"High on a Windy Hill" is the first hit song written by the songwriting team of

Alex Kramer Alex J. Kramer (May 30, 1903 – February 10, 1998) was a Canadian songwriter. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents were Adolph and Freda Kramer. At age 17 he was hired as a pianist in a silent movie theater in Montreal. He tra ...

and Joan Whitney. It was first recorded in November 1940 by the American singer Lanny Ross (Victor – 27254), and was also contemporaneously recorded by Gene Krupa and his Orchestra (Okeh – 5883), Will Bradley and his Orchestra ( Columbia – 35912),

Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People ...

(

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

– 3585), Jack Hastings and His Orchestra (

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

– 105), Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye (

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

– 27232), and Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra ( Bluebird – B-10976). The recording by Gene Krupa reached the second spot on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

's list of best selling retail records, while the versions by Jimmy Dorsey and Will Bradley peaked at number seven and nine respectively. Jimmy Dorsey's recording also ranked number 43 on Billboard's 1941 top songs list.

References

1940 songs 1941 singles Vaughn Monroe songs Jimmy Dorsey songs Songs written by Alex Kramer Songs written by Joan Whitney (songwriter) {{1940s-song-stub