There's No You

By Hal Hopper & Tom Adair
1944

A lush, gorgeous composition that helped catapult Jo Stafford's solo career. After leaving the Pied Pipers vocal group and becoming Capitol Records' first solo vocalist in '44, Stafford (or her arrangers) chose this beautiful song to be one of her very first recordings. Perfectly suited to her range and style, it became an instant standard thanks to her and has been recorded by numerous artists over the years since.

Lyrics:

I feel the autumn breeze, it steals 'cross my pillow
As soft as a will-o'-the-wisp and in its song
There is sadness because there's no you

The lonely autumn trees, how softly they're sighing
'Cause summer is dying, they know that in my heart
There's no gladness because there's no you

The park that we walked in, the garden we talked in
How lonesome they seem in the fall
Stormy clouds hover and falling leaves cover
Our favorite nook in the wall

In spring we'll meet again, we'll kiss and recapture
That summertime rapture we knew and from that day
Never more will I say, "There's no you"

Recorded By:

Duke Ellington
Frank Sinatra
Louis Armstrong
Coleman Hawkins
Stacey Kent

Violets for Your Furs

By Matt Dennis & Tom Adair
1941

A tender, haunting ballad from the same duo that gave us "Let's Get Away from It All" and "The Night We Called It a Day". This sublime number was written for the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, with a young Frank Sinatra as vocalist. Lyricist Adair actually worked for the Dorsey band at the time as an arranger. Sinatra would later revisit the tune for his 1954 solo album, Songs for Young Lovers.

Lyrics:

It was winter in Manhattan, falling snow flakes filled the air,
The streets were covered with a film of ice.
But a little simple magic that I learned about somewhere,
Changed the weather all around, just within a thrice.

I bought you violets for your furs,
And it was spring for a while, remember?
I bought you violets for your furs,
And there was April in that December.

The snow drifted down on the flowers,
And melted where it lay.
The snow looked like dew on the blossoms,
As on a summer's day.

I bought you violets for your furs,
And there was blue in the wintry sky.
You pinned my violets to your furs,
And gave a lift to the crowds passing by.

You smiled at me so sweetly,
Since then one thought occurs,
That we fell in love completely,
The day I bought you violets for your furs.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
John Coltrane
Stacey Kent
Frank Sinatra
Joe Lee Wilson

Let's Get Away from It All

By Matt Dennis & Tom Adair
1941

An ode to vacation traveling made popular by the Tommy Dorsey orchestra in a recording featuring then band-singer Frank Sinatra, along with Jo Stafford and The Pied Pipers. A "catalog song", it lists various destinations across America in clever fashion. It was rerecorded some 15 years later by the solo Sinatra on his Come Fly with Me album.

Lyrics:

Let's take a boat to Bermuda
Let's take a plane to Saint Paul.
Let's take a kayak to Quincy or Nyack,
Let's get away from it all.

They say there's no place
quite like home
A charming thought it's true
But until the world we roam
how can we be sure

Let's take a trip in a trailer
No need to come back at all.
Let's take a powder to Boston for chowder,
Let's get away from it all.

We'll travel 'round from town to town,
We'll visit ev'ry state.
I'll repeat, "I love you sweet!"
In all the forty-eight.

Let's go again to Niag'ra
This time we'll look at the Fall.
Let's leave our hut, dear,
Get out of our rut, dear,
Let's get away from it all.

Recorded By:

Gene Krupa & Anita O'Day
Frank Sinatra
Della Reese
Dave Brubeck
Fats Waller