"Lullaby of Birdland" is a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...

and

popular song Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

composed by

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...

with lyrics by

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

(under the pseudonym "B. Y. Forster").

Background

George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland" in 1952 for

Morris Levy Morris Levy (born Moishe Levy; August 27, 1927 – May 21, 1990) was an American entrepreneur in the fields of jazz clubs, music publishing, and the independent record industry. Levy was cofounder and owner of Roulette Records, founding partner ...

, the owner of the New York jazz club Birdland. Levy had gotten in touch with Shearing and explained that he'd started a regular Birdland-sponsored disk jockey show, and he wanted Shearing to record a theme which was "to be played every hour on the hour." Levy originally wanted his own music to be recorded, but Shearing insisted he couldn't relate very well with it and wanted to compose his own music. They compromised by sharing the rights of the song; the composer's rights went to Shearing, and the publishing rights went to Levy. Shearing stated in his autobiography that he had composed "the whole thing ..within ten minutes." The chord changes were from Walter Donaldson's "Love me or Leave Me." Jean Constantin composed the lyrics to a French version, "Lola ou La légende du pays aux oiseaux".

Musical characteristics

"Lullaby of Birdland" is in thirty-two bar form, and its original key was F minor (or A major). The song spends an equal amount of time in both minor and major

modes Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

. It follows a I – vi – ii⁷ – V⁷ harmonic progression, and it has a I – vi⁷ – ii⁷ – V⁷ minor variation.

References

{{authority control 1952 songs 1950s jazz standards Ella Fitzgerald songs Bill Haley songs Songs written by George David Weiss Jazz songs

Background

Musical characteristics

See also

References