Why this tune?
On this Giving Tuesday, here’s a song with an appropriate title for today’s focus on generosity and kindness. “I Thought About You” is another song by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer written in 1939, that became a popular jazz standard by the late 50s with classic recordings by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and many more. I remember it as a frequent call in jam sessions in the Boston area when I lived there.
Dig this detail!
In Mercer’s lyrics, the singer is riding a train and thinking about the one he or she loves. According to Mercer, he wrote that while actually riding a train, thinking about Jimmy Van Heusen’s melody. My own writing has benefited from that sort of direct inspiration. My song “Snow Day” starts with a description of riding while listening to music, which I wrote after riding a bus listening to music.
Hear the story
Check it out!
Miles Davis, from “Someday My Prince Will Come”
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Imaginative instrumental version by Uri Caine
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 