Welcome to

Cafe Songbook

Internet Home of the
Songs, Songwriters and Performers of
The Great American Songbook

 Madison Square logo, top of page cafe songbook sign for logo

Home || Songs || Songwriters || Performers || Articles and Blogs || Glossary || About Cafe Songbook || Contact/Submit Comment
Search Tips: 1) Click "Find on This Page" button to activate page search box. 2) When searching for a name (e.g. a songwriter), enter last name only. 3) When searching for a song title on the catalog page, omit an initial "The" or "A". 4) more search tips.
Portions of this page have not yet been completed. Thank you for your patience.

Body and Soul

Written: 1930

Music by: Johnny Green

Words by: Edward Heyman,
Robert Sour and Frank Eyton

Written for Gertrude Lawrence to sing in her New York act.
Page Menu
Main Stage || Record/Video Cabinet || Reading Room || Posted Comments || Credits

On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook


(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

Ann Hampton Callaway

performing

"Body and Soul"

with the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra
at the 2009 Marciac Jazz Festival

iTunes

More Performances of "Body and Soul"
in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet
(Video credit)

 

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"Body and Soul"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge
Origins of the Song

"Body and Soul" was added to the score of Three's a Crowd in its Philadelphia preview before the show opened in New York, October 15, 1930. Other songs from this show currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook:

1. Something To Remember You By

 


Stardust Melodies: A Biography of 12 of America's Most Popular Songs by Will Friedwald
Will Friedwald
Stardust Melodies: A Biography of 12 of America's Most Popular Songs.
Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002
Paper-bound Ed. (pictured) 2004.

According to jazz critic Will Friedwald, "Body and Soul" was written when, in 1930, Johnny Green and Edward Heyman recieved a call from Gertrude Lawrence who needed some new material for her 1930 New York act. Friedwald's essay on "Body and Soul" in his book Stardust Melodies tells the complete story of the song's origins (Will Friedwald, Stardust Melodies: A Biography of 12 of America's Most Popular Songs, pp. 147 ff. paper-bound Ed.).

The remainder of this section is in preparation.
back to top of page
Critics Corner


book cover: The Lives of the Great Songs Ed. by Tim De Lisle
Phil Johnson,
"Body and Soul"
Lives of the Great Songs,
Tim De Lisle (Ed.)
UK: Pavilion, 1994
(A collection of essays on
individual popular songs by
very capable critics

 

DVD cover: 'Round Midnight (1986)
'Round Midnight

Jazz critic Phil Johnson after describing the scene in the 1986 film 'Round Midnight, in which Dexter Gordon plays "Body and Soul," comments on the iconic status of the song:

Pain and loss, darkness and death, love and life gone sour: this then, is the subtext to the song -- at least in the film, which puts a doomy French spin on the dreamy cadences of the tune. And this is largely what "Body and Soul" has come to mean for us today, even without the lovelorn lyric. . . . "Body and Soul" has become the iconic reduction of all those late-night crying-into-your-beer jazz ballads. It's a standard for all saxophonists not because it tests their technical skills but because it challenges their powers of emotional expression. (Lives of the Great Songs, p. 114)


Dexter Gordon performing "Body and Soul" on Tenor Sax (playing Dale Gordon in the 1986 film Round Midnight) with Herbie Hancock on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass, John Mclaughlin on guitar, and Billy Higgins on drums.
   
   
   
back to top of page
Lyrics Lounge

(This section is currently in preparation.)

Click here to read Cafe Songbook lyrics policy.
back to top of page

Visitor Comments

Submit comments on songs, songwriters, performers, etc.
Feel free to suggest an addition or correction.
Please read our Comments Guidelines before making a submission.
(Posting of comments is subject to the guidelines.
Not all comments will be posted.)
To submit a comment, click here.

Posted Comments on "Body and Soul":

 

No Comments as yet posted

back to top of page

Credits

(this page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of custom videos used on this page:

Borrowed material (text): The sources of all quoted and paraphrased text are cited. Such content is used under the rules of fair use to further the educational objectives of CafeSongbook.com. CafeSongbook.com makes no claims to rights of any kind in this content or the sources from which it comes.

 

Borrowed material (images): Images of CD, DVD, book and similar product covers are used courtesy of either Amazon.com or iTunes/LinkShare with which CafeSongbook.com maintains an affiliate status. All such images are linked to the source from which they came (i.e. either iTunes/LinkShare or Amazon.com).

 

Any other images that appear on CafeSongbook.com pages are either in the public domain or appear through the specific permission of their owners. Such permission will be acknowledged in this space on the page where the image is used.

 

For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

This section is currently incomplete.

The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"Bosy and Soul"


(All Record/Video Cabinet entries below
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)

1930
Libby Holman
album: Moanin' Low

Amazon iTunes

Notes: "Body and Soul" was added to the score of the Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz revue "Three's a Crowd" (even though it was not written by them), which opened in New York on October 15, 1930, where it was sung by Libby Holman. Her recording was one of six to reach the American charts in 1930, along with those of Paul Whiteman, Ruth Etting, Annette Hanshaw, Helen Morgan and Ozzie Nelson. Because the song was written for British singer Gertrude Lawrence, albeit for her to perform in New York, it quickly made it back to London where it also achieved success. Video plays same track as on albums at Amazon and iTunes links above.

(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Amazon iTunes

Music-Video:
code
Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

Year
Artist
album: title

Music-Video

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

back to top of page

 
back to top of page