Early in 1953, Duke Ellington left Columbia Records to sign with Capitol Records, a company he felt would more effectively promote his music. On April 6, the band had their first Capitol recording session, producing “Satin Doll,” “Without a Song,” and “Cocktails for Two.” “Satin Doll,” with its Ellington piano solo, was a modest hit, entering the pop charts in June and rising to number twenty-seven.

Although Ellington originally wrote the melody for “Satin Doll,” in his biography of Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, David Hajdu says, “Strayhorn fleshed out an Ellington riff sketch with harmony and lyrics ...” and titled it “Satin Doll,” Strayhorn’s pet name for his mother. Strayhorn’s lyrics were not considered commercially viable, and five years later, lyricist and cofounder of Capitol Records, Johnny Mercer wrote new lyrics, resulting in the song we know today.

Whether the “Satin Doll” is Strayhorn’s mother or not is up for speculation. In the Mercer Ellington/Stanley Dance biography, Duke Ellington in Person: An Intimate Memoir, Mercer suspects Beatrice “Evie” Ellis or Evie Ellington, Duke’s common-law wife, is the mystery woman. Mercer is quoted as saying, “... she disclosed that ‘Satin Doll’ was really written for her...” Mercer then supports her claim saying, “...Pop would always be leaving notes in the house addressing her affectionately as “Dearest Doll,” “Darling Doll,” and so on.”

As a rule, Billy Strayhorn is credited with assisting Ellington with the music but not contributing to the Johnny Mercer lyrics. In the early 1990’s, however, a copyright infringement case (Tempo Music vs. Famous Music) was brought against the Strayhorn Estate by the Ellington Estate. Basically the Ellington Estate felt that because Strayhorn’s contribution to the music was only the harmonization of Ellington’s melody and that harmonic progressions are not sufficient to constitute copyrightable expression, the Strayhorn Estate should receive proceeds only from versions published with lyrics.

The court ruled in favor of the Strayhorn Estate, saying, “While we agree that melody generally implies a limited range of chords which can accompany it, a composer may exercise creativity in selecting among these chords...”

Beyond the legal implications to jazz musicians, who routinely reuse harmonic progressions, the above phrase, “should receive proceeds only from versions published with lyrics,” implied the Ellington Estate believed Strayhorn contributed to the Johnny Mercer lyrics, a fact also stated in the book Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington by John Edward Hasse.

Among Ellington compositions, “Satin Doll” is unique in that it was not written with a particular soloist in mind, Ellington himself taking the introductory piano solo in the 1953 recording. Further differentiating “Satin Doll” from many other Ellington top jazz standards are the critically acclaimed lyrics. Johnny Mercer’s (and Billy Strayhorn’s) words are clever, hip, and slangy, almost beyond belief.