, Ian McCulloch
, of Echo & the Bunnymen
, released a version of the song as a solo single which reached number 51 on the U.K. Singles Chart in 1984 http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=4237. McCulloch's single was backed with a rendition of "Molly Malone
". The following year the album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter
included the track and in 1990, Jeff Lynne
recorded the song for his first solo record, Armchair Theatre
.
In 1997, Lou Reed
recorded the song again for the second Kurt Weill tribute album September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, this time in a slower, less rocking version. Lindsey Buckingham
included the song on his 1981 debut solo album Law and Order
, and in 1990 Jeff Lynne, released Armchair Theatre (album). Bryan Ferry
recorded a version on As Time Goes By in 1999. Other more recent versions include Bryan Ferry
(As Time Goes By 1994), Rod McKuen
(Kurt Weill - The Centennial 2001) and Pascal Comelade
. Jean Sablon
sung a French translation 'J’ai peur de l’automne (Café de Paris 2009). Ronnie Drew
, formerly of The Dubliners
, recorded the song on his 2006 solo Album There's Life In The Old Dog Yet
. Pianist Pascal Comelade
released his quirky September Song EP in 2000 featuring the inimitable Robert Wyatt
as a singer. In 2006 Jonny Fair
recorded the song on his "One Dark Day" album.
's version of 1955, and Ella Fitzgerald
's with pianist Paul Smith
on the 1960 Verve
release Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs From Let No Man Write My Epitaph are both regarded as Jazz classics. Eartha Kitt
and Weill's wife Lotte Lenya
both recorded the song in 1957, and Jo Stafford
, Patti Page
as well as Anne Shelton also recorded versions during the 1950s. In 1958 Eydie Gormé
included the song in her album, Love is the season and in 1989 both Lena Horne
in The Men in My Life, and Julie Wilson
in an album of Kurt Weill songs.
Elaine Paige
recorded the song for her 1993 album Romance & the Stage
and a live performance was featured on her 2004 greatest hits compilation Centre Stage: The Very Best of Elaine Paige. Rosemary Clooney
included the title on (For the duration 1991). A version was also recorded by June Christy
. Betty Buckley
performed the song live on June 10, 1996 at Carnegie Hall and it was subsequently featured in the cd release of that concert later in 1996, titled An Evening at Carnegie Hall: Betty Buckley.
In 2009, Patricia Kaas
recorded a version of this song on Kabaret (listed only on the international and German versions of the album) and Masha Qrella another for her 2009 release Speak Low (Loewe & Weill in Exile), a project commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt
(House of World Cultures).
and his band of renown, and on different occasions by Stan Kenton
and his band, once with a band vocal, once with The Four Freshmen
and June Christy
, once with Tex Ritter
. Billy Ward and His Dominoes recorded the song, coupled with When the saints go marching in, for Decca during the 1950s. During the 1960s recordings were made by Dion and the Belmonts
(1960), The Platters
1962, and The Impressions (1964). In 1991, seminal Swiss
Industrial music
band The Young Gods
released their album of Kurt Weill songs, Play Kurt Weill, including an almost ambient version of September Song, which remains an audience favorite at their concerts to this day. Peter, Paul & Mary covered the song for their 1996 album LifeLines
.
Recent version by groups include Come Shine
2001, El Pino & the Volunteers
and the Swiss Post-industrial band The Young Gods
.
recorded a version in London
on August 18, 1950. It was released by EMI
on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9952. There are many instrumental renditions during the 1950s as well, including versions by Artie Shaw
, Dave Brubeck
, Errol Garner, Harry James
, Liberace
, Earl Bostic
, Art Tatum
, Mantovani
, Sidney Bechet
, Red Norvo
and Charles Mingus
and George Shearing
on Velvet Carpet (1956). One of the most famous recent versions are the piano solo by Roger Williams
, and a "smokey" version by jazz-trumpet legend Chet Baker
recorded in 1983. Other instrumental versions include: Art Pepper
on Straight Life
(1980).
