Here's That Rainy Day

"Here's That Rainy Day" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1953. It was introduced by Dolores Gray in the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders.^[1]

The song has been recorded by many jazz and pop singers, including Tony Bennett, Dee Dee Bridgewater, The Stan Kenton Orchestra, June Christy, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Vic Damone, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Lou Rawls, Astrud Gilberto (with Stan Getz), Lena Horne, Phyllis Hyman, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Kenny Rankin, Frank Sinatra, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan and Andy Williams. It is also a favorite of jazz instrumentalists, with renditions by Joe Pass, Gene Ammons, Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Bill Evans, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Art Pepper, Oscar Peterson, Toots Thielemans, Urbie Green, Alvin "Red" Tyler, L.A. Jazz Quintet and McCoy Tyner, among many others. also, Nancy Wilson.

Frank Sinatra recorded it on March 25, 1959 for the Capitol album No One Cares, arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins. He performed it on a Timex-sponsored show entitled The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: An Afternoon With Frank Sinatra, broadcast on December 13, 1959 and on the Emmy-nominated Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing, broadcast on November 25, 1968. On November 18, 1973, he performed it on Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, in a medley with "Last Night When We Were Young" and "Violets for Your Furs."^[2][3]

Sinatra also performed the song during three concerts in 1974, at Caesar's Palace, in Philadelphia and Saratoga, New York.^[4]

Former late-night talk show host Johnny Carson said that "Here's That Rainy Day" by Frank Sinatra was his favorite ballad. Carson and Bette Midler famously sang the song on the next-to-last show of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on May 21, 1992. Singer/songwriter Paul Williams also once sang the song on the show in full ape make up as part of promotion for his latest film Battle For the Planet of the Apes. After Carson's death in 2005, Doc Severinsen, Tommy Newsom, and Ed Shaughnessy performed the song along with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra on Late Show with David Letterman.^[5]

Notable recordings

• Stan Getz and João Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 (1964)^[6]
• Wes Montgomery – Bumpin' (1965)^[6]
• Coleman Hawkins – Wrapped Tight (1965)^[6]
• June Christy – Something Broadway, Something Latin (1965)
• Stan Kenton and His Orchestra – Road Band '67 (1967), arranged by Dee Barton; OCLC 318882779
• Sammy Davis, Jr. and Laurindo Almeida – Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays (1966)^[6]
• Chet Baker and the de:NDR Bigband - The Legacy, Vol. 1
• Clare Fischer – Songs for Rainy Day Lovers (1967)^[7]
• Art Pepper – Living Legend (1975)^[6]
• Phyllis Hyman – Somewhere in My Lifetime (1978)
• Jack Jones – Where Love Has Gone (1964)
• Chelsea Krombach performed the song for her debut album Look for the Silver Lining.
• Modern Jazz Quartet
• Art Pepper – Winter Moon (1980)
• Sue Raney – All By Myself (1964)
• Stevie Holland - Restless Willow (2004)
• Kenny Rogers
• Bill Evans – Alone
• Natalie Cole – Still Unforgettable (2008) (earned a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist for Nan Schwartz

Notes