"At Last": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

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At Last
Written: 1941	Music by: Harry Warren	Words by: Mack Gordon	Written for: Sun Valley Serenade (movie, 1941) but performed only as instrumental; first sung in Orchestra Wives (movie 1942)
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code (Please complete or pause one video before starting another.)	Artist performing "At Last" with Personnel/at (year) More Performances of "title" in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet (Video credit )

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"At Last"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge

About the Movies Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives / Origins of the Song

Other songs written for Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook:

for Sun Valley Serenade:

1. Chattanooga Choo Choo

2. I Know Why (and so do you)

for Orchestra Wives: none

For a completel listing of songs used in Sun Valley Serenade, see IMDB soundtrack.

For a complete listing of songs used in Orchestra Wives, see IMDB soundtrack.

In 1941 and 1942, Twentieth Century Fox made two movies featuring Glen Miller and His Orchestra just before he joined the Army-Airforce. That this led to his being lost during a flight over the English channel in 1944 made the two movies, Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942) his only two feature films.

Although "At Last" is commonly thought of as having been written for the second movie Orchestra Wives, Warren and Gordon originally wrote it for the first movie Sun Valley Serenade. The intention was to have the song sung in Sun Valley Serenade by John Payne and Pat Friday (dubbing for Lynn Bari), but that version was cut before the film was released. As a result, only an instrumental version was heard in the earlier movie (See below). The music with lyrics was then used, and therefore first heard on screen, when it was played by the Glenn Miller Orchestra and sung by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday (dubbing for Lynn Bari) in Orchestra Wives.
Ed.'s note: An interesting discussion that traces the history of "At Last" in these two films can be found on an IMDB discussion board on the Sun Valley Serenade page.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday (dubbing Lynn Bari) and featuring Bobby Hackett (playing trumpet for George Montgomery) perform "At Last"
in the 1942 movie Orchestra Wives.

Click here to listen to an instrumental version of "At Last" used to accompany Sonja Henie's ice-dancing in the finale of the movie Sun Valley Serenade (1941) -- The "At Last" portion of the finale begins about two minutes in. The use of Warren's music for At Last" in Sun Valley Serenade constitute its debut -- at least of the melody.

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The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"At Last"

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include a music-video
of this page's featured song.
The year given is for when the studio
track was originally laid down
or when the live performance was given.)

Performer/Recording Index
(*indicates accompanying music-video)

Performer 1 (year)
Performer 2 (year)