Cry Me a River

#43 / Feb. 25 Podcast

Here’s a song that’s been kicked around a bit, but, like any good jazz ballad, it has kicked right back.

“Cry Me a River” was written by Arthur Hamilton who intended it for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in a 1955 jazz-infused movie called “Pete Kelly’s Blues.” However, when that scene was cut from the film, the song had to go hunting for someone else to love.

Initially, it was pitched to song stylist Peggy King, but when Columbia Records’ A&R chief — one Mitch Miller (of early TV’s “Sing Along with Mitch” fame) — didn’t like it, that didn’t happen either. (He especially hated the use of the word "plebeian" in the lyric’s bridge. Well, that just happens to be one of our favorite parts, but, hey, Mitch never asked our opinion.)

Anyway, the director of that Pete Kelly movie, Jack Webb — yes, that Jack Webb, Sgt. Friday on “Dragnet” — was married at the time to an up and coming jazz vocalist named Julie London. And when Miss London took a turn with the tune, it turned to gold, hitting Billboard’s top 10 in 1956. Since then, nearly 500 different recordings of the song have been made over the past 65 years. Take that, Mr. Miller.

Our Turn

We first started playing with the song about a year ago, but it has been languishing for a while.

It was probably just waiting for a blue and rainy evening like last night when Veezy, Danny, Randy and Charlie could revisit it. It sounds like it’s ready to be a regular in our repertoire now. Click here, then, for our latest take on “Cry Me a River” from last night’s rehearsal.

By the Way…

If you want more like this from The Flood repertoire, you might want to check out the Ballad Channel on the free Radio Floodango music streaming feature. Click here to turn us on!