In the Mood
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- This article is about the big band-era song popularized by Glenn Miller. For other uses, see In the Mood (disambiguation).
"In the Mood", a song popularized by the American bandleader Glenn Miller, was one of the best-known arrangements of the big band era. Miller's rendition topped the charts in 1940.
The song, a twelve-bar blues, was composed by Joe Garland (Joseph C. Garland) and Andy Razaf. The main theme previously appeared under the title of "Tar Paper Stomp", 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.
It opens with a now-famous sax soli, and is joined by trumpets and trombones after 13 counts. It has two main solo sections; a 'tenor fight' solo, and a 16-bar trumpet solo. It is also famous for its ending.
In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The song also charted at number 16 in 1953 with Johnny Maddox.
Other notable big band artists who recorded the song include the Andrews Sisters, Xavier Cugat, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra played "In the Mood" in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade.
Non-big band renditions were recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, John Lee Hooker, Chet Atkins, Bill Haley & His Comets, and Ernie Fields Jr. Jonathan King scored a UK Top 50 hit with his version of the song in 1976.
Glenn Miller's version is known to many younger people through its use as the instrumental theme in the sampled medley "Swing the Mood", a number 1 hit in many countries in the late 1980s by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers.
Upon request in his will, "In The Mood" was played at the funeral of Peter Sellers in 1980. It was a ghoulish joke on Sellers' part; the comedian hated the song. Presumably the version played was the classic version, and not the Ray Stevens comedic version, by a "group" called The Henhouse Five, the "vocals" consisting entirely of imitation chicken-clucks.
The song is mentioned in the Genesis song Broadway Melody of 1974 featured on the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
In Japan, "In the Mood" was also performed by the Swing Girls.
The song was featured in the 1993 movie Rookie of the Year and the 1998 movie The Parent Trap.
During the coda of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love," the saxophones in the background can be heard playing snippets of the song's introduction.
Bette Midler also recorded this song in 1973 (on the album Bette Middler).
Many high school and college jazz ensembles continue to play the song today. However, the original score was lost over the years, so all current versions are very similar to, but have slight differences from, the original Glenn Miller recorded version.
