Satin Doll

By Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn & Johnny Mercer
1953

A late standard known for its unusual chord progression, "Satin Doll" was already a big hit as an instrumental by Ellington & Strayhorn before Mercer ever added a lyric. In fact, the Mercer lyric is generally not considered one of his best, and Ella Fitzgerald notably recorded a scat version which didn't even make use of it. Still, the song remains popular in both versions.

Lyrics:

Cigarette holder,
Which wigs me.
Over her shoulder,
She digs me.
Out cattin'
That satin doll.

Baby, shall we go
Out skippin'?
Careful, amigo,
You're flippin'
Speaks Latin,
That satin doll.

She's nobody's fool,
So I'm playin' it cool as can be.
I'll give it a whirl,
But I ain't for no girl catchin' me.

Telephone numbers,
Well, you know.
Doin' my rhumbas
With uno,
And that's my satin doll.

Recorded By:

101 Strings
The Gaylords
Nancy Wilson
Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald

Take the "A" Train

By Billy Strayhorn & Joya Sherrill
1939

Inspired by Duke Ellington's directions to new writer Strayhorn upon his hire, this seminal jazz classic became the theme song of the Ellington band, replacing "Sepia Panorama", after is was first recorded in February 1941. Duke's son Mercer recalled rescuing the composition out of the trash, after Strayhorn had discarded it for being too similar to an arrangement by Fletcher Henderson, whose style had inspired the song. 17-year-old Sherrill contributed the lyrics in 1944, after herfather brought her to Ellington's attention. She promptly became a singer with the band as well.

Lyrics:

You must take the "A" train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem.

If you miss the "A" train,
You'll find you've missed the quickest way to Harlem.

Hurry, get on, now, it's coming.
Listen to those rails a-thrumming.

Get on the "A" train--
Soon, you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.

Recorded By:

Dave Brubeck
Mel Torme
Sarah Vaughan
Dexter Gordon
Oscar Peterson

Lush Life

By Billy Strayhorn
1933

As rich and moving as a popular song can be, "Lush Life" has become as much a part of the jazz tradition as the pop tradition, owing to its origins with Duke Ellington's brilliant collaborator Strayhorn. Amazingly, this minor-key dirge for lost love was mainly written when the composer was a mere 16. He continued to refine the song for another five years, but didn't introduce it publicly until 1948, when he performed it at Carnegie Hall with the Ellington Orchestra and Kay Davis on vocals.

Lyrics:

I used to visit all the very gay places,
Those come-what-may places,
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life,
To get the feel of life...
From jazz and cocktails.

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces,
With distant gay traces,
That used to be there, you could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day...
Twelve o'clock tales.

Then you came along with your siren of song
To tempt me to madness!
I thought for a while that your poignant smile was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me.

Ah yes! I was wrong...
Again,I was wrong.

Life is lonely again,
And only last year, everything seemed so sure.
Now life is awful again,
A trough-full of hearts could only be a bore.
A week in Paris will ease the bite of it.
All I care is to smile in spite of it.

I'll forget you, I will,
While yet you are still burning inside my brain.
Romance is mush,
Stifling those who strive.
I'll live a lush life in some small dive...
And there Ill be, while I rot
With the rest of those whose lives are lonely, too.

Recorded By:

John Coltrane
Johnny Hartman
Sarah Vaughan
Nat King Cole
Jack Jones