Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1956
When Sunny Gets Blue
Buy When Sunny Gets Blue 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
"'When Sunny Gets Blue'" is a song written by Marvin Fisher (music) and Jack Segal (lyrics), which has become a jazz standard. The song was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis and Ray Conniff and his Orchestra in 1956 as the reverse side of their hit "Wonderful! Wonderful!". The song has subsequently been recorded by many artists.
Notable recordings
*Johnny Mathis and Ray Conniff and his Orchestra (1956) - Released as the 'B' side of "Wonderful! Wonderful!"
*Nat King Cole - for his album 'Love Is the Thing' (1957).
*June Christy - for her album 'Fair and Warmer!' (1957)
*Duke Pearson - for his album 'Tender Feelin's' (1959)
*Anita O'Day - for her album 'Waiter, Make Mine Blues' (1961)
*Charlie Rouse - for his album 'We Paid Our Dues' (1961)
*Sarah Vaughan - for her album 'Sarah + 2' (1962).
*Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake - for their album 'The Newest Sound Around' (1962)
*McCoy Tyner - for his album 'Today and Tomorrow' (1963)
*Blossom Dearie - for her album 'May I Come In?' (1964)
*Carmen McRae - for her album 'Bittersweet' (1964)
*Matt Monro - for his album 'Here's to My Lady ' (1966)
*Barbra Streisand - for her album 'Simply Streisand' (1967)
*Kenny Rankin - for his album 'The Kenny Rankin Album' (1977)
*Dexter Gordon - for his album 'Something Different' (1987)
*Norah Jones - for her album 'Come Away with Me' (2002)
Legal case
"When Sunny Gets Blue" begins with the lyrics "When Sunny gets blue, her eyes get grey and cloudy; then the rain begins to fall." In 1984, DJ Rick Dees, a radio personality at Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM, recorded a parody of the song for an album, including the lyrics "When Sunny sniffs glue, her eyes get red and bulgy, then her hair begins to fall". Dees sought permission to use the lyrics, but was refused; subsequently, he used 8 bars of the song under the fair use doctrine. In 1986, composer Marvin Fisher and lyricist Jack Segal sued Dees for copyright violation and defamation in U.S. District Court for Los Angeles. At the request of the parties involved, the district court issued a summary judgment, finding for Dees.[http://mcir.usc.edu/cases/1980-1989/Pages/fisherdees.html] Fisher appealed the case to the U.S Court of Appeals for the 9th District, in Pasadena, California. The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the lower court in 'Fisher v. Dees' 794 F.2d 432 (9th Cir. 1986), stating that the parody was intended to "criticize" for the purposes of humor, not to "copy", and did not damage the marketability of the original because they were two different markets of music. The case has become a landmark one, further refining the doctrine of fair use in U.S. copyright law.
References
Category:1956 songs
Category:1950s jazz standards
Category:Johnny Mathis songs
Category:Songs written by Jack Segal
Buy When Sunny Gets Blue now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1956