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| “I wrote it for Judy Garland. I always had such a crush on Garland I couldn’t think straight, so I wrote this song.” |
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- Johnny Mercer
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This collaboration of Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer was introduced in the 1942 motion picture The Fleet’s In, starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, and Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra with vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly. Dorsey’s recording, with a vocal by Eberly, made it into the charts.
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Director Schertzinger was a multi-talented man, both a master of music and the film arts. He teamed with superb lyricist Johnny Mercer for the music for The Fleet’s In, which would be Schertzinger’s last picture. The two wrote “I Remember You,” ”Tangerine,” and “Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurray,” all three of which would be big hits for Jimmy Dorsey’s band.
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Gene Lee’s biography, Portrait of Johnny: The Life of John Herndon Mercer, includes Mercer’s comments about writing “I Remember You:” “I wrote it very fast, ten minutes, half an hour at most.” But Philip Furia’s bio, Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer, reveals the real inspiration for Mercer’s lyric.
Mercer had been infatuated with actress/vocalist Judy Garland for years, and the two had an off-again, on-again relationship, despite the fact that Mercer was married, as was Garland at times. Both writers’ biographies detail the liason and the fact that many of Mercer’s lyrics were clearly inspired by Garland, including “Skylark,” “That Old Black Magic,” and “I Remember You.” A quote in Furia’s book, relating a conversation Mercer had with a hometown Savannah, Georgia, friend, details Mercer’s inspiration: “I wrote it for Judy Garland. I always had such a crush on Garland I couldn’t think straight, so I wrote this song.”
A posthumous publication of Mercer’s lyrics, assembled by widow Ginger Mercer and friend Bob Bach, omitted “I Remember You.” When Mercer passed away in 1976 someone suggested to Ginger that some of the lyrics to “I Remember You” would be a fitting epitaph, and she exploded in a rage. In a strange twist of fate, when Ginger died in 1994, the program for the memorial service showed her picture with the caption “I Remember You.”
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| This section suggests definitive or otherwise significant recordings that will help jazz students get acquainted with
“I Remember You.” These recordings have been selected from the Jazz History and
CD Recommendations sections.
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Ella Fitzgerald (Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook) sings “I Remember You” soulfully and faithfully, making her “Songbook” performance a great source for learning the tune, especially in a ballad context. Chet Baker’s first recording of the tune (Chet Baker Sings and Plays) demonstrates how a more swinging groove and faster tempo can impact the delivery. Charlie Parker (Charlie Parker) provided the definitive instrumental version and his solo is typically remarkable. It is not surprising that so many alto saxophonists subsequently recorded the tune; other recommended alto-feature versions include those by Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, Jackie McLean and Cannonball Adderley.
Noah Baerman - Jazz Pianist and Educator
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Mercer’s lyrics begin with a very short, eight-bar verse, asking the questions “was it in Tahiti, were we on the Nile,” then the verse continues to relate an encounter that has just happened (“long, long ago, say an hour or so”). The whole lyric is in the past-tense continuing into the chorus, describing this just-passed moment like “stars that fell like rain, out of the blue.”
Chris Tyle
Musical analysis of “I Remember You” | | Original Key | F major; key centers shift frequently (see Comments) | | Form | A1 - A1 - B - A2 w/four measure extension | | Tonality | Primarily major | | Movement | Mostly steps and skips of no more than a 3rd. Leaps of a 5th and 6th take place between the end of one section and the beginning of another. | Comments (assumed background) | | Despite the sudden leaps between sections, the range of this song is only an octave. The sophistication-and challenge to the performer-lies in the shifting tonic keys of the moment, which happen every four measures or so. These should pose no problem to the trained ear, however, as the composer sets these up quite logically, using common-tone pivot chords and secondary dominants according to standard voice-leading “rules.” | | K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com |
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Charlie Parker’s stellar Verve session from July 1953 produced the classics “Now’s The Time,” “Confirmation,” and a highly-charged “I Remember You” with Bird in magnificent flight. Dave Brubeck’s Jazz at the College of the Pacific album, also from 1953, consists of all jazz standards, and the quintet’s rendition of “I Remember You” is, like the rest of the recording, first-rate. Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond was in unparalleled form, and his solo on the song is a gem. Brubeck is also in high gear, and his solo is full of unexpected twists and turns. In contrast to Brubeck’s loose, solo-oriented performance, alto saxophonist Lennie Niehaus’ version from 1954 has some nice arranged sections, but they’re bridged by some great playing by him.
Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian
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Additional information for "I Remember You" may be found in:
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Robert Gottlieb, Robert Kimball
Reading Lyrics
Pantheon
Hardcover: 736 pages
(Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.)
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| Click on any CD for more details at Amazon.com |
Horace Silver Trio
Horace Silver Trio, Vol. 1: Spotlight on Drums
Blue Note Records
Original recording 1953
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For those who know Horace Silver for his great quintets and grooving tunes, this track is illuminating. In a trio with Art Blakey and Percy Heath, Silver offers a tender and creative ballad performance of “I Remember You.”
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Ella Fitzgerald
Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
Polygram Records
Original recording 1964
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Nelson Riddle’s tasteful arrangement presents “I Remember You” at a slow, measured tempo. There is lots of room for Fitzgerald to shine, plus a featured solo for clarinetist Buddy DeFranco.
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Stan Getz
Serenity
Polygram Records
Original recording 1987
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Getz’s live recording of “I Remember You” embodies flowing swing (or perhaps swinging flow). This is in no small part due to the remarkable groove provided by the rhythm section of Victor Lewis, Rufus Reid and Kenny Barron, whose own solo is particularly noteworthy.
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Diana Krall
The Look of Love
2001 Verve 314549846
Original recording 2001
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Krall creates a sensual masterpiece, her sultry vocals floating over orchestral strings and a languid bossa nova.
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James Clay
A Double Dose of Soul
1991 Original Jazz Classics 1790
Original recording 1960
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An engaging hard bop reading of the song finds Clay putting down the sax and picking up the flute to engage vibraphonist Victor Feldman in a game of musical cat and mouse.
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Kenny Burrell
Stolen Moments
2002 Concord Jazz 2128
Original recording 1977
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Drummer Carl Burnett and bassist Reggie Johnson lay down a tranquil mid-tempo rhythm over which guitarist Burrell gently plucks out a lyrical reading.
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Sarah Vaughan
The Roulette Years
1991 Blue Note Records 94983
Compilation
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The singer offers a gentle reading of this beautiful standard against a backdrop of lush strings.
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Tal Farlow
Verve Jazz Masters 41
1995 Polygram Records 27365
Original recordings 1955-58
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Farlow was one of the greatest guitarists of the ‘50s, often cited as the fastest. Here in a trio setting, he takes “I Remember You” at mid-tempo in an unforgettable version.
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