"Day In, Day Out" is a popular song with music by Rube Bloom and lyrics by

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

and published in 1939.

Background

According to Alec Wilder the song, 56 measures long, has a wonderful, soaring melodic line, free from pretentiousness, but full of passion and intensity which is superbly supported by the lyrics. Although the catch phrase "day in—day out" sounds like a dull routine, Mercer uses exotic images to contrast with the boring sound of the phrase.

Recordings

The song has been recorded by numerous artists. *

Helen Forrest Helen Forrest (born Helen Fogel, April 12, 1917 – July 11, 1999) was an American singer of traditional pop and swing music. She served as the "girl singer" for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodm ...

with

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

and his Orchestra – ''Bluebird Records 78 rpm single'' (1939) * Helen Ward with

Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...

and his Orchestra (1939) – a #1 hit on the Billboard charts *

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

– ''Horace Silver Trio'' (1953) *

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

– '' The Point of No Return'' (Expanded Edition 2002 – Song recorded April 4, 1953), '' Come Dance with Me!'' (1959), ''

Nice 'n' Easy ''Nice 'n' Easy'' is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra. All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The title song was a last-minute substitute for the originall ...

'' (1960), '' Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris'' (1994) * Stan Levey Sextet with

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

– ''This Time the Drums on Me'' (1955) *

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

– ''

Songs for Distingué Lovers ''Songs for Distingué Lovers'' is an LP album, album by Vocal jazz, jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1958 in music, 1958 on Verve Records. It was originally available in both Monaural, mono (catalogue number MGV 8257) and stereo (catalog n ...

'' (1957) *

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

with Nat Brandwynne's Orchestra – '' Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria'' (1957) *

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

– '' Wonderful, Wonderful (1957) *

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

– ''Petula Clark in Hollywood'' (1959) *

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

– ''Garland at the Grove'' (1959) *The

Four Freshmen 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

and

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

– ''Road Show'' (1960) *

Carmen Cavallaro Carmen Cavallaro (May 6, 1913 – October 12, 1989) was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation. Music career Carmen Cavallaro was born in New York City, Un ...

– ''Swingin' Easy'' (1962) *

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

– '' Let's Face the Music!'' (1964) *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

– ''

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook Ella may refer to: * Ella (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Places United States * Ella, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Ella, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Ella, Pennsylvania, an unincorporat ...

'' (1964), ''

Ella at Juan-Les-Pins ''Ella at Juan-les-Pins'' is a 1964 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by a quartet led by Roy Eldridge on trumpet with the pianist Tommy Flanagan, Gus Johnson on drums and Bill Yancey on bass. Val Valentin was the recording engineer, co ...

'' (1964) * Phyllis Marshall - ''That Girl'' (1964) *

The Peddlers The Peddlers were a British jazz/soul trio of the 1960s and 1970s. Led by organist Roy Phillips, they had hits with "Birth" and " Girlie". They were very popular in New Zealand during the 1970s. History The Peddlers formed in Manchester in ...

– ''

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'' (1969) *

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– '' Night at the Concord Pavilion'' (1991) *

Susannah McCorkle Susannah McCorkle (January 1, 1946 – May 19, 2001) was an American jazz singer. Life and career A native of Berkeley, California, McCorkle studied Italian literature at the University of California at Berkeley before dropping out to move to E ...

– ''The Songs of Johnny Mercer'' (1996) *

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– '' Love Songs/Sings for the Starry Eyed'' (1998) *

Dena Derose Dena DeRose (born February 15, 1966) is an American jazz pianist, singer and educator. Although she began her career just as a pianist, medical problems with her hand forced her to become a vocalist as well. She has released seven solo albums. B ...

- ''

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'' (2000) *

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, '' Billboard'' maga ...

– '' From This Moment On'' (2006) *

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BrowseBiography.com, 20 November 2011; retrieved 10 September 2014. is a Brazilian jazz pianist, sin ...

– ''

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'' (2008) *

Sophie Milman Sophie Milman (born 1983) is a Russian-born Canadian jazz vocalist. After emigrating from Russia in the early 1990s, Milman, who is Jewish, spent most of her childhood years in Israel where she listened extensively to jazz. Her family later emigr ...

– ''

Take Love Easy ''Take Love Easy'' is an album by the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald with guitarist Joe Pass, released in 1974. History The album is the first of four studio albums that Ella recorded with Pass, and it was the latest in a long line of duets for Ella ...

'' (2009) *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

– ''

Triplicate Triplicate typically refers to a document created three times simultaneously, as with carbonless copy paper. Triplicate may also refer to: *Del Norte Triplicate, a newspaper in Crescent City, California *Triplicate (horse), a race horse owned by ...

'' (2017) *

Sachal Vasandani Sachal Vasandani, known professionally as Sachal, is an American jazz singer. Vasandani released ''Slow Motion Miracles'' on the Okeh label in 2015. He previously released three albums on Mack Avenue Records, ''Eyes Wide Open'' in 2007, ''We Move' ...

– ''Shadow Train'' (2018)

Notes

1939 singles Songs with music by Rube Bloom Frank Sinatra songs Ella Fitzgerald songs Nancy Wilson (jazz singer) songs Judy Garland songs Johnny Mathis songs 1939 songs Songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer Nat King Cole songs Bluebird Records singles {{Pop-standard-stub