"The Song Is You" is a

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

song and jazz standard composed by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for their musical ''

Music in the Air ''Music in the Air'' is a musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics and book) and Jerome Kern (music). It introduced songs such as "The Song Is You", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and " I've Told Ev'ry Little Star". The musical premiered on ...

'' (1932) and sung in that show by Tullio Carminati. In the subsequent 1934 film, the song was recorded and filmed but cut from the final release. An instrumental of the song can still be heard under the opening credits. An early hit in 1932 was by Jack Denny and his Waldorf–Astoria Orchestra (vocal by Paul Small). In later years the song became often associated with Frank Sinatra, becoming the last song he performed with

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

. Many other artists have recorded the song over the years. "The Song Is You" is the recurring musical theme of the 2003

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film i ...

film '' The Saddest Music in the World''. Nine different versions of the song were arranged for the film by composer Christopher Dedrick, whose work received a Genie Award. Composer Alec Wilder writes that the song "attempts too dramatic a statement on too small a stage ..it suggests a grander voice than that usually associated with popular theater music", but that it nonetheless possesses a "superior quality" as a composition, with a "masterful" release containing "brilliant" harmony and melody. It is written in

AABA form The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

References

1932 songs Songs with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Songs with music by Jerome Kern Frank Sinatra songs Bing Crosby songs Doris Day songs Shirley Bassey songs Nancy Wilson (jazz singer) songs Jay and the Americans songs Pop standards Scott Walker (singer) songs {{Show-tune-stub