THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

281-Anne Shelton-Blues in the Night.

1942-Has never charted, there was no UK chart until 1952.
Best Bit-At 0.11. Another of the classic songs from the ‘Great American Songbook.’

The ‘Great American Songbook’ is an imaginary list of songs written and recorded between 1920-1960, often referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ of American music. The genre is created from songs that were popular in Hollywood Musical film, musical theatre, and Broadway theatre. To read about the other 30 songs from the ‘Great American Songbook’ in this countdown see the list at the end of this article.

‘Blues in the Night’ was co-written by the legendary song writing team of Harold Arden, (1905-1986) (see also best songs 934-634 and 68) who wrote the music, and Johnny Mercer, (1909-1976) (see also best songs 45) who wrote the lyrics. Arden and Mercer had been commissioned to write the entire score for the 1941 American Musical film provisionally called ‘Hot Nocturne,’ based on a play of the same name, but after the success of the song ‘Blues in the Night,’ the film was renamed after the song. Arden and Mercer had been told that the main requirement was to write a ‘Blues’ song which was to be sung in a jail cell, as usual with the way Johnny Mercer worked, he would have the music presented to him, and from there he would write the lyrics. In the film the song is performed by the African/American baritone William Gillespie, (1908-1968) whose appearance at that time was not credited, he later went on to serve in the army in World War 2.

‘Blues in the Night’ has been recorded on numerous occasions down the years, and was a hit on ‘Billboard Magazine’ five times in 1942, for Woody Herman, (Number 1) Dinah Shore, (Number 4) Jimmy Lunceford, (Number 4) Cab Calloway, (Number 8 and Artie Shaw (Number 10.) The other hit version was in 1952 for Rosemary Clooney which reached Number 29, the song has never charted in the UK.

The version of the song I have chosen is the 1942 recording by Anne Shelton OBE. She was born Patricia Jacqueline Sibley on November 10th, 1923, in Dulwich, London, England, she died of a heart attack on July 31st, 1994, at the age of 70. Shelton is remembered for providing inspirational songs for soldiers, in radio broadcasts, and also for making personal appearances at British military bases during the Second World War. In 1990 she was awarded the OBE for her work with the ‘Not Forgotten Association,’ a charitable organisation for disabled former service personnel from all wars. Two of her singles charted on Billboard in 1949, while in the UK she achieved five hits, with ‘Lay Down Your Arms’ making Number 1 in 1956.

‘My mama done told me, when I was in pigtails. My mama done told me, uuhm. A man’s gonna sweet talk and give you the big eye, but when the sweet talkin”s done, a man is a two face, a worrisome thing, who’ll leave you to sing the blues in the night.’
Here is the list of all 31 songs from the ‘Great American Songbook’ in this countdown. (see also best songs 944-934-887-842-808-775-706-687-651-634-567-457-396-385-370-343-321-295-286-277-259-252-231-226-185-100-82-68-73-68 and 45.)