Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1948
Black Coffee (1948 song)
Buy Black Coffee (1948 song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'"Black Coffee"' is a song with music by Sonny Burke and words by Paul Francis Webster. The song was published in 1948.
Sarah Vaughan charted with this song in 1949 on Columbia; arranged by Joe Lipman, it is considered one of the most notable versions.
Peggy Lee recorded the song on May 4, 1953, and it was included on her first LP record 'Black Coffee'.
It was included in the soundtrack for the 1960 Columbia Pictures feature 'Let No Man Write My Epitaph', recorded on Verve by Ella Fitzgerald, also in 1960. The version by Ella Fitzgerald was a favourite song of Polish Nobel Prize laureate Wisawa Szymborska who chose it as the song to be performed at her funeral.
Relationship to song "What's Your Story, Morning Glory?"
"Black Coffee"'s first two measures are nearly identical to Mary Lou Williams' 1938 piece "What's Your Story Morning Glory", and both songs share melodic motifs drawn from blues (including a strong melodic emphasis on the flat third and flat seventh intervals, known as "blue notes"). Williams felt that Burke and Webster plagiarized her composition, and reportedly considered taking legal action over the matter. The two songs have significant melodic and rhythmic differences after the first two measures of their respective 'A' sections, and "Black Coffee" has a unique bridge section that has no parallel in "Morning Glory". However, during her piano solo, Williams plays both the identical feel and harmonies that appear on "Black Coffee," with dominant chords moving up and down by half steps in lieu of staying on the tonic chord. While not a carbon copy, Burke and Webster arguably picked sections of "What's Your Story Morning Glory" to string together to create a new song. Coincidentally, jazz trumpeter Paul Webster (no relation to lyricist Paul Francis Webster) was given co-writer credit for "Morning Glory" by Williams when she published her song in 1938.
Other Recordings
Other versions of "Black Coffee" were performed by:
*Ann Richards on a single release with Stan Kenton (1955)
*Martha Hayes on her album 'A Hayes Named Martha' (1956)
*Pat Suzuki on her album 'Miss Pony Tail' (1957).
*Ray Charles on his album 'The Great Ray Charles' (1957)
*Bobby Darin on his album 'This is Darin' (1960)
*Julie London 'Around Midnight' (1960), 'The Ultimate Collection' (2005)
*Chris Connor 'Double Exposure' (with Maynard Ferguson) (1961)
*Jane Morgan - on her album 'What Now My Love?' (1962).
*Earl Grant on his albums 'Midnight Sun' (1962) and 'In Motion' (1968)
*Rosemary Clooney on her album 'Thanks for Nothing' (1964)
*Sonny Criss 'This Is Criss' (1966)
*Ruth Brown on the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis album 'The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis featuring Miss Ruth Brown' (1968)
*Petula Clark on her album 'The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener' (1968)
*The Pointer Sisters on the album 'That's a Plenty' (1974)
*Roseanna Vitro on her debut album 'Listen Here' (1984)
*Janis Siegel on the album 'At Home' (1987)
*Vivian Lord on the album 'Route 66' (1987)
*k.d. lang on the album 'Shadowland' (1988)
*Carmen McRae on the album 'Sarah: Dedicated to You' (1991)
*Sinad O'Connor on the album 'Am I Not Your Girl?' (1992)
*Diane Schuur on her covers album 'In Tribute' (1992)
*Elkie Brooks on her album 'Round Midnight' (1993)
*Stanford Fleet Street Singers on their album 'What You Want' (1994)
*Patricia Kaas on her album 'Caf Noir' (1996)
*Martina Topley-Bird and Tricky on the album 'Nearly God' (1996)
*Alexia Vassiliou on her album 'In a Jazz Mood' (1996)
*Mary Coughlan on "Red Blues" album (2002)
*Claire Martin on her album 'Too Darn Hot' (2002)
*Maria Muldaur on her album 'A Woman Alone With The Blues' (2002)
*Nana Mouskouri on her live album 'Nana Swings' (2003)
*Kimiko Itoh on her album 'Once You've Been in Love' (2004)
*Barbara Lusch on Spotify (2004)
*Dual Sessions on 'Vintage Caf - Lounge & Jazz Blends' (2007) spotify
*Marianne Faithfull for her album 'Easy Come, Easy Go' (2008)
*Anita Eccleston on her album 'Anita Eccleston Jazz EP' (2011)
*April Hall on her album 'Room for Two' (2012)
*Caroll Vanwelden on her album 'Don't Explain' (2013)
*Clare Maguire on her EP 'Clare Maguire' (2014)
References
Category:Songs with music by Sonny Burke
Category:Songs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Category:1948 songs
Category:Peggy Lee songs
Category:Torch songs
Category:Sarah Vaughan songs
Buy Black Coffee (1948 song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1948