Recent instrumental versions include Bireli Lagrene
(A tribute to Djano Rheinhart 2006), Gary Burton
(Departure 2007), Thomas Dutronc
(Comme un manouche sans guitare 2007),
Jan Lundgren
European standards 2009), Ignasi Terraza
(Jazz a les Fosques 2009) and David Grisman
.
, and the popularity of the film caused Huston's recording to hit the top of the 1950 hit parade
. In a 1961 episode ("Fly Away Home") of the TV series Route 66, it is performed by actress Dorothy Malone, and serves as the background music to much of the episode. It was also used in the 1987 Woody Allen
film Radio Days
. Woody Allen mentioned that the song may be the best American popular song ever written. The title was used for a UK comedy-drama television series starring Russ Abbot
and Michael Williams which ran for three series between 1993 and 1995. The music was also used for the credits British
sitcom in the television series May to December
(a quote from the opening line of the song), which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC One
.
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
, introduced by Walter Huston
Walter Huston
Walter Thomas Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Life and career:...
in the 1938 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical Knickerbocker Holiday
Knickerbocker Holiday
Knickerbocker Holiday is a musical written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson ; it was directed by Joshua Logan. Among the songs introduced was the "September Song", now considered a pop standard.- History :...
. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists. It was also used in the 1950 film September Affair
September Affair
September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...
, and for the credits in the television series May to December
May to December
May to December was a British sitcom which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC1. The series was written by Paul Mendelson and produced by Cinema Verity....
(a quote from the opening line of the song).
Origins
The song originated from Walter Huston's request that he should have one solo song in Knickerbocker Holiday, if he was going to play the role of the aged dictator Peter StuyvesantPeter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
. Anderson and Weill wrote the song specifically for Huston's gruff voice and limited vocal range, in a couple of hours. The musical enjoyed only moderate success and closed in April 1939 after six months, but the song quickly became established as a modern standard.
Subsequent Recordings
September Song has been performed and recorded innumerable times by many artists since the 1940s. Those listed below are some of the more famous examples.Male vocalists
The former operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
recorded a version in the early 1950s, as did Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
. Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
also recorded a version with George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
(in addition to the latter's instrumental version discussed below) in 1962, and Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
included the song on an album of pop standards in 1963. Other versions have been recorded during the 1950s and 1960s by Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
, Matt Monro
Matt Monro
Matt Monro was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s...
and Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
.
Versions of the song have been recorded by several member of the Rat Pack
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
: Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
recorded the song twice, in 1943 and again in 1977 one month before his death; Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
recorded it three times: in July 1946 on a single (Columbia Record 37161) on the album Point of No Return
Point of No Return (Frank Sinatra album)
Point of No Return is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1962.As the title reflects, the album contains Sinatra's final recorded songs with Capitol Records before permanently moving to his own Reprise Records label to achieve more artistic freedom with his recordings.Indeed, he...
in (1962), and again for September of My Years
September of My Years
September of My Years is a 1965 studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra, arranged by Gordon Jenkins.Sinatra was to turn 50 years old in December 1965, and the release of this album along with A Man and His Music and Strangers in the Night marked a surge of popularity in Sinatra's music...
(1965); Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
have also recorded versions.
James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
included the song on his 1970 big band jazz album Soul on Top
Soul on Top
Soul on Top is an album by James Brown. Brown and saxophonist Maceo Parker worked with arranger/conductor Oliver Nelson to record a big band, funk and jazz vocal album...
, and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
on Stardust, his 1979 album of standards. Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
also recorded a version in the 1970s.
In 1985, for the Kurt Weill tribute album Lost in the Stars, the Music of Kurt Weill
Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill is a 1985 tribute album to German-American composer Kurt Weill. It was executive-produced by Hal Willner and John Telfer, and produced by Hal Willner and Paul M...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
recorded an unusual upbeat rock 'n' roll version of the song, featuring mostly his undistorted electric rhythm guitar --- typical of Reed's sound of the era, but ending in a searing lead guitar solo. During the period of the album's initial release, Reed was quoted as saying that he wanted to be known as the "Kurt Weill of rock 'n' roll." At only 24, Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch (singer)
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...
