Memories of You

"Memories of You" is a popular song with lyrics written by Andy Razaf and music composed by Eubie Blake and published in 1930.

Song history

The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930. However, the first well-known recording of the song was done by the Benny Goodman orchestra. A great version was recorded in 1956 by the Benny Goodman Trio with Rosemary Clooney singing.

A version of the song recorded by The Four Coins from the biopic The Benny Goodman Story reached #22 on the Billboard magazine chart in 1955. Robert Wyatt's version appears on his single "Shipbuilding", released in 1982, and was reissued on the CD Mid-Eighties (1993). A 1930 version recorded by Louis Armstrong featuring Lionel Hampton is the first known use of the vibraphone in popular music.

Doc Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra performed a moving, melancholy instrumental version on the final airing of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, May 22, 1992. The song played over a five-minute tribute montage showing brief silent clips of some of Carson's favorite guests - seen interacting with the host through the years.

Notable cover versions

• Ted Heath (1956)
• Duke Ellington (1930)
• Ethel Waters (1931)
• Lionel Hampton (1937)
• Glen Gray (1937)
• Anita O'Day (1942)
• Erroll Garner (1945)
• Billy Eckstine (1947)
• Art Tatum (1953)
• Thelonious Monk (1955)
• Judy Garland - Judy (1956)
• George Shearing (1956)
• Stan Kenton (1957)
• Count Basie (1958)
• Anita O'Day with Gene Krupa (1959)
• Frank Sinatra (1961)
• Ella Fitzgerald (1964)
• Robert Wyatt (1982)
• Billy Eckstine & Benny Carter with Bobby Tucker (1986)
• Mel Torme (1992)
• Bette Midler (2003) - also the title of her 2010 retrospective, Memories of You

Benny Goodman (?) Alberta Hunter (?)

• Others

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

External links

• "Memories of You" at Jazz Standards