"A Sleepin' Bee" is a popular song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote.[1] It was introduced in the musical House of Flowers (1954) and performed by Diahann Carroll.[1] While House of Flowers was a flop, "A Sleepin' Bee" became a standard of the American songbook.
Barbra Streisand referred to it as her favorite song, recorded it several times, and performed it in her national television debut in April 1961 on the "Jack Paar Show".[2]
Mel Tormé's performance of the song in Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley was called "definitive" in The Penguin Guide to Jazz.[3]
Selected recordings
edit- Ernestine Anderson - Ernestine Anderson (1958)[4]
- Julie Andrews - Broadway's Fair Julie (1962)[5]
- Tony Bennett - on the album Tony Sings for Two (1961)[6]
- June Christy - Off-Beat (1960)[7]
- Bill Evans - numerous versions including Trio 64 and Montreaux Jazz Festival[8]
- Johnny Hartman - I Just Dropped By to Say Hello (1963)[9]
- Carol Lawrence - on the album Tonight at 8:30 (1960)[10]
- Carmen McRae - on the album Something to Swing About (1960)[11]
- Jessye Norman - With a Song in My Heart (1990)[12]
- Leontyne Price – Leontyne Price and Andre Previn (1967)
- Barbra Streisand - on the album The Barbra Streisand Album (1963)[13]
- Mel Tormé - on the album Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley (1960)[14]
- Nancy Wilson - Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley (1961)[15]
References
edit- ^ a b "A Sleepin' Bee". greatamericansongbook.net. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
- ^ Joshua S. Walden, ed. (11 April 2013). Representation in Western Music. Cambridge University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 9781107311015.
- ^ The Penguin Guide to Jazz, 7th edition (2004), p. 1580.
- ^ "Ernestine Anderson". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Broadway's Fair Julie". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Tony Sings for Two". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Off Beat". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Trio 64". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "I Just Dropped by to Say Hello". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Tonight at 8:30". AllMusic. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Something to Swing About". AllMusic. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "With a Song in My Heart". AllMusic. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "The Barbra Streisand Album". AllMusic. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Swings Shubert Alley". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderley". AllMusic. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
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