, of Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
, released a version of the song as a solo single which reached number 51 on the U.K. Singles Chart in 1984 http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=4237. McCulloch's single was backed with a rendition of "Molly Malone
Molly Malone
"Molly Malone" is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City....
". The following year the album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter
Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter
Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter is a 1986 album featuring Billy Eckstine and Benny Carter. It was released on the Verve label.- Track listing :# You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To# My Funny Valentine# Here's That Rainy Day# Summertime...
included the track and in 1990, Jeff Lynne
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey "Jeff" Lynne is an English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys together with George Harrison, Bob...
recorded the song for his first solo record, Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre (Jeff Lynne album)
Armchair Theatre is the first solo album by Jeff Lynne, released in 1990.- History :"Every little Thing" and "Lift Me Up" were released as singles. The album also features two classic cover versions "September Song" and "Stormy Weather" the latter recorded as a tribute to his late mother...
.
In 1997, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
recorded the song again for the second Kurt Weill tribute album September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, this time in a slower, less rocking version. Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...
included the song on his 1981 debut solo album Law and Order
Law and Order (album)
Law and Order is the first solo album by Fleetwood Mac guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham, released in 1981. "Trouble", featuring drumming by Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, reached #9 on the U.S...
, and in 1990 Jeff Lynne, released Armchair Theatre (album). Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
recorded a version on As Time Goes By in 1999. Other more recent versions include Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
(As Time Goes By 1994), Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen is an American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks, and classical music...
(Kurt Weill - The Centennial 2001) and Pascal Comelade
Pascal Comelade
Pascal Paul Vincent Comelade , is a French Catalan musician.Comelade born was in Montpellier, France. After living for several years in Barcelona, he made his first album, Fluences, influenced by electronic music and by the group Heldon.Subsequently, his music has become more acoustic and is...
. Jean Sablon
Jean Sablon
Jean Sablon was a popular French singer and actor.The son of a composer, with brothers and sisters who had successful careers of their own in musical entertainment, Jean Sablon studied piano at the Lyceé Charlemagne in Paris...
sung a French translation 'J’ai peur de l’automne (Café de Paris 2009). Ronnie Drew
Ronnie Drew
Joseph Ronald "Ronnie" Drew was an Irish singer and folk musician who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He was born in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin...
, formerly of The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
, recorded the song on his 2006 solo Album There's Life In The Old Dog Yet
There's Life in the Old Dog Yet
There's Life in the Old Dog Yet is an album by Ronnie Drew, released in 2006.Produced by Phil Coulter, who wrote the title track, Drew recorded this album of songs about growing old shortly before being diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006, an irony which was commented on a few months later by both...
. Pianist Pascal Comelade
Pascal Comelade
Pascal Paul Vincent Comelade , is a French Catalan musician.Comelade born was in Montpellier, France. After living for several years in Barcelona, he made his first album, Fluences, influenced by electronic music and by the group Heldon.Subsequently, his music has become more acoustic and is...
released his quirky September Song EP in 2000 featuring the inimitable Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
as a singer. In 2006 Jonny Fair
Jonny Fair
Jonny Fair is an American jazz/folk singer, musician, actor and composer. Fair composed and performed the music and acted in the 2007 motion picture Gordon Glass starring Omar Benson Miller...
recorded the song on his "One Dark Day" album.
