Lullaby Of Birdland

Album: The Very Best of Ella Fitzgerald (1954)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Bop standard was composed by Anglo-American jazz pianist George Shearing in 1952. The song celebrates the famous New York jazz club Birdland, named after the saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, which was a venue for many leading Jazz musicians.
  • This tune has been recorded by many other vocal and instrumental performers, including Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme and Blue Stars. The latter were a Paris-based 4-man, 4-woman pop-jazz group led by former American big band vocalist, Blossom Dearie, whose version arranged by Michael Legrand reached #16 in the US singles chart in 1956.

Comments: 3

  • Linda Macrae from Hamilton CanadaElla was one of the true greats of America’s vocalists in the early jazz era, and also a wonderful interpreter of modern American ballads - Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein, George Gershwin, et al! So glad her music is still with us and played today. A tribute to her
    great talent. I was a visitor to Birdland all those many years ago! Love Ella’s version!
  • Frederic from VirginiaBirdland became famous for the live broadcasts made there. The club's owner, Morris Levy, asked George to record a theme song for the show. But Shearing didn’t like the song that Levy gave him, so he offered to write one especially for the show.
  • Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, CaI think George composed this wilhe he was playing at Birdland....or so i have heard.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Don Felder

Don FelderSongwriter Interviews

Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.

Waiting For The Break of Day: Three Classic Songs About All-Nighters

Waiting For The Break of Day: Three Classic Songs About All-NightersSong Writing

These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

John Waite

John WaiteSongwriter Interviews

"Missing You" was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion triggered by a phone call. John tells that story and explains what MTV meant to his career.