Whip-Poor-Will

Album: Zip Goes A Million (1919)
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Songfacts®:

  • Also spelt whippoorwill, this is a species of nightjar; it is also the title of a song from the 1919 musical Zip Goes A Million. This is not to be confused with the show of the same title that starred George Formby as leading man, nor with other songs of the same title.
  • "Whip-Poor-Will" is credited to the composer Jerome Kern and lyricist B.G. DeSylva.
  • Zip Goes A Million is based on the book Brewster's Millions; although Kern was an extremely successful composer, this was his big flop, but "Whip-Poor-Will" was one of the songs rescued from the show and used in the show Sally.
  • "Whip-Poor-Will" has been widely recorded including by Jessie Matthews, but is best rendered as a duet. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for all above

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