Female vocalists
Although the song was written as an old man's lament for the passing of his youth, some of the most famous versions have been recorded by women artists. Thus Sarah VaughanSarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
's version of 1955, and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
's with pianist Paul Smith
Paul Smith (pianist)
Paul Smith , is a jazz pianist. He has performed in various genres of jazz, most typically bebop. However, he has also performed in cool jazz, swing music, and traditional pop.He was born in San Diego, California...
on the 1960 Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
release Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs From Let No Man Write My Epitaph are both regarded as Jazz classics. Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
and Weill's wife Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer, diseuse, and actress. In the German-speaking and classical music world she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language film she is remembered for her Academy Award-nominated role in The Roman Spring of Mrs...
both recorded the song in 1957, and Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
, Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
as well as Anne Shelton also recorded versions during the 1950s. In 1958 Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
included the song in her album, Love is the season and in 1989 both Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
in The Men in My Life, and Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson is an American singer and actress.Born in Omaha, Nebraska and first finding a musical outlet with local musical group Hank's Hepcats, Wilson headed to New York City during World War II and found work in two of Manhattan's leading nightclubs, the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana...
in an album of Kurt Weill songs.
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
recorded the song for her 1993 album Romance & the Stage
Romance & the Stage (album)
Romance & the Stage is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 1993.It was produced by Peter Matz and recorded at CTS Studios, London. The recording features songs primarily taken from stage musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Annie Get Your Gun and Kismet.The album was released by RCA Records...
and a live performance was featured on her 2004 greatest hits compilation Centre Stage: The Very Best of Elaine Paige. Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
included the title on (For the duration 1991). A version was also recorded by June Christy
June Christy
June Christy , born Shirley Luster, was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo career from 1954 and is best known for her debut album Something Cool...
. Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
performed the song live on June 10, 1996 at Carnegie Hall and it was subsequently featured in the cd release of that concert later in 1996, titled An Evening at Carnegie Hall: Betty Buckley.
In 2009, Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...
recorded a version of this song on Kabaret (listed only on the international and German versions of the album) and Masha Qrella another for her 2009 release Speak Low (Loewe & Weill in Exile), a project commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
The Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin is Germany's national centre for contemporary non-European art. It presents art exhibitions, theater and dance performances, concerts, author readings, films and academic conferences on non-European Visual Art and culture...
(House of World Cultures).
Groups
The song was recorded by Les BrownLes Brown
Les Brown may refer to:*Les Brown , U.S. Big Band leader, or his son, Les Brown Jr., leader since 2001*Les Brown , American author-See also:*Leslie Brown...
and his band of renown, and on different occasions by Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
and his band, once with a band vocal, once with The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...
and June Christy
June Christy
June Christy , born Shirley Luster, was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo career from 1954 and is best known for her debut album Something Cool...
, once with Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
. Billy Ward and His Dominoes recorded the song, coupled with When the saints go marching in, for Decca during the 1950s. During the 1960s recordings were made by Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts was a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. The group formed when Dion DiMucci, lead singer , joined The Belmonts - Carlo Mastrangelo, baritone , Freddie Milano, second tenor , and Angelo D'Aleo, first tenor , in late 1957.-History:After an unsuccessful first single,...
(1960), The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
1962, and The Impressions (1964). In 1991, seminal Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
band The Young Gods
The Young Gods
The Young Gods are a Swiss post-industrial band. The band's lineup has generally consisted of a vocalist, a sampler operator and a drummer. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples. The lyrics are depicted in English, French and...
released their album of Kurt Weill songs, Play Kurt Weill, including an almost ambient version of September Song, which remains an audience favorite at their concerts to this day. Peter, Paul & Mary covered the song for their 1996 album LifeLines
LifeLines
LifeLines is a free open-source genealogy software tool to assist family history research. LifeLines primary strengths are its powerful scripting language and the ability to easily import and export information in the GEDCOM format. It was the first open-source genealogy program for Unix...
.
Recent version by groups include Come Shine
Come Shine
Come Shine is a Norwegian jazz band, with Erlend Skomsvoll , Håkon Mjåset Johansen , Sondre Meisfjord and Live Maria Roggen .-1...
2001, El Pino & the Volunteers
El Pino & the Volunteers
El Pino & the Volunteers is a band from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The band’s music mixes alt. rock with Americana. In 2006 the band’s debut album Molten City is released on Excelsior Recordings.-Biography:...
and the Swiss Post-industrial band The Young Gods
The Young Gods
The Young Gods are a Swiss post-industrial band. The band's lineup has generally consisted of a vocalist, a sampler operator and a drummer. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples. The lyrics are depicted in English, French and...
