In the Mood

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

In the Mood

"In the Mood" is a song popularized by the American bandleader Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller , was an United States jazz musician, arranger, composer, and band leader in the Swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big band"....
in 1939, and one of the best-known arrangements of the big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
era. Miller's rendition topped the charts one year later and was featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade
Sun Valley Serenade

Sun Valley Serenade is a musical film starring Sonja Henie, Lynn Bari, John Payne , and Milton Berle. It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge....
. The song is an anomaly to chart purists. "In The Mood" was released in the period immediately prior to the inception of retail sales charts in Billboard magazine.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'In the Mood'

Start a new discussion about 'In the Mood'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

"In the Mood" is a song popularized by the American bandleader Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Big band

Jukebox

A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media....
list) for 13 weeks, it never made the top 15 on the sheet music charts, which were considered by many to be the true measure of popular song success. The popular Your Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade was a popular American radio and television program, sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes and broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and 1950 to 1959 on television....
program ranked the song no higher than ninth place, for one week only (1940).

It opens with a now-famous sax section theme, and is joined by trumpets and trombones after 13 counts. It has two main solo sections; a "tenor fight" solo -- in the most famous recording, between Tex Beneke

Tex Beneke

Tex Beneke was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, who is probably remembered best for his association -- and best-selling hit records -- with Glenn Miller's popular big band from 1938 to 1942....
and Al Klink

Al Klink

Al Klink was an American swing jazz tenor saxophone.Klink played with Glenn Miller from 1939 to 1942, and is heard trading solos with Tex Beneke on the most well-known version of "In the Mood"....
-- and a 16-bar trumpet solo. It is also famous for its ending.

Origins

The song, a twelve-bar blues, was composed by Joe Garland

Joe Garland

Joseph Copeland "Joe" Garland was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger, best known for writing "In the Mood".Garland studied music at Shaw University and the Aeolian Conservatory....
and Andy Razaf

Andy Razaf

Andy Razaf , was an African American composer, poet, and lyricist of such well-known songs as "Ain't Misbehavin' " and "Honeysuckle Rose "....
, and arranged by Eddie Durham

Eddie Durham

Eddie Durham was an United States jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer and musical arranger of the swing music medium born in San Marcos, Texas, probably best known for his work with musicians like Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant, Andy Kirk, Glenn Miller, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie, among others....
. The main theme previously appeared under the title of "Tar Paper Stomp", credited to jazz trumpeter/bandleader Wingy Manone

Wingy Manone

Wingy Manone was an United States jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His major recordings included "Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a Time ", and "Tailgate Ramble"....
, who recorded it several times in 1929 and 1930. A story says that after "In the Mood" became a hit, Manone was paid by Miller and his record company not to contest the copyright

Copyright is a form of intellectual property which gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation; after which time the work is said to enter the public domain....
.

Renditions

Other notable big band artists who recorded the song include the Joe Loss orchestra, the Andrews Sisters, Xavier Cugat

Xavier Cugat

Xavier Cugat, born Francesc d'As?s Xavier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu was a Spanish people-Cuban peoplen-United States bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba....
, Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey was an United States jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey....
, Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
, Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David Goodman, was an United States jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing ", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman"....
, Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an United States jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz clarinetists of his time....
, Lubo D'Orio and The Brian Setzer Orchestra

The Brian Setzer Orchestra

The Brian Setzer Orchestra is a swing music and jump blues band formed in 1990 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer. The group had success covering Louis Prima's "Jump Jive an' Wail", which appeared in Prima's 1957 album The Wildest!....
.

