Songfacts®:

• Not to be confused with the blues classic written in 1951 and popularized by B.B. King, this song is a jazz standard written by Lew Brown (lyrics) and Ray Henderson (music) for the 1931 production of George White's Broadway revue Scandals. In the revue, it was sung by Everett Marshall, but the recorded version was sung by Rudy Vallee and released on the Victor label, credited to "Rudy Vallee with his Connecticut Yankees." Vallee was part of the revue that year along with Ethel Merman.
• A torch ballad, this song is about a love gone stale. The singer is asking to put this affair out of its misery, as there's no sense continuing when the thrill is gone.
• Structurally, this song is unusual in that it starts with two repetitions of the title. It then plays on the senses to explain the different ways the singer knows it's over:
  
  I can see it in your eyes
  I can hear it in your sighs
  Feel your touch and realize
  The thrill is gone
• Artists to cover this song include Chet Baker, Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Stan Getz.