"On the Swing Shift" is a 1942 song composed by

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

with 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 ...

for the film ''

Star Spangled Rhythm ''Star Spangled Rhythm'' is a 1942 American all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flims ...

'', where it was introduced by

Marjorie Reynolds Marjorie Reynolds (née Goodspeed; August 12, 1917 – February 1, 1997) was an American film/television actress and dancer, who appeared in more than 50 films, including the 1942 musical ''Holiday Inn'', in which she and Bing Crosby introdu ...

, Betty Jane Rhodes and Dona Drake. The song is about a romance between workers in an aircraft factory during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

working the "swing shift"; between 4pm and midnight. Glenn T. Eskew described the song as "one of the first songs to recognize the new role of women laboring in the factories" and one of several lyrics Mercer wrote that "betrayed a weakening of traditional constraints of societal norms" during the war in his 2013 biography of Mercer, ''Johnny Mercer: Southern Songwriter for the World''.

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

and

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 ...

performed the song on their 1990 live album '' Mel and George "Do" World War II''. Tormé later described the song as "a personal favorite of mine" in his 1994 book ''My Singing Teachers''.

References

{{Reflist 1942 songs Songs of World War II Songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer Songs with music by Harold Arlen