Non-big band renditions were recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame....
, John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker was an influential United States post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County, Mississippi near Clarksdale, Mississippi....
, Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins was an influential American guitarist and record producer.His picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul, brought him admirers both within and outside the country scene, both in the United States and internationally....
, Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest...
, Bad Manners

Bad Manners

Bad Manners are an England Second Wave ska revival musical ensemble. They quickly became the novelty favourites of the fad through their bald, enormous-bodied frontman's silly on-stage antics, earning early exposure through their Top of The Pops TV exploits and an appearance in the live film documentary, Dance Craze....
, The Puppini Sisters

The Puppini Sisters

The Puppini Sisters are a musical trio specializing in 1940s-style close harmony vocal music. The group has been described as part of Retro futuristic vanguard and their sound described as swing-punk due to its being louder and more in your face than traditional swing music....
and Ernie Fields, Jr., whose version charted at number 4 in the U.S. in 1959. The song was charted at number 16 in 1953 with Johnny Maddox

Johnny Maddox

Johnny Maddox is a ragtime pianist and collector of ragtime memorabilia.His interest in the era of ragtime and blues was fueled by his Aunt Zula Cothron....
. Jonathan King

Jonathan King

Jonathan King is a United Kingdom singer, songwriter, TV personality, impresario, writer, film maker, and pop music Record producer.He first came to prominence as a Cambridge University undergraduate when he wrote and sang "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" in 1965, going on to become an executive and media entrepreneur....
scored a UK Top 50 hit with his version of the song in 1976. Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singing, actress and comedienne, also known as The Divine Miss M. During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards....
also recorded this song in 1973 (on the album Bette Midler

Bette Midler (album)

Bette Midler is the eponymous second studio album by American female vocalist Bette Midler, released in 1973 on the Atlantic Records label. ...
).

A version of the song was recorded by country/novelty artist Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens is an United States country music and pop music singer-songwriter known for his novelty songs as well as more serious works. He was born in Clarkdale, Georgia, Georgia , a small town west of Atlanta, Georgia....
in 1977. Stevens' version consisted of him performing the song in chicken clucks, and was credited to the "Henhouse Five Plus Too". The single was a Top-40 hit in both America and the UK...in America it was a hit by Stevens in three music genres: It hit the Pop chart, the Country chart, and the Adult-Contemporary chart. A new Glenn Miller Orchestra version (obviously without Miller), made the Easy Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart on the Buddah label, after the Ray Stevens novelty version had its day. Saxophonist Al Klink specified that this version be played at his memorial service upon his passing. It was.

Composer Curtis Wheeler rearranged In The Mood with another Glenn Miller classic, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) for Swing!
Swing!

Swing! is a musical theatre conceived by Paul Kelly with music by various artists. It celebrates the music of the Swing era of jazz , including many well-known tunes by artists like Duke Ellington, William "Count" Basie, Benny Goodman and others....
The Musical. The notes for the main saxophone melody has changed, and the saxes also play the 6 measure trumpet solo at the end with the trumpet. The song is also at a faster tempo than the original.

In 1951 a Ferranti Mark I

Ferranti Mark I

The Ferranti Mark I, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, was the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer....
computer at the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a "red brick university" civic university located in Manchester, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration....
played "In the Mood", one of the first songs ever to be played by a computer. The recording of it is was the first ever recording of a computer playing music.

In 1999, Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s....
, incorporated a bulk of the song in his hit Bennie and the Jets

Bennie and the Jets

"Bennie and the Jets" is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It's written in the key of G major and first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973....
on his tour in Spain. He played in solo on piano without the band during a four-minute instrumental break.

The Residents

The Residents

The Residents are an United States avant-garde music and visual arts group who have created over sixty albums, created numerous musical short films, designed three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs, and undertaken seven major world tours....
used several big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
tunes as the basis for several of the "Chub" tracks from The Tunes of Two Cities

The Tunes of Two Cities

The Tunes of Two Cities is an album by The Residents, released in 1982. It is part two of the Mole Trilogy. Rather than forwarding the story of the battle between the Mole People and the Chubs, the record's concept is to display the differences between the two cultures through their music....
. "In the Mood" was used as the basis for Smack your Lips (Clap your Teeth)

ABBA

ABBA

ABBA were a Sweden pop music group. The band consisted of Agnetha F?ltskog, Benny Andersson, Bj?rn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad . They topped the charts worldwide from the mid-1970s in music to the early 1980s in music....
used intrumental clips of this song during their performance of "So Long

So Long (song)

"So Long" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA, released as the first single from their studio-album ABBA . It was backed with "I've Been Waiting for You ", also a new composition....
on their 1977 tour.

In the Mood

Origins

Renditions

See also