In the Mood by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra Song Info
"In the Mood" is a song popularized by the American bandleader Glenn Miller in 1939, and one of the best-known arrangements of the big band era. Miller's rendition topped the charts one year later and was featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade. The song is an anomaly to chart purists. "In The Mood" was released in the period immediately prior to the inception of retail sales charts in Billboard magazine. While it led the Record Buying Guide (jukebox list) for 13 weeks, it never made the top 15 on the sheet music charts, which were considered by many to be the true measure of popular song success. The popular Your Hit Parade program ranked the song no higher than ninth place, for one week only (1940). It opens with a now-famous sax section theme, and is joined by trumpets and trombones after 13 counts. It has two main solo sections; a "tenor fight" solo—in the most famous recording, between Tex Beneke and Al Klink—and a 16-bar trumpet solo. It is also famous for its ending. Origins The song was composed by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf, and arranged by Glenn Miller. The main theme previously appeared under the title of "Tar Paper Stomp (Wingy's Stomp) (08-28-30)", credited to jazz trumpeter/bandleader Wingy Manone, who recorded it several times in 1929 and 1930. A story says that after "In the Mood" became a hit, Manone was paid by Miller and his record company not to contest the copyright. The main theme also occurs in the Horace Henderson arrangement of "Hot and Anxious"; recorded by his brother's band - The Flecther Henderson Orchestra. Renditions Other notable big band artists who recorded the song include the Joe Loss orchestra, the Andrews Sisters, Xavier Cugat, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Lubo D'Orio, The Puppini Sisters and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Non-big band renditions were recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Chet Atkins, Bill Haley & His Comets, Bad Manners and Ernie Fields, whose version charted at number 4 in the U.S. in 1959. The song was charted at number 16 in 1953 with Johnny Maddox. Jonathan King scored a UK Top 50 hit with his version of the song in 1976. Bette Midler also recorded this song in 1973 (on the album Bette Midler). A version of the song was recorded by country/novelty artist Ray Stevens in 1977. Stevens' version consisted of him performing the song in chicken clucks, and was credited to the "Henhouse Five Plus Too". The single was a Top-40 hit in both America and the UK...in America it was a hit by Stevens in three music genres: It hit the Pop chart, the Country chart, and the Adult-Contemporary chart. A new Glenn Miller Orchestra version (obviously without Miller), made the Easy Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart on the Buddah label, after the Ray Stevens novelty version had its day. Saxophonist Al Klink specified that this version be played at his memorial service upon his passing; it was. In 1951 a Ferranti Mark 1 computer at the University of Manchester played "In the Mood", one of the first songs ever to be played by a computer. The recording of it is was the first ever recording of a computer playing music.