.
Instrumental renditions
The Melachrino Strings Conductor: George MelachrinoGeorge Melachrino
George Melachrino was a musician, movie composer, and musical director who was English born of Greek and Italian descent. He was an accomplished player of the violin, viola, oboe, clarinet and saxophone....
recorded a version in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on August 18, 1950. It was released by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9952. There are many instrumental renditions during the 1950s as well, including versions by Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
, Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
, Errol Garner, Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
, Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
, Earl Bostic
Earl Bostic
Earl Bostic was an American jazz and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist, and a pioneer of the post-war American Rhythm and Blues style. He had a number of popular hits such as "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep", "Special Delivery Stomp", and "Where or When", which showed off his...
, Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, Mantovani
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani known as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles & Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before The Beatles .....
, Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
, Red Norvo
Red Norvo
Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments...
and Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
and George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
on Velvet Carpet (1956). One of the most famous recent versions are the piano solo by Roger Williams
Roger Williams (pianist)
Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.-Biography:...
, and a "smokey" version by jazz-trumpet legend Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
recorded in 1983. Other instrumental versions include: Art Pepper
Art Pepper
Art Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.About Pepper, Scott Yanow of All Music stated, "In the 1950s he was one of the few altoists that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker" and: "When Art Pepper...
on Straight Life
Straight Life (Art Pepper album)
Straight Life is a 1979 jazz album by saxophonist Art Pepper playing with Tommy Flanagan, Red Mitchell, Billy Higgins and Kenneth Nash.Some versions have the bonus track "Long Ago And Far Away".-Track listing:#"Surf Ride" – 6:57...
(1980).
Recent instrumental versions include Bireli Lagrene
Biréli Lagrène
Biréli Lagrène is a French guitarist and bassist. He came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt-influenced style on the classical guitar, as well as for being a jazz fusion virtuoso on the electric guitar...
(A tribute to Djano Rheinhart 2006), Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
(Departure 2007), Thomas Dutronc
Thomas Dutronc
Thomas Dutronc is a jazz French guitarist. His mother is the singer Françoise Hardy. His father is the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and film actor Jacques Dutronc....
(Comme un manouche sans guitare 2007),
Jan Lundgren
Jan Lundgren
Jan Lundgren is a Swedish jazz musician , known for his solo work, and his own jazz trio.Born in Kristianstad and raised in Ronneby, Jan Lundgren was formerly in the group "St...
European standards 2009), Ignasi Terraza
Ignasi Terraza
Ignasi Terraza , is a Catalan jazz pianist. Blind from the age of 10, he currently leads his own jazz trio playing both standards and tunes composed by himself and the band members, Frenchmen Pierre Boussaguet on bass and Jean Pierre Derouard on drums. The trio has toured Spain, Portugal, France...
(Jazz a les Fosques 2009) and David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
.
Use in films and television
It was used in the 1950 film September AffairSeptember Affair
September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...
, and the popularity of the film caused Huston's recording to hit the top of the 1950 hit parade
Hit parade
A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936...
. In a 1961 episode ("Fly Away Home") of the TV series Route 66, it is performed by actress Dorothy Malone, and serves as the background music to much of the episode. It was also used in the 1987 Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
film Radio Days
Radio Days
Radio Days is a 1987 comedy film directed by Woody Allen. The film looks back on an American family's life during the Golden Age of Radio using both music and memories to tell the story.-Plot:...
. Woody Allen mentioned that the song may be the best American popular song ever written. The title was used for a UK comedy-drama television series starring Russ Abbot
Russ Abbot
Russ Abbot is an English musician, comedian and actor who first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedy showband the Black Abbots, later forging a prominent solo career as a television comedian with his own weekly show on British television.Continuing...
and Michael Williams which ran for three series between 1993 and 1995. The music was also used for the credits British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sitcom in the television series May to December
May to December
May to December was a British sitcom which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC1. The series was written by Paul Mendelson and produced by Cinema Verity....
(a quote from the opening line of the song